January 2012

February 4, 2012: January Recap

This was a productive month for my horses and I. We reached a lot of little milestones and I feel pretty good about our progress, with only a few exceptions.

Skye and I had an awesome time galloping about on the farm; since Arwen was inoculated against flu and horse sickness, we couldn't ride out onto other farms but still had plenty of fun bouncing around at home. Despite a mild ear problem and a case of worms, Skye absolutely glows with happiness when she's ridden out. Her greatest pleasure is to gallop, the faster the better, and she soon regained the fitness she lost during her own AHS inoculation.

On a more technical note, though she still sulks up a storm in the arena, she is getting much much better with cantering. She is stiff on her left side and doesn't like to lead with her left leg, but this month we managed to weave between tyres spaced about 5m apart at a canter and according to Kevin she changed her legs well (I was too dumb to notice much, sigh). She also cantered figures of eight a lot better and we worked on getting her to canter and trot in a straight line, she likes to turn her head to one side. (At a flat out gallop she goes dead straight).

January the 3rd saw the birth of Copper, Siobhan's first and hopefully last foal, a diminutive and mischievous bay colt. Copper took a while to get used to humans but by the end of the month he was happy and friendly around us.

Arwen's foal, loony Secret, continues to do well. He loves people, eating stuff, and being scratched. By the end of the month I was cleaning out his hooves with medium success.

Rain, Copper and Siobhan are getting along really well. Rain's riding improved in leaps and bounds although I still scream "DON'T FLAP YOUR WINGS!" with depressing frequency. She does so like to wave her elbows about. Siobhan threw a buck or two this month, which is unusual for her, but I guess the hormones are making an appearance after Copper's birth.

Siobhan also started some jumping this month. She has an embarrassing habit of stopping halfway over the jump with forelegs on one side and hindlegs on the other, but in late January, with me on board she was jumping this little cross quite confidently from a trot. Also good news is that she doesn't seem to have a good side or a bad side; she goes equally well both ways. Her worst fault now is dragging her legs through the jumps and not even bothering to get off the ground.

I met this cute and extremely naughty little mosquito of a pony, Cowboy, and started working with him. In hand he's rather disastrous and enjoys rearing at every opportunity, all the better if he can land a hoof on your head while he's about it. Under saddle he was surprisingly good (compare to on the ground, that is), though lazy, noisy and prone to rear or buck now and then. He is cocky and has a personality the size of Mongolia.

Rain lunged Siobhanny; it didn't go too well when trotting and cantering started as Siobhan reared and went crazy (when I was lunging her) and when I put two long reins on her she lost her head completely, but at a walk she was fine and Rain's lunging skills improved.

Thunder progressed quite a lot; he now accepts being washed, even though he always rolls afterwards and what with the ribs and the dirt looks fit for the SPCA. He only neighs once or twice on walks, no longer pulls me about, and reliably trots in hand. His lunging has progressed to the point where walk, trot and halt on both reins are not a problem at all, but cantering is still rather beyond him. Still no aggression, still the gentlest colt I have ever laid eyes on.

I started to work with Achilles again. During his first session he basically lost his head and wanted to rampage over me, bolt, buck, rear and do his level best to misbehave. The second time I lunged him with two reins and that improved his behaviour a lot; the charging and rearing magically disappeared and the bolting and bucking improved a lot, too. He wanted to bolt a lot in canter, but by the end of the month even that was a lot better. I rode him for five minutes at a sedate walk at the end of every session when he was truly tuckered out. That was more or less all my nerves could stand. He's still for sale, and now a lot saner than he was at the end of December.

Dancer got a lot more work put into her this month. She is still a little crazy and has some explosions on walks and in lunging, but the aggression is a lot better. She's a bit flighty and very sensitive, and not at all lazy. Her lunging is great; she walks, trots, canters and stops extremely well on both sides, in fact with lunging her biggest fault is the occasional tantrum with bucking and head-tossing and every now and then she jumps over the side of the ring. That's mainly my fault, though, because I underestimate her sensitivity and frighten or frustrate her.

I cannot fail to mention Cyke and Blizz, the Disasters. They're my constant companions and constantly getting into trouble some way or another. They destroy or chew holes in a lot of stuff. The list for this month includes two dog baskets, one pair of chaps, one hairbrush, one fly mask, two pairs of shoes, the first page of The Best of James Herriot, a dead rat, a deader rat, a milk purchasing contract (thankfully there were copies), half a dead owl, and, frequently, my boots. I adore them.

