October 1, 2006

Easy going Shadow was not going to hold a grudge against Nitro for pushing him through the fence over Zoe. Last Saturday Shadow and Nitro were loaded into the trailer and went to their gymkhana together as they have all summer. They really like it there away from the barn with all the other horses. They only do a couple of classes but do like to stand near the ring for most of the day and watch all the competition. Nitro would never do anything in the ring. When we first got him and Deanna tried to ride him he would stand in one spot in the ring and couldn't be made to move. All the so called cowboys and good riders thought they could get him to go but it was they who went generally right to the ground as Nitro had a bag of tricks to get people off. One day last year after I all but gave up on ever riding Nitro in a ring we went to a barrel racing clinic in our indoor ring. Nitro was at least patient enough to stand without too much objection. By the end of the clinic he was walking in small circles and trotting. Big progress. Maybe he liked competition. He would never let another horse out run him on the trail so he seemed to understand that he was competing in some way. After that clinic Theresa tried the dash on him at the next gymkhana and lo and behold he did it, not flat out but he didn't put her off. Since then we've been practicing one or two days a week and he's getting better and better. He likes pole bending, and flags the best because he bends so well. Funny at 19 Nitro is becoming quite the athlete. He couldn't wait to tell Zoe how well he did that day.