Licking and Chewing

Today I had an outstanding session with Cavallo!!! I feel like I'm really starting to build a great relationship with him! Here's how our session went:
I brought him out behind the barn where theres not so much snow. I opened the "gate" to our round pen so it sort of resembled trailer loading. We just stood there for a while while he sniffed everything, then I just play some friendly game with him. I slid the string off of his back and he walked right into the round pen! YES! He's so smart!! Then I asked him back out and gave him a rub. Next we went over to our "pedestal" (it's the base to a basketball hoop that broke) and I just stood there and let him have his own fun with it. He pawed it and stomped it and licked it...then looked at me like 'okay im done, what would you like?' So I asked him to step on it, but it was wayy to slippery for him to stand on so when he just rested one hoof on it, I asked him off. Then I had him walk over it both ways. Next we play some driving game and I drove his HQ and FH to different things for him to touch. He really enjoyed it! Then we played with some sideways at the trot! He's amazing at sideways!!
After that, we played with some circle game on the 45 foot. He was much happier on the 45 foot! He had so much more drift so he could leap around. I asked him to trot until there wasn't any tension in the line, and then I brought him in. Next, I asked him to canter, which was beautiful!! After all that, we just spent some UDT together. He started yawning and got all relaxed, which is really great to see! I can't believe how much more relaxed he's gotten since he's been in my ownership. He tends to suck on his bottom lip, which makes his mouth look really small. It's a really great indicator when his mouth gets longer, because I know he's relaxing.
The reason I named this post licking and chewing is because I have never had a horse lick and chew so much in my life. When I first got him, he had that secretive RBI lick where he doesn't show any tongue, but now he