Back in February I did work experience in my local stables, 25 minutes cycle away from my house, and one of my jobs was to school a young cob who I named Atticus. He's 4 years old and hasn't been gelded yet. I never had any trouble with him during those 2 weeks; we hacked out with others and once by ourselves and I schooled him in the arena aswell as in group lessons; walking, trotting, cantering and doing small jumps. He's lazy to lunge, doesn't like having his headband put over his ears and hates being stabled [the instructor kept him stabled for once weekend and he kicked down the door] but he's easy to catch, follows me everywhere and is very well-mannered. I'm now allowed go riding Atticus for free whenever I want and I go over at least once a week, every day during school holidays. The weekend after work experience I went hacking to the local beach with 4 others and we galloped all the way down the beach, it's 2 miles long at low tide; I thought Atticus would be worn out but when we were leaving he was still full of beans! At the beach everyone was fawning over him and asking how old he was and were commenting on how he's not at all babyish. We were actually thinking of buying him for my 16th birthday.
Unfortunately, since I'm back in school Atticus is getting out of practice [nobody else ever rides him], he's hit puberty and he's got spring fizz. He's a completely changed pony. The first time I tried to school him in the arena over Easter, he was impossible to mount up on. He usually shuffles a bit, but he was walking all over the place. He was so calm in February that although he's young, I was able to mount as soon as I tacked him up and go straight away with no trouble, and he's settle after 10 minutes or so. The first time I tried to school him over Easter, I had to corner him in the arena and stick my foot in the stirrup; he walked off so I was hopping along the ground for a few minutes and when I managed to get in the saddle he cantered off. After doing a few laps in trot I jumped a 1 foot fence twice, then he started sticking in the corner by the gate. I managed to get him out with a bit of persistence and walked around the arena for a break, then did some cantering; he cantered where I asked him to, but instead of slowing down when I asked for trot, he bolted. He crashed into the railing by the gate twice, because he couldn't turn the corner in time, and he didn't want to turn anyway. Determined not to finish the session on a bad note, I walked a figure of 8 and some circles and then tried to take him hacking. That's when he had his first real stallion moment, when I tried to take him away from his friends he started only going backwards, a passerby had to lead him past the field for me. After that I managed to get him to walk to for a bit, but only to the end of his field. He started backing up and spinning at that point, every time I got him to take a step forward he's take two steps back, and I ended up getting off and leading him. when we'd gone around the corner and out of sight of the other horses, I let hi mgraze at the side of the road and mounted up without trouble, but he started spinning straight away and bolted for the field. I dismounted again and lead him halfway around the route we were taking, I had no trouble at all leading him, and when I got up he was in a great hurry to get home.
The next day I lunged him for half an hour, walking and trotting with a little canter [like I said, he's lazy to lunge], then did some free jumping, then went for a quiet hack with another girl and then went around the crosscountry course with her and the instructor; just trotting, going up and down banks and jumping the smaller, simpler fences. Atticus is a nifty little jumper and he did alright across country, but he did keep trying to bolt for home. By the end of it, he still wasn't settled.
Yesterday I went to the stables, I hadn't been there in just over a week, and Atticus was a disaster. I lunged him f