The day doesn't always go as planned

Thursday was one of those days. We had wanted to do a long run together, me riding and John running. We had a goal of 16 miles but were going to stay close to home and do loops in case Boomer's hooves started to get sore on the hard roads. Well, we started off and Boomer got to his barn sour antics. He was spinning and being belligerent. It was actually worse than it has been. I got off him a number of times and he just flew around me at the end of the rein I was worried he was going to bolt home. At one point he tried to rear with me on him and I just lost it. So, I got off and walked him home, tied his reins to the girth, and cantered him around the round pen for about 15 minutes. When I was sufficiently calmed down and he was sufficiently sweaty, I got back on and started riding him back out. He balked a little, but did eventually leave the barn. I rode him up the road to the north for a little over a mile, then back down to the south towards the highway. He was reluctant, but stayed going forward. Then I headed south of the highway, hoping to meet up with John who was still out running. We did eventually see him coming towards us and we did the rest of the run together. Boomer did balk pretty good once when we were going towards John. We were probably a half mile away from each other and Boomer started his shit again, but I didn't have to get off to get him moving forward, so that was good. Once we met back up, we went past the barn road and went up the north road again. That was good for Boomer to pass the way home a number of times. When we did head home, I made him do a ton of fake out circles away from home. At first he was resistant, but he calmed down after he figured out that A) I was in charge and B) we always headed home eventually.

Over all, I was a little disappointed. He hadn't acted like that in a few weeks. But, in his perspective, he knew what was coming and while the last run didn't make him visibly lame, he was probably sore from the workout on such concussive ground. He is used to trotting for extended periods on grass, not hard packed gravel. I did order him some Renegade Hoof Boots for his front feet, we will see if that helps him. He wasn't ouchy on the hard gravel, but he did have a slower pace than on the grassy shoulder of the road.

I was happy that after reminding him who was in charge, he was more manageable. I wish he would just get over it and I also wish that I could work him out on the trail/road as well as I can in the round pen. Maybe I should lunge him before I plan on going out of a ride. I did lunge him when we got back as well. It was a little Boot Camp refresher course. Perhaps I was a little lax on that once he started being good.