Progress comes when you least expect it  at least that's what I find.  Thursday, the most amazing thing happened!  I was out riding OV and the crazy neighbors set off some left over fireworks.  Now, let me tell you, there was a day  when that kind of loud noise would have launched my horse into a tailspin.  Without thinking, I sucked in my breath and tightened up.  OV felt it and hesitated, but I pushed him on through it.  We kept riding, and THE OTHER TRAINER showed up to work a horse. Under her critical eye, OV held it together, trotting on without flinching during several major explosions.  I must say, I was really proud of my guy.  It may seem like such a small thing to a non-horse person, but that simple act of trotting on and not blowing up during a big distraction represents the culmination of a lot of hours of hard work and time spent with that horse  doing simple, repetitive exercises and waiting for the correct response.  In .OV's  case, it meant I sweated and ran around a lot too.  Most horses might give it up quicker. or a trainer with better timing and more experience than myself,  might get better results a lot quicker.  But
to me this is a HUGE achievement and I feel great!

With horses, just when you think everything is going great, something happens to slow you down.  Is that a corollary to Murphy's Law?  For example, I find a great trainer, the horse is doing super in training.  Then the hay changes.  For whatever reason, the timothy is now grass (not timothy even though the feed store will argue that until you are blue in the face). Although the hay is  green and the horses love it, the horse in training is constantly clearing his nose.  Clearly some kind of allergic reaction.  Now, instead of proceeding full speed ahead, you have to call the vet, do a treatment, try to figure out what hay he can (eat with out snorting) and is willing to eat (due to flavor, texture, smell, and whatever other criteria horses place on their dinner.)  And while you are figuring this out, bam, full speed ahead slows to a snail's crawl. 

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Fourth of July  poses an interesting challenge for South Florida horses.  Most of our horses are not used to the noise and lights.  All horses react differently, some take it in stride no big deal, others fall apart.  Last night, I was really proud of my boys.  They were excited to be turned out, because some early birds had been shooting fireworks off before dusk, and they could hear it from their stalls above the fan noise.  Charlie didn't even look up from his hay.  Overherd did a couple slow laps around the little tree and settled in to grazing.  This is a huge improvement from when I first got OV and had to keep him inside on the Fourth and New Years Eve.   I don't know if it's age, experience, training, or Charlie's relaxed  attitude that rubbed off on him.  Whatever the new calmer OV can be attributed to, I am thankful to know the horses had a laid back  Fourth of July enjoying the fireworks on a balmy South Florida night.