Superman aka Manny

There's a new guy on the block at Brookhaven Stables! His name is Superman (or as I like to call him Manny or George because he's always curious like Curious George lol) He's a 13 year old bay quarter horse owned by a client/student of mine. He used to be a ranch horse and worked cattle before he found his new home with my client. He's been here about a week now and he's such a quiet and sweet gentleman on the ground. He loves people and attention and he aims to please. He knows all the basics such as walk, trot, canter, and whoa, however i've come to realize that he has a significant amount of homework to learn! Naturally he has a long back and he's a tad bit downhill, so using himself correctly and lifting his back is almost impossible...not completely, but somewhat close! Sooo he's hitting bootcamp with me twice a week and his owner rides him in a lesson with me on the weekends. He is currently learning how to soften through the neck and jaw, move off of my leg, bending through his ribs, and engaging his hind end at the walk. We do a little bit of posting trot and he's trying to learn how to stretch a little bit at the trot instead of running around with his head up and back hollowed out. He tends to pull himself around everywhere instead of pushing from behind. Today was the first real working ride that i've had on him, and needless to say he wasn't too happy to be actually working and moving the correct way. Suddenly ranch life and working cattle seems a lot easier than flat work! He wasn't impressed but we made a lot of progress in a short amount of time. Hopefully soon he'll start to realize that this work is helping him better himself and not trying to kill him lol