Arwen had an extremely boring month; in fact all that really happened to her was getting a passport and her inoculations against AHS and equine flu. She'll come back into work at the end of February and I'm going to be working very hard with her, so she should enjoy her rest while she has it.

The riding lessons started again in the end of January with my sum total of two students. Brandon and Dylan did a lot better than I thought they would; they haven't forgotten much They're doing well. I've drilled into them the importance of gentle hands and after I threatened to ram a bar of steel between their teeth and jerk on it, they got the message. Brandon is posting nicely now and Dylan looks much less precarious at a trot. They're getting the hang of figures of eight, and the mares look pretty happy with their riders. At present I'm sticking to the current arrangement of Brandon on Arwen and Dylan on Skye; Skye would make an easier ride for Brandon as Arwen keeps slacking off into a walk, and Arwen's smooth trot might be easier for Dylan to sit on, but at present I don't trust Arwen with Dylan as he hangs on with his heels and Arwen could very easily decide that he means "canter". Skye, miraculously, has never cantered off with him, a fact for which I am deeply thankful.

I have also taken on my first training project for which I'm being paid. To be fair I'm only working with the horse once a week and Kevin is also schooling him, but still, Kevin managed to convince his owner that it was a good idea to pay me to ride him. Being paid? To ride? This sounds like a good idea to me.

The horse is Romeo and unlike Cowboy he is a very sweet, gentle, lovable young gelding. He's not yet three but a very nice ride and well behaved. He can be lazy and tends to chuck his head in the air when asked to turn, but I like him. He's in the region of 16hh, a bay thoroughbred/Friesian crossbred.

So, all in all, a good month. Now I should get moving and make February even better.

January 25, 2012: Back to Normal, or at least the usual sort of strange

Skye's ear is fine again and she feels loads and loads better without it irritating her, a fact she announced by going totally ballistic when I rode her on Saturday. Gentle, dependable, steady Skye, when asked to trot, promptly began to buck. She bucked the length of the arena, snorting like a wild mustang and frisking with every bone in her body. I like her in a fiery mood but I have to draw the line at bucking, so several smacks and a half-intended gallop later, she stopped bucking and began to merely prance up and down on the spot. Silly idiot. I cannot imagine why she got it into her head to go bucking like a half-backed two-year-old but at least she feels pretty good. I've ridden her virtually every day since then and not a buck in sight, so I guess she was just feeling her oats a bit.

Yesterday was a good day, starting with a quite early ride on Skye. We gallivanted off all the way to the mealielands to the west, thundered along to the willow trees and galloped home through the forest; a good workout and buckets of fun, and she came home prancing even after cantering virtually all the way from the first willow tree to the top of the Shuddering Woods. The Woods were absolutely Narnian. Even at ten AM they still splashed us with dew when they brushed against us, and the rising smell of broken eucalyptus was as fresh and free as a leaping stag.

We had such fun that we were a few minutes late for Rain's ride on Siobhan. Rain did not mind; when we arrived she was putting the finishing touches on Siobhan's mane, which was plaited. Siobhan gave me a very bored look, trying to hide the fact that she adores the attention.

Siobhan was in a bit of a Mood, I think it was a combination of the mares being in a different paddock, Siobhanny being on heat and Siobhanny being a brainless idiot. She was trotting some very nice figures of eight, though, and Rain's riding has only improved by a few light-years. When asked to canter at first Siobhan could only be persuaded to do a semi-extended trot; the second time, Copper came shooting past at exactly the wrong moment and Siobhan broke into a hair-raising gallop up the arena. Rain screamed like a damsel in distress and rode like a cowboy. She does that. Within a few strides she had hauled Siobhan to a shocked halt. She didn't even lose a stirrup, thankfully, and Siobhan's brakes are good, but she hasn't bolted for ever so I got on and tried to see what was up. At first she was good, then she decided to bolt with me too; I was ready for her and jerked her back before she could really shoot off, so, frustrated, she swerved to the side and gave a few bucks. The saddle flopped more or less onto her neck and I was thoroughly unimpressed with her. After pulling up the girth as far as I could, I rode her for ten minutes or so mainly at a canter and she wisely decided not to buck or even try to bolt again. Rain walked her cool while they had a serious talk, I suspect including what would happen to Siobhan if she ever pulled that trick again.

