Sorry I missed this thread until now! I was quite busy, but still that´s no excuse for denying this thread the attention it definitely deserves!
I´m very happy for you and your last experience with Speedy - that is one of the best things that can happen to a horse owner ever. Funnily, I had such an experience just yesterday with Mucki. He grabbed his halter when I was not looking and gave it a soft tug twice to make sure I got the message. Then when I held it out for him, he plunged his head into it, waited for me the fasten the clasp and then followed me down to the exit of the pasture like never before. Usually he would wait for me to pick him up and then dawdle on the way
.
Sometimes Mucki would pick up the whip, the lead rope, paw or do jambette of course, sometimes he would just go to the exit and stand there
. Whatever he does, he´s become so much more expressive and I´m pretty sure I owe that to the R+.
But of course the best example of a horse who likes to interact with a human is your Speedy. Congratulations
!
I also share other things mentioned in your posts, like being a tall rider on a not so tall horse. I guess the ratio is actually quite like yours: 1.90m/75kg on a 1.55m horse. Fortunately Mucki also grows to the side a lot, so I won´t look like Don Quixote on Rosinante, hopefully
.
I also had my first attempts on riding Mucki, so I´ll follow this thread with rapt attention now.