I rode both boys on Saturday evening and the differences between them are just stark.  Archie is a smooth operator, psychic in his ability to know exactly what I want, but with a streak of mischievousness a mile wide.  The guy has never had a problem telling me to go fuck myself.

I wouldn't necessarily say that Whiskey is confused about what I'm asking, but he's such a fresh slate.  I'm having to figure out what buttons exist, what buttons I've already installed, and how many huge gaping holes we've got left to fill.  Like, seriously, dude, how hard is it to walk straight?

So riding Archie was just easy and a no-brainer, but I've also had to reevaluate recently what exactly I've been investing in him.  It's so easy to think that I'm doing more than I am, but depression is a liar and I have to acknowledge to myself that I am probably spending more nights sitting on the couch, or, at the most, feeding them treats, than I am actively trying to get both boys fit.  I'll blame it on the weather.

Just some beer with my boys. 😍

A post shared by bekaburke (@bekaburke) on Aug 18, 2017 at 4:52pm PDT

Anyways, it was easy on Saturday, but the little ass was still salty when I asked for transitions.  He does this stuff no problem on the trail (gallop, you say?), but seemingly takes offense when we're "working".  I don't care.  It's fun.



And then, finally, what really has been months in the making:  I cantered Whiskey.  For the first time undersaddle.  I know some of y'all will completely support the WTF in this scenario, but I wanted to wait to canter him until I had some better steering and some idea of how to keep him balanced enough for it.  He still wasn't balanced enough to pick up his right lead, but he did give me some great counter-canter.