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Updated March 20, 2007

I know, I know- this update is WAYYYYY overdue! I appologise...but here it is! Toby has grown to be a large, somewhat dorky teenager at three years old. He's about 16.1 right now, but his proportions are such that he still looks a bit gangly. Here they are on a lovely, warm March day. Warm enough for Echo to seek out the rather sparse shade provided by the rather sparse tree to take her nap. :-) They are jsut shedding their winter coats now, so will look much better in another couple of weeks.

I have been doing a lot of ground work with him as well as saddling, but have only stepped up a couple of times. He is still physically not terribly mature (mentally either, for that matter!) so I am in no great hurry to ride him. However, with this beautifull spring weather, I couldn't resist stepping up today to see what would happen! The following are a couple of pictures taken today, March 20th:

He doesn't look to sure about it, does he...?

Will asked if this was a bad sign...

As you can see, it was pretty anticlimactic- which means VERY GOOD! He is quite used to me being a drunk cowboy as I jump and stagger all around him, bumping into him, leaping about waving my arms, pulling on the stirrups and flapping them against him and so on. The first time I actually sat on his back, he turned his head as if to say "what are you doing up THERE?" and grabbed my toe between his teeth. Today, he more or less ignored me. It took a little encouragement to get him to figure out the "go forward" part of "riding". He has the backing, the flexing and turning the hindquarters dow pat, though!