I know that this might sound like a silly concern. But I am now beginning rehab walk work with Amigo. It is wintry, icy and cold outside, so work is taking place in the indoor arena. I guess that I am just paranoid that Amigo might be bored, but honestly he is not showing me this - quite the opposite really. He is being haltered in paddock happily, tacking up happily, is working well for a good 30 minutes with no balking or planting (which is what he does when he wants to stop), is accepting contact and chewing the bit, is not calling for his buddies outside (a habit that he had this summer, but that is now a thing of the past), he is doing his job in a content obliging manner - I cannot imagine what more he could be doing to show me that he is just fine. We are doing lots of patterns etc. to keep the walk work interesting. It's not like I can expect Amigo to start shouting "yippy" out loud and do a polka about the arena to show his contentment!
I guess it is more him than me, but somehow I imagine that the walk work must be boring Amigo silly! Either way, he needs to do this walk work, but I would prefer if he is not bored. When I objectively analyze it, he seems content and just fine with these rides. I guess you read so much about some horses getting bored with arena work, and when I think that we are doing 30 minutes of walk-only work, I assume that a horse might well be bored. I guess that it might depend on temperament - some horses might be bored, but Amigo is really giving me no signs that he is unhappy/bored so I should just get over it!
