New Beginnings for a Special Horse

This fall I was given a horse from my instructor. He is a 6 year old percheron morgan cross gelding. His name is Cavallo. Here's his story:
His previous owners bought him for $3,500. Their plan was to do dressage with him. I'm sure it went okay for a while, until they really started asking things from him. They took him to a few competitions, and my guess is that's what pushed him over the edge. His owner put her 70 year old dad on his back, and Cavallo took off. Poor guy! This event reoccured when a 5 year old girl rode him. They then decided they were done with him, and gave him to my instructor. She played with him a little bit, and had some other people at the barn play with him. When she saw my mom, my instructor told my mom that he had my name on him. Obviously, now I really wanted to play with him!! We set up a date, and came out to the barn to play. When we got there, my instructor handed me his halter and a handful of treats, and we walked out to his paddock. He came right up to us! I put his halter on, and we went to the barn. As I played with him, I realized he's a VERY special horse with some awesome talents. I was hooked then and there. My instructor offered to give him to me, and of course I said yes! When we brought him home, I played with him a lot, making a lot of progress. I figured out that he's a RBI when learning, but he's inately LBE! Oh boy! I had a few lessons with my instructor, and she gave me a lot of pointers. The past couple days I've been playing with him, he's only needed phases 1 and 2! And, he's becoming more and more extraverted everyday! His driving game is so light I really only need to focus, and pulse my fingers! His yo-yo is already phase 1! And wow, his circle game! The rope generally drags on the ground at the trot! He learns so fast! He also sidepasses from zone 2 with just my focus and me walking toward zone 2! I haven't ridden him yet though, but I am in no rush! When I first got him, he wouldn't even line up to the mounting block (I can only imagine how his previous owners got on him =/ ). Now, I step up on the mounting block, send him forward, and he lines himself up and gets as close as he can without knocking me over! yay! I can lay on himon my stomach, and jump on him and lay on my stomach. Next, I will be swinging my leg over. My biggest challenge with him is keeping his confidence and trust. He hasn't had many good experiences with humans. He has made so much progress in the past two months, and I am SO proud of him!!