Trot on Hank: Cranky Hank

I think Hank is jealous of Flag. I try to pay attention to Hank first when I head out, but then of course I go fuss with the new guy, and I see Hank watching. Now mind you, Hank is not one of those horses who thrives on attention. That is Toby. He LOVES attention. Hank tolerates it, and loves cookies. I do not kid myself that he loves "me". But, he has taken a rather harsh opinion of Flag, and will go so far to charge the fence and try to bite Flag over the top of it when given a chance. Lots of pinned ears, neck snaking out, and looking very ugly towards the pinto. And at feeding time, as I mix their buckets of "mash", Hank gets extra worked up, glancing towards Flags corral, and getting nasty. But, I hope as we ride the horses together more, Hank will change his opinion of him, and decide he is OK, and will get along with him better. But I am not turning them out together yet. So far, Gambler spent time with Flag, and that went well. But I will keep doing slow introductions one at a time, in the 1 acre field, under supervision.

Had a couple more fun rides with the horses. Did 13 miles Sunday, and 10 miles today. Need to get new shoes on Flag, and we can increase the mileage. Hubby is having SO much fun on him. His easy, go down the trail trot is about 9 to 9.5mph. But he would really prefer to go about 10.5 to 11mph. Have not got to clock the speed of his BIG trot. I'll do a little schooling on him this week while hubby works. Just need to fine tune standing still while we get on, and see if we can get his gaits to rate at the speed WE want. And we are stil playing with what bridle will be best to ride him in. Today was a hackamore that he did pretty well in. I have trouble geting rid of bits, as I always say "I might need that some day", and now I can indeed, try some of these with Flag. He has a go, but we want to make sure we always have a WHOA too.

And now...the photos