One Fast Horse

Rode Gizmo all day yesterday. I had a couple of friends over and we rode in the arena before lunch and in the woods after lunch. As I was thinking how great Gizmo was on the trail, he quickly made me realize that he needs a lot of work. What makes him a good trail horse is the fact that he is left brained most of the time and very curious. He feels comfortable in the lead, in the middle, or in the back of the line. He is very friendly and has never shown aggression to any other horse that I have experienced, even when they are very aggressive to him. The two problems I encountered yesterday was the adrenaline rush he picked up from the others and his need to gallop instead of canter. On the way back to the barn all of the horses started picking up a little speed. Some more than others. Well, so did Gizmo! I would bring him to a walk again using the partial disengagement and it worked 100% of the time. However, after slowing to the walk, he would pick up the trot again almost immediately. I kept at it because I felt it was right. One of my friends lost her cell phone on the trail so me and another friend decided we would ride and look for it. We decided to go at a slow canter to cover more ground so off we went. There was no canter for Gizmo. It was a race to the finish. He would hardly slow when I tried to use one rein. He was completely ignoring me. He never bucked or did anything to unseat me, he was just super fast. In the arena, he is an introvert and once in a canter, he is so ready for me to que him to slow. He does it 95% of the time with just me breathing out, but in the real world I'm dealing with a different animal. I will have to practice more in the arena before asking him to do it in the pasture, and then bringing him on the trail. Wow, it was a wake up call!