Copper has suddenly becoming much, much tamer. He will now come up to you and no longer blows up when I catch him. He has a bad habit of biting, though, which I'm trying to fix. He's super ticklish and squirms all over when you rub him, though he doesn't walk away. Rain is in love.

I am in horsy-girl heaven.

Secret, as you can see, is not bothered about humans at all and likes to lie with his head in your lap while you scratch him. He loves being scratched. He and Copper are finally starting to play together, on their hindlegs like little fluffy stallions.

The yearling foals are doing really well at the moment. Thunder has gotten over his problem with water and just stands there while I spray him everywhere; I think he likes it on hot summer days. I lunged the twosome yesterday. They are completely different and so interesting. Dancer is either a lot more intelligent or just a lot more mature than Thunder. She can focus for a lot longer and lunges much easier, responding very well. She even lunges well at a canter, though since she's so young I only ask her to canter one or two laps per session. She balances very easily on the small circle, much like her mother. The disadvantage is that she tends to blow up and shoot around bucking every now and then, or try to jump over the side of the lunge ring (not hard considering that in places the lunge ring doesn't have sides). She's very fiery and prone to temper tantrums, though not as bad as Siobhan at her age.

Thunder is her complete opposite. He tolerates virtually everything. You could start sawing his head off and he wouldn't mind. OK, not literally, but you get the picture. He wouldn't know a temper tantrum if you hit him with it, and he doesn't mind anything unless it falls in his grass. He's the sweetest colt I have ever worked with; content to just stand with you oozing soothing silence, and so confident that humans are just strange horses that if you scratch his withers you have to watch out or he'll groom you back. He really is the gentlest, sweetest little horse and doesn't have a bad bone in his body. Oh, I know he's going to buck and bolt and do stupid stuff when he's backed and that he's just as dangerous as any 300kg lump of spirit and muscle, but he really is an angelic horse. He just needs to be gelded before he turns into a brainless stallion. Unlike Dancer, though, he learns very slowly and you have to break ideas down in little chunks before you can fit them into his head; he doesn't focus for longer than a few minutes at a time and sometimes dodders along dreamily in his own little world totally ignoring everything you say. I'm going easy on him. He's only a baby. He lunges really well at a walk and trot, though I know he's going to be lazier than Dancer, and goes very messily at a canter; he also sometimes tries to wander back to Dancer, being very attached to other horses in his herd.

He's getting that golden shimmer to his coat that he inherits from his mother... Isn't he just a dream of a horse? I do love the silly dear.

I know he's as thin as a rake, but he's putting weight on really well now, having grown by 9kg in two or three weeks when I last weighed him this month. They both tie up quite well though Thunder tries to follow me and then stands there at the end of the lead rein looking abandoned, but he doesn't explode and go nuts when he realises that he can't move around or graze freely, just looks pitiful. He milks the pitiful look for all it's worth.

The sun set on a happy and successful day.

January 20, 2012: The Ear Saga

... is not yet over, but it's much improved. Skye has a problem with her ear. She shows little or no discomfort/itchiness/pain/swelling/pus/dirt/ticks, but she holds it floppy, like this:

At first - I think it was Tuesday, or early Wednesday - she had it constantly flopped to the side like that, but now after some TerraCortril and prayer it's coming right quite beautifully; I saw two pretty pricked ears this morning at breakfast time. She has also scratched her tail bald; at first I thought it was mites/lice/mange and covered her tail in Bayticol but to no avail, so having found her with sandy lips once or twice I suspected worms. It's strange, though, since she was done in September with Praziquantel and Abamectin, but hasn't been done with Ivermectin for a year so it must be whatever Ivermectin kills.

I think it's bugging her a bit though since she wasn't leaping about madly on Thursday on our outride, though I was in such a dreadful mopey stressed-out mood (I get them apparently at random) that I would not be surprised if she picked up on it. She does that with a sensitivity that surprises even me. Further, Skye is beautiful and shiny and happy and powerful and all the things that a great horse is.

That star shines even at midnight.

Rain and Siobhan have been getting along absolutely swimmingly. About two weeks after the birth of Copper the two of them got back into work again. I've been quite lazy with schooling Siobhan, but have resolved to ride her myself at least twice a week so that she doesn't pick up bad habits, keeps learning new things and improving on her skills, and stays well-behaved with Rain.

