Three things about TPO

The Painted One (TPO) is doing well overall. Here's video from one of the hottest days of the year...

 As the summer starts in earnest I have learned 3 things about TPO.

• We have learned that his saddle slides forward when he canters more than a 20 meter circle or two -- if you keep going it goes right up over his wither. And we're looking to fix that before we do much more than the bit of canter we currently do. The saddle fitter pronounced that the saddle fits him, but it's likely his conformation is just going to make saddle stability a challenge. 
• He is tortured by the flies. His owner tells me she never rode in the heat, and the last two days when I rode in heat he was a different horse. You'll see in the video below his tail is positively twirling. The flies were particularly bad this day, it's true. But we are just now learning about this sensitivity.
• In the last two rides (in the summer heat and flies) TPO is showing us how much he loves the gate. It does not surface at the trot, really, but it does at the walk.  But when we walk, he has time to think. He has not done anything bad, but he does balk, which I've gotten around by circling him. 

He has opinions, but I appreciate that every time he's saddled he puts in a day's work.