Have you seen my horse?

The week after the Mustang Adoption has been a rest period for Medicine Man. When everyone else is kicking up another gear in their training we've kinda taken the week off. We worked on lots of lessons learned but all in short durations. We've practiced the lead without the lead alot as we move around the pasture, pen and yard. Doc's even adapting to others in the hook up and is really impressing alot of folks. We had our feet worked again and other than those hoofs being so #&$$#(*) tough every thing was a breeze. Doc uses this as an opportunity to be near us. Any time we're around he wants to have close contact always searching for a scratch or rub. With it being so hot he stands for a hose no matter what noise it makes. Before when the air rushed out or the water spattered he would jump around, now, no problem. We worked under saddle 3 days this past week with gait transition, flexing (both lateral and at the pole), and backing.
I always want a good pole flex before working on backing and I think we have it. His lightness in the bit requires only a lift of the reins with little bit pressure for a bend, let up and repeat and you'll get more bend, slight steady pressure and leg squeeze and we're backing up. Man, what a pleasure to train. We also are working on fore end cross over with toe pressure on the shoulder. Doc picked this up so fast he made me feel I was a good trainer. That's a hoot of a thought. It's just his quick learning ability. I guess to be a "Medicine Man" you have to have a good head on your shoulders......
We did have a bit of excitement on Thursday evening. Chapin and I set out on a longer trail ride with a few planned obstacles to accomplish. Both Doc and a nice gelding named Wizz belonging to Vickie G. needed some different terrain. Things went well along the first half with steep hills, gulley's, and water. I don't know how but we did find some water 3+ feet deep to work in and boy, did they enjoy that part. Later riding along the highway Doc and I heard a truck approach, his ears tracked it and just as it was abreast to us a trailer he was pulling hit a pothole and a new sound erupted. I always collect the outside rein on passing vehicles in case and this was a good case. His reaction was a little hop, I pulled up the right rein, one circle and we're back on track. Thought he startled, he regained his composure quickly and another lesson learned. Later on a bicycle approached and got a lot of attention but no reaction. (We work with bikes in the pastures).
A large portion of the ride was in close order woods with no trails. This really is no fun to ride in but does require a lot a left/right/forward/backup to get through some spots. Lots of vines, limbs, downed trees to walk over. Doc was a dream for this getting tangled up in vines a couple of times and patiently waiting while I worked us out of the fix. This can really create softness if the rider will remain calm and give slight leg and rein cues.
After 3 hrs of riding we stopped off at my dad's house and let the horses graze in the front yard as we sat on the porch and socialized. Doc was content with staying in the front but Wizz was determined to seek out the better grass in the back. On the second trip back Chapin went back to get him and no Wizz. There's a 10 acre hay field just behind the house with Johnson grass over 5' tall. We searched for Wizz til after 1:00AM with no luck. Chapin came back home and picked up a young filly Wizz has been staying with during his time here in hopes of her bringing him back or at least sounding off. My only thought was he had gotten tangled in the woods since he still had a saddle on. We stayed until all lights ran out and returned the following morning at daylight. No Wizz. Ok, now I'm worried. A few calls were made to include the owner and plans were being made for a mass search. He was somewhat limited to how far he could travel due to all the fences in the area. Doc and I had searched all nearby fields the night before with no results but a second look couldn't hurt. After checking out all known fields I started paying attention to Doc and his ears. He just wouldn't take his attention away from a certain area I thought was just woods. We moved along a field road and he brought me into a small hay field, 2-3 acres I never knew existed. I looked around the field and saw nothing and attempted to leave but his attention was still focused on the field. OK, off we went across and low and behold upon reaching the crown we looked down and there stands Wizz. Just eating, not a worry in the world. We were no more than 500 yards from my dads. What a joyous time. I only had a piece of hay string I carry balled up on my saddle to lead with so thought we'd give it a try. Doc had never led another so I was reluctant to give it a try but my cell phone wouldn't work and I was determined not to leave Wizz alone. (Chapin had removed his reins during grazing). So, attach the hay twine, give all the slack I could, (every bit of 5 ft) and off we went. Doc was bothered at first with the closeness of his travel mate but eventually moved right off like he'd been doing it for years. Back on high ground, and time to make phone calls to abort the search before it got under way. I can attest Chapin was one happy young man as he saw us ridding up. Vickie was on the way with Wizz's pasture mate so she came on and she and Chapin trail rode back home. A good training lesson for all, including me! I forgot to mention the night search aboard Doc, I have a light mounted on a hat used for night hunting and every time I turned it on it would cast a beam over his head to the ground. As I moved my head around the moving light really kept him on his toes. He never did adjust totally to the light. Back to the house and a big rest for us both.
Saturday and Sunday was extremely hot so training was limited to close order drill in short periods. A short ride today, more flexing and backing with direction change. I do need to work on direct and straight travel. We kinda roamed across the fields unless I really kept giving direction. Something to work on in the cool....