First, I got the crazy idea to lunge her; I think Rain wanted to learn to lunge. It did not go well; she hasn't been lunged for about a year now, plus I don't have a ring anymore so I lunged her in the arena. She went slightly ballistic, reared a few times and bolted when I tried to put two reins on her, but eventually settled enough that I let Rain lunge her on a small circle at a walk. Copper soon got accustomed to ducking under the lunge rein and Rain proclaimed, proudly, "I'm lunging two horses at once!"

Soon I let Rain ride her again, after I had made sure that there were no bucks in her, much to their absolute delight. They're bored with figures of eight and going round and round the arena, which is all they do since I have a Thing about riding out on Siobhan (which I will fix as soon as Arwen is over her AHS and we can take that twosome out together; I hate watching anyone else ride Skye), so I put up some fun stuff for them.

First it was the bendy thing constructed out of tyres and poles; Skye and I have to do it backwards, but I let Rain and Siobhanny do it at a walk. Each time they got through from both sides without putting a foot outside, I moved the poles closer and closer until eventually they were only about 30cm apart. It was difficult...

... even for little Copper...

... but they managed it. This is a picture of "Squid launcher! Oh yeah!" For some unfathomable reason, Squid Launcher has been adopted as Rain's personal battle cry. It is starting to drive me sightly insane. Is it just me or is Siobhan rolling her eyes in this picture?

Next, it was weaving between a long row of tyres set up roughly 5m apart. Siobhan is a pretty supple pony and likes bending herself, so of course they simply charged throught that, much to Copper's delight.

Siobhan is starting to look happy under saddle now, despite the browband.

Arwen is still on holiday; it's only been two weeks since her injection, so she's basically just lolling around and watching Secret eat her fly mask. I seemed to spend more time looking for that fly mask than Arwen spent wearing it, so eventually I more or less strapped it into place by putting a halter on over it until we could find one that fits. Perhaps now that she has a properly fitting one it will stay on and everyone will come in wearing fly masks at suppertime. Dancer, however, is in the process of ripping her second one to shreds.

Speaking of which, I tried to introduce Dancer to the concept of the hosepipe yesterday. Thunder was something of a breeze, his greatest protest being to walk in endless circles around me trying to keep from getting his bum wet and tripping over the hosepipe. The habit is immensely irritating and I'm working on getting rid of it, but that was that, and since Dancer has not been a difficult child (not nearly as difficult as Siobhan, anyway), I didn't anticipate much of a problem.

Me: Hey Dancey! Why don't you have a bath today? I'll just spray the water on your forelegs for a while so you can get used to it.

Dancer: I don't like it.

Me: OK, OK, I'll just let you smell it, then.

Dancer: I don't like it.

Me: See, it's not going to hurt you.

Dancer: I DON'T LIKE IT! GET IT AWAY FROM ME OR I'LL KILL YOU!!

She was up on her hindlegs pawing manically at the water and snorting with terror; she was fine with having her body all the way down to the flanks wet, but near the hindquarters she went a little crazy. Still, much better than Siobhan, who deconstructed part of a fence during her violent protest at having a sore front fetlock watered. Dancer is very responsive, both to the halter and to my voice; she's fiery and likes to move fast, but will quickly submit to pressure from the lead rein.

Thunder has been much better on walks lately; he still whinnies but as long as I stay calm, he won't pull me about or barge into me. We go for walks on The Far Side (AKA the bigger Frieslands' paddocks) and even with the calves cavorting around he generally keeps his head. Right now I'm trying to break his babyish habit of standing right on top of me and breathing down my neck when we stop to open a gate. I make him stand still at a respectful distance and even though he gives me Poor Little Horsy All Alone looks that are designed to press my guilty buttons, we're getting there.

Today was a highly successful day in my opinion; my horses all had a holiday because I was at the stables playing with someone else's horses. I love meeting them all, there's always something new to see. Poor old Double Reef has gone lame in one of his hindlegs and Sunny is footsore so I didn't get to ride the geldings today, apart from five minutes on Reef before I noticed something was wrong, so for a change I rode Pumpkin. Pumpkin, a liver chestnut thoroughbred who's been there forever, feels very smooth because her long back is a bit of a shock absorber, but she tends to rush in a canter and nods her head a lot if you try to get her to bring it in. Her neck got a workout today when I tried to get her to go with her head in; a success by my standards. She's a lot less lazy than she used to be, too, and very nice and responsive to my legs.

