New Years Day.  

We had planned a New Years Day Open House which kind of fizzled.  Of all the people we invited, the only ones who came were Carolyn & Ed and Lauren & Greg.  Carolyn & Ed came in the afternoon to ride, and Lauren & Greg just in time for dinner.  Carolyn brought Moon, and Ed rode Cody.  We saddled up and Tim gave Ed a little instruction to ride Cody, so we were milling around for awhile and Brego did quite well at standing still, a few lateral flexion exercises and backing up, etc.  But when we turned toward the gate to go, Brego reacted to Moon, and obviously did NOT like Moon.  He was quite agitated.  This was very interesting to me.  As long as we were in front and not near Moon he was okay, but not when Moon got close.  When we got below Carl's barn, Tim asked Carolyn & Moon to stand still while I rode around in circles, to acquaint Brego to Moon and let him know I am his leader, he doesn't have to worry about Moon as long as I am in charge.  As we rode around in circles, he got more relaxed, then we moved on.  As we went, each time we got closer to Moon he was more relaxed, until Carolyn and I were able to ride side-by-side with no agitation.  Sometimes on the hills if Moon was nearby and acting out Brego was nervous too, but other than that Brego and I did just fine.  It will be interesting, as time goes on, to see how Brego reacts to other horses, and I will need to always be on the lookout and be his leader so he can relax and let me take care of keeping him a safe distance from the other horses.  On the way back we went through the water around the rocks--my first time on Brego in water.  Brego stopped and pawed at the water quite a bit--I guess he liked it--then we moved through and onto the dirt with no problem.  We had a good time, and although Brego was at times nervous, I managed to keep him under control with an occasional one-rein slow down.  I suppose we're getting the hang of it, but it still seems sloppy to me.