In like a lion, out like a....well, a lion.

Yesterday I braved the high winds and chilly temps to get in a quick arena ride in the indoor.  After mounting and starting our ride, I started hearing gunshots from the barn owners doing some target practice.  This is a fairly regular occurrence on the farm, and Jasper's stall faces the target yard, so I would assume he'd be fine with it.  Not so.  He was getting increasingly agitated--enough so that I dismounted and lead him over to the driveway where he'd be even closer to the noise.  Despite us standing 20 yards or more from the gun (it was a small rifle--maybe a .22?), every time it went off he levitated about an inch off the ground.  I completely ignored him and allowed him to graze and really focused on acting like it was not a big deal.  After 15 minutes or so, I gave up and retreated back to the arena to finish our ride.  

Since our arena workout was pretty much a wash as I could hardly get him to focus, I decided yesterday would be an excellent day to introduce him to the crupper.  I've worked with him before using a soft rope under his tail at the walk, trot, and canter.  Also, most days when I groom him I will spend extra time scratching around on either sides of his tail.  Luckily, he really isn't very insecure about his backside, and really seems to enjoy his butt scratchies.  

I left him in the crossties and ran up to the trailer to retrieve his crupper.  I put it on and adjusted it to where I thought it should be, and we went into the arena to do some groundwork.  Once he started trotting, the saddle moved more than I anticipated and I loosened the crupper by a hole.  After I was satisfied he was absolutely not freaked out at all by the crupper (which took all of 2 minutes), I mounted and put him through his paces.  It was such a non-issue that I can't decide if it was all the previous work I've done with him on his butt or if he's just a really laid back guy.  Either way, I'm pretty satisfied that if I were to need the crupper for a ride, it would be no biggie!