Chrome is so sheltered!

First I wanted to share a few pictures of Faran since I haven't posted anything about him in a while.  I brushed him for half an hour and I swear I got two pounds of fur off of him lol.  I don't mind though because I'm ready for him to shed out his sun bleached winter coat.

He lost a bit of weight over the winter (they all did actually), but he's gaining it back nicely.

You can see his ribs.  :(  His mane is pretty though. It took me a while to get the snarls out because the flies are out and he likes to shake his whole head which makes a quick mess of his mane!  I used some of the Show Sheen detangler on it, so hopefully it will keep some of the snarls out better.  Also I think that was the first time I've used a mister (instead of spray) bottle around him... he panicked at first, but then stood still on the second try.  He's so silly.

Oh I forgot to mention all of this was yesterday, I'm just posting a day late because I had to post baby Friesian pictures.  :)  So I did Chrome's workout yesterday (routine 1 with road walk, tail rotations, pelvic tuck, backing uphill and shoulder back and down stretch) and we went 1.84 miles.  By the way, for those of you who don't have fancy phones (mine doesn't have internet, just call and text) you can download and use Google Earth for free.  It has an Add Path tool that lets you trace out the route you took (use arrow keys to move around the map and mouse to draw path) and then it tells you how far you went.  This obviously works better on roads, but trails might show up pretty well too.  It's really great.

Anyway, I took a video of Chrome as we were walking past the neighbor's horses so you can see how he acts and why I'm a little nervous about riding him out totally alone just yet (and also why I called him sheltered in the post title).  :)  The video is below, but let's look at the pictures I took first.

It was around noon so the lighting wasn't great.

 I'm too tall!  If I forget to crouch, the perspective

 is off and he looks like he has short little legs LOL!

 All natural beveled edge from walking on pavement twice a week!  Yay!

 After we got home, he got a drink and this is him turning to walk back up the bank.

This isn't a great photo, but it shows his muscles (or lack of) fairly well.  Notice how he's getting the dip in front of his withers and developing the underside of his neck?  It's past time for some dressage to correct the way he carries himself, but that's what will make the assessments fun each month to see how his muscles change and develop.  :)

Now on to the video! Sorry I think it is about three and a half minutes long, but it's well worth watching it!!  I hope you can see it.  If not, let me know and I'll try to get screenshots.  So when we walked by the first time he was staring at them like he always does and wanting to get antsy, but he listened well and kept going.  You'll notice in the video whenever we get past them he wants to stop constantly and look back, but it's easy to get him walking again with a cluck and light tug on the rope.  After we went to the hill (which we walked back and forth over twice this time) we came back by on the way home.

On the way back the neighbor horses were amped up!!  They were galloping around, snorting, bronco bucking, just being total nuisances, so of course Chrome got amped up too.  They were all feeding off of each other I think.  So he turned on FULL ARAB MODE and oh my goodness he was GORGEOUS!!!!  I would pay money to see him in an Arabian Liberty Class because boy is he a show off!  That's why you have to watch the video so you can see the arched neck, flagged tail and floating trot hehe.  That is also why I stupidly encouraged him to behave this way when he was younger.  I'm dumb lol.  The good thing is that he's not out of control or anything.  I'm just worried how bad he would be under saddle since he has a tendency to be more nervous without me right there beside him.

Also I do not normally let him have the full length of his rope, but I did today so I could get the video.  He normally doesn't get this amped because I can keep him reeled in and get his attention better (even with his flat nylon halter, which I haven't fixed yet so I'm still using the rope halter).  So anyway I'll quit chattering and let you watch the video...


Isn't he gorgeous??  Or am I just barn blind?  :D

P.S. When I call Chrome an idiot in the video I'm using it as a term of affection.  I call my dog a dummy and my dad a butthead too.  It's just the way my family is. :D  I was never mad at him.  My voice sounds meaner in the video than it does in real life hehe.