Went to visit Reidar at the trainer's on Monday. He's doing really well. I'm very happy. Trainer has found he has 3 speeds of trot and is working on really bringing out the slowest speed since it's the only one a person can sit. He's got him desensitized to flags and tarps, he goes through gates while mountes, gets the mail while mounted, he's side passing and turning on the haunches. He's still a bit sloppy on the lateral work but I think that's more a matter of him figuring out where his feet need to go than any thing else. He tries, but he trips all over himself. Trainer says he likes to act lazy. But when he's playing he's very quick and agile, he just doesn't like to work. And he's not completely drafty in that he did get spooked by a rabbit the other day while they were on a ride. Trainer also said people will drive by, stop, and comment on how nice Reidar looks against the snow. Says he's not too bad with cars, only sort of spooked once. We went on a little ride. I was very happy.
and then, the BEST PART: Trainer took the saddle off and what to mine wondering eyes did appear but WITHERS! There they were, plain as day! Not to high, not too low... perfect withers. I asked the trainer about them and he said they'd just shown up this past week. Reidar is not thin by any means and it's still a bit of a challenge to feel his ribs but he's got withers. I was SO happy! This will make saddle shopping so much easier... granted I know that I'm going to have to really make an effort to keep him in shape, but it really made my day.