Rawhide in the Field

The past week or so I've been riding Rawhide in the fields.  He's still getting some work in the arena, but he seems more relaxed riding out so I'm doing that to help him enjoy his job as a riding horse more.  Wednesday this week after I'd ridden him a little in the arena we then opened the gate and headed out to the front field to hack around.  He was quiet enough that I could take this video from his back, even with the new phone I'm still adapting to myself. 
https://youtu.be/YK7trQec6u0

Feeling confident in Rawhide's progress, today I took him straight out to the field to hack.  I had my phone on my belt clip playing music.  He was doing so well and riding so quietly that I decided to take another video, this time leaving the music going. 

I didn't come off, but it got exciting real quickly.  I'm not sure if it was the music getting louder when I removed the phone from the belt clip, which was a new stimulus for him.  It could also have simply been the click from the phone snapping out of the clip that set him off.  It actually did set him off, in that we took off in the pasture.  I was able to get him to circle, and brought him down to the trot, and we just did twenty meter circles in the field until he calmed down enough to go back to walking on a loose rein. 

Rawhide is genuinely trying to be good, but he is so far behind the average twelve year old horse in training and exposure to things that he reacts much more dramatically than one would anticipate.  I'm pleased with his progress because his big spooks are getting more infrequent, but when he does spook it's still big. 

I remind myself that he's really only had just over a month of riding experience, since he arrived here just 35 days ago.  For a horse who arrived with the kind of baggage he did, this is still remarkable progress in a short time frame.  There is much less tension in him and he's less inclined to argue with me.  He can walk, trot, canter, halt, back, open gates, and ride over any number of poles in the arena.  He's been on a long trail ride, and many short rides out in the field, alone and with other horses.  He will pick up his leads at the canter, and will go over the logs in the fields in a mannerly way at the walk.  For a horse who didn't know how to carry a rider in a balanced way at the walk a month ago, he's doing pretty well. 

Rawhide does get aggressive with other people at feeding time, though he's no longer aggressive with me if I feed him.  He arrived with this food aggression.  I'm pleased that he no longer does it with me, but he has yet to earn anyone's trust because of him charging the fence and aiming at other people.  Fortunately I still have more time with him to try and get his startle reflex and the aggression on the ground decreased, and hopefully the knowledge and respect he and I have shared will transfer over to other people. Onward and upward from here!