Explosive Energy

Today Louie was all wound up for some reason.  I attempted to ride, but he was really nervous, gawking at everything, wouldn't listen, and when I asked him to go sideways because he was being stupid looking at something, he ground his teeth and acted even more wound up.  He pooped 4 times in about 10 minutes of walk-trot work.  We got some decent walking in, but every time as soon as we tried to trot, he fell apart and was back to his nervous behavior. 

So I thought, I'm not going to fight this battle today.  I hopped off, hooked up some side reins, and lunged him for about 20-30 minutes. 

He started off at a racetrack trot.  Shortly after taking off at a trot, he started bucking, kicking, and just working out some of the extra energy that was apparently built up inside of him.  I was worried he was going to kick one of the walls, but thankfully he didn't.  He continued this fast trot- buck/kick routine, then cantered, bucked a bunch of times, and thought he was pretty hot stuff.  So we just kept going. . . I was glad I wasn't riding.

Eventually he settled down and actually relaxed.  I was able to ask him to lower his neck by wiggling my lunge line and praising him.  He picks up on that type of thing pretty easily.  By the end I had a very nice training level trot that was relaxed, round, and active.  I also had a very sweaty horse. . . we'll try again tomorrow, and hopefully I'll have a cooperative animal!