Wild & Crazy

This morning I saw a (somewhat) rare sight. My pretty boy was strutting his stuff!! He wasn't out of his stall yesterday (due to my Birthday celebrations) so I arrived bright and early this morning (after feeding my pals horses). I could tell as soon as I arrived that he was rearing to go! When I got there he was happily munching on his hay, but by the time I dug out his replacement leg wraps (there is a bit of a fungus problem, but THAT is another story) and came out of the tack room he was standing at his stall door with his ears up and his eyes bright. So I brought him out and wrapped up his legs and slapped on the velcro boots and off we went. I decided to take him outdoors as there wasn't any mud and the stable was hosting a day camp in the indoor arena. It took every bit of his self control to wait until I told him to go and BOY he was 12 years old again!! Kicking and bucking and running and...snorting. We've had a bit of a problem with this noisy habit in the past. It seems as though other horses who are supposed to be working think that when Apache breaks into this breathy song that it's time to play!!! I did mention the day camp, right?? Well after about 3 minutes of this stomping and blowing I could hear the poor instructor attempting to regain control of her group. Did I mention Apache LOVES to disrupt other horses work?? It is definitely near the top of his priority list. I let him run himself out and after about 10 minutes he did. We calmly walked out the round pen gate (stud chain firmly in place) and he proceeded to bend his head down and graze as if to say "My work here is done". Thank goodness I ride the troublemaker as opposed to having to ride NEXT to him...