David and the Horses

Well, this week David did not ride Lucky. Lucky has some sore muscles and needs to rest. Also, David is ready to move on to a horse with a little more spunk. So now David is riding a horse named Bjorg. He is a beautiful horse (personally my favorite of all the horses). Bjorg is a type of horse called a Norwegian Fjord. They are beautiful horses, light in color with a black "dorsal stripe" that runs through the main, down the back and down the tail. I call Bjorg a "punk rock" horse because they crop his main so you can see the two different colors in it--thus producing a mowhawk. ;) His mane is a pale cream color on the outside with a thick black stripe in the middle of it. Likewise, his tail is pale cream with black running through it. He is pale in color down to the base of his legs, which have the black "socks". Very beautiful horses.
Bjorg is quite a bit younger than Lucky and is loaded with personality. He sticks his head out and moves his lips and shows his teeth--his way of "laughing". It looks much like the way Mr. Ed used to "talk" on the TV show. He also loves candy. One of the leader had eaten some candy prior to class. Bjorg could smell it and was too busy sniffing and inspecting the leader (in hopes of finding more candy that he might get a taste of) to pay attention to the instructions he was being given. Bjorg loves candy!
David had a new experience riding Bjorg because he's a bit more rotund than Lucky. David had to really stretch his legs to ride atop Bjorg. After a bit of adjusting, though, David was right at home of Bjorg's back and doing all of his exercises very well.
It was great fun to watch David and Bjorg work together. They seem to have matching personalities, a bit bold and daring with a spirited sense of humor...and feisty! Oh boy those two are quite the feisty team!
David still gets to go over and say hi to Lucky and visit for a couple of minutes since they are such good friends. David is doing so wonderful with these lessons. I am continually amazed at how fearless David is. He does one exercise, "around the world" where he swings his little leg over the horse's neck so that he's sitting sideways. Then he swings his leg over again so that he is seated backwards on the horse. Swinging his leg again he now sits sidesaddle facing the other way and then one more swing on the leg and he is seated correctly in the saddle. David does this so quickly he barely puts his legs down before he's swinging his next leg and spinning around in the saddle. Even with my years of riding I don't think I could do this with have the balance and grace that David does this manuver with! If a horse doesn't do what he asks of it, he has no problem putting his little hand on the horse's nose and making it obey his command. It is so impressive to watch this little guy command these big animals around. He is so fearless. That's our David!!!