The most interesting part of today was working with Savannah, a beautiful bay thoroughbred mare. Savannah has hurt her back and we were trying to figure out if she was still in pain or simply malingering. At least, Kevin was trying to figure it out and I was standing there trying to suck in information like a sponge. She freaked out a bit when the saddle went on and when she was lunged she proved to be extremely stiff and reluctant to turn left or right, so it turns out that her back still hurts. Poor Savannah, she's so lovely, I rode her before she was hurt and she neck-reins really well.

Then of course I headed up to the ponies' paddock armed with a bridle, a lunge rein and (most importantly) a helmet to go and work with Cowboy. Leading him about 100m from the paddock to the arena was something of a nightmare; I lost count around the sixth rear and he decided to have one temper tantrum right next to a client's car, nearly squashing the car, myself and the client in one fell swoop. He got soundly spanked, dragged into the ring, saddled up and lunged until he behaved himself. Actually if we can only survive the walk to the arena he is quite good; being a stallion he neighs incessantly, and if he loses his head he does tend to rear and kick out, but on the lunge he bucked only once and under saddle, thanks being to God, he didn't buck at all. First I rode him on a lunge rein, still being a bumptious beginner, and when asked to trot he promptly reared; I stayed on, eye-poppingly scared, and was perfectly useless for quite a while before Kevin was resigned to riding him. 6ft+ Kevin on about 12hh Cowboy was quite a sight and Cowboy quickly and wisely submitted, trotting calmly around the arena; by then I had decided that I would rather fall off than be totally useless, so I rode him off the lunge rein around the arena, in figure eights at the walk and even trotting. He was very good (and very tuckered out), apart from the endless neighing. He is quite lazy but a quick smack with the flat of the hand, if kicking doesn't work, usually gets him started.

I just wish I could get rid of this nervousness. I think I'm a relatively capable rider who goes totally runny when confronted with what she wants to do most - train young/abused/difficult/wild horses. How lovely. I really need to stop this nonsense because it is nonsense and the looming fear is getting between me and my dream, and nothing can get in the way of a dream except yourself.

Ugh.

Well, at least I more or less pulled myself together by the end of it, that's all I can really say. Tomorrow it's back in my own horses' saddles with me. Skye and I will go and fly free again...

And there is no sound more contented than that of a horse grazing at twilight.

January 15, 2012: 2012 So Far

Before we could even have any calves born this year, on January 3, Siobhan decided to shock us all and pop out a very small bay colt right in front of our eyes. I have been insanely lucky to see two foals out of four born, in daylight. I had been suspicious for several months, and in the last week or so I kept a hawk's eye on her and forbade Rain from riding her, but it was still a shock when on my morning off (of all mornings) Rain phoned me and shrieked "SIOBHAN'S WATER JUST BROKE!!!" so down I flew in my pyjamas to see this:

She foaled remarkably easily for a filly, even though she is small. It took six minutes from start to finish.

Skye (now totally sound) was enthralled.

Before long mare and foal were on their feet and Secret promptly investigated.

Skye nuzzled him over with feathery gentleness.

After an hour and a half he still hadn't suckled and seemed to be having trouble finding his milk, plus Siobhan wasn't pushing him to her udder the way Arwen did with Dancer, so I gave him a prod or two in the right direction and soon he was plugged on and suckling away.

The poor dear thing has been named Copper because, when dry, he has the same metal sheen to his coat as Siobhanny does. She's turned out to be a great mom; she was very paranoid at first and would only let me come anywhere near her, so Copper is still rather wild and scared of people, but Siobhan has relaxed considerably, even accepting the presence of Cyclone.

Copper looks terribly small but Siobhan is only 13.2hh after all. He's very healthy and bright and he has a lovely intelligent head.

2012 promises to be eventful, judging by its start. Skye is totally healthy again and fiery as ever. I've been working on her straightness, once Kevin pointed out that she went crooked and showed me how to fix it; the head goes one way and the body goes the other way, and I have to push her body straight with one leg, keep her going in the right direction with one hand and keep her head straight by opening the other arm. Something like that, anyway, it's easier to do than explain. She's been going a lot better. Amusingly, she goes most crooked in a slow canter and most straight in a flat-out gallop (as we demonstrated dramatically to our instructor, almost squashing the fence in the process and running a quick lap around a tree in order to slow down). We didn't work in the arena as Skye thinks the arena is the most boring place on earth and sulks dreadfully, but do exactly the same stuff outside and she is as happy as a bird, funny thing.

Skye's been very full of energy lately, including a few happy bucks and exaggerated shying in her abundance of fizz, which has started to break my habit of half falling asleep in the saddle on Skye, not before I fell off (onto my feet) when she shied wildly at a duiker. I kept hold of both my reins, so that was all right. I prefer her fast and fizzy to slow and bored; I'd rather fall off a happy Skye than stay on a bored-to-death one, weird as that may sound.

The woods are Narnian in their summer beauty.

The horses seem to be living on weeds at the moment; their paddock is more weedy than grassy, and they're not touching their hay. As they're shining like glass and in excellent condition I can't complain, but I do wish they'd eat their hay instead of letting it go mouldy and used as bedding. Now and then I take some of them out into the neighbouring calves' paddock; those silly things eat only hay and no grass, so it's long and juicy.

At the riding school, Kevin has been asked to train a pony named Cowboy. Said pony is smaller than 12hh or so (I really suck at guessing, but he's about the same height as Benjamin the donkey), grey and has an attitude big enough to fit a Percheron. Since he's so short Kevin would stand over rather than sit on him, so I get to work with him. He's very cute and a royal pain in the bum. Isn't this the most innocent pony face?

He is a stallion and as expected tried to drag me down to the arena from his paddock, so I pulled him back and tried to make him walk next to me. Little stupid pony didn't like that at all and reared up. Little stupid handler didn't see it coming and didn't have a long rein or a riding helmet, a fact I instantly regretted upon receiving a glancing blow from a flying hoof. Thankfully Cowboy isn't shod and the only result was a painful lump, for which I got no sympathy ("How many fingers am I holding up? No, five. One's just bent"). So it turns out that Cowboy is backed after all and I rode him, on a lunge rein like a beginner (I admit to being scared witless, or more witless than usual, anyway); once Kevin had shouted at him enough to stop his rearing Cowboy behaved very nicely under saddle, offered to rear once but didn't make it, and gave only a single buck.

Next week I think he'll behave well enough for me to ride him alone, though I'm never going anywhere near him without a helmet again, little brat. There are two other ponies coming in late February that are too small for Kevin, and I'm really looking forward to them. I just have to squish this nervousness of mine. I hate being nervous. I know that I can only get through it with God's help, and I know that He has never failed to answer my prayers.

Back at home with my own bunch, Arwen has had her AHS injection on the 6th and her passport filled out; her colour perplexed our poor vet considerably. She has been named grey, grey roan, iron grey and (whilst shedding) dark dapple-grey, but now she's going all brown, so she ended up as "black and brown with white mottled". I'll start riding her again after a week or two, very lighty, but I don't want her to blow up like a balloon again, she's so good at it.

Dancer and Thunder have been pottering on quietly; Thunder decided to kick out at me when I lunged him, earning a smack and a tremendous scolding; as it's the first time in all fourteen months of his life that he has ever shown any sign of aggression towards humans, I really can't complain. I think he was just getting frustrated, but he didn't get away with it, so maybe he'll think twice before trying it again. Dancer tends to bolt when asked to trot in hand, but she's a lot better with going into the crush and enters with little hesitation. The little monsters have been getting thinner and thinner ever since they were weaned, though the thinner they got the taller they grew, but in the last month or two they started to lose weight quite dramatically, especially Thunder, who lost almost 20kg. I put their feed up to about 800g a day, changed their bale (they weren't eating the last one properly) and weighed them again today. Both have put on weight and fleshed out noticeably, which I'm very pleased about. We're back on the right track.

I have started working Achilles again too. His first lunging session after months of inactivity was absolutely dreadful; rearing, bucking, bolting, trying to charge, pawing the ground, and generally being very aggressive and full of nonsense. An hour of work steadied him a bit and he was going nicely towards the end; yesterday I lunged him again, this time using two lunge reins (well, one lunge rein and a long strap, actually) and he didn't buck or rear or bolt even once. He goes very nicely with the two reins and I have much better control over him, though going counterclockwise he refused to canter more than half a circle at a time. We're working on it. I mustered my courage and rode him, too, at a very sedate walk and stopping every half-circle or so; I might have been more confident if we'd had the lunge ring, but it's history and besides, the foals are right there. So I rode him in his paddock without anyone to lead him, which was nerve-wracking, but he was very good and even goes nicely on the bit. I hope lots and lots of lunging will steady him to the point where bucking can be kept to a minimum. I really don't want to fall off him again.