Updates!

Alright. I played with Chase for five hours today, and have realized even further how challenging a horse he is. I wouldn't trade or give him up for anything, of course. But its brought to my attention that I do need to proceed with caution around him. He DOES get frustrated and angry, no matter how incredulous it seems to me. We had an awesome time-he started out pretty disconnected to me-pulling me around the arena a couple of measures, before I started to be more peticular and started asking for less. He is everything I ever dreamed of in a partner, including an incredible amount of spirit. This is great-fantastic, actually! :) But it also means I absolutely have to treat him the way he wants to be treated, otherwise he can and will turn aggressive. It's kind of like playing with fire. But I love this fire. :) What brought me to this conclusion? Chase became confused, and I kept asking for him to sidepass towards me-he was still confused. Then he became frustrated, and finally, angry. Farrah stepped in (I was a little confused and frustrated as well, though I stayed persistant in what I was asking), and made things clearer for him-upping the phases. At one point he exploded, rearing up and striking out. One of his hooves brushed my arm, though I got out of the way soon enough that it didn't cause any issues. But still-isn't that what partnership is about? Equine/human, human/human, or otherwise? Getting to know each other-and to know both their light and dark sides? He's seen some of mine-I guess it was only a matter of time before I saw some of his.
This makes my perspective of him change somewhat-not in a bad way, by any means. I'm still in awe on how I could have such an insanely smart, beautiful horse for an equine partner. But it makes the whole scenario seem more realistic-more grounded. Makes him feel like more of a real being, and reminds me even more so that he has his own thoughts and opinions (not that I didn't know that before, it just is so blantantly obvious now), that he is his own being, and doesn't necessarily HAVE to listen to me (I forget that sometimes...). But, I am reminded by the resounding whinny he has for me nearly every time I come into view-that this changes nothing between us. I'm eager to see how his mentality changes as he grows-right now he's more like me, and very childish.
Oh! Back to means-we've been playing around with riding. He's learning really fast-he already knows the signal for go and responds to steering. 'whoa' is a little more foggy, though its getting clearer each time I get on his back. I'm super excited-but I do remember I can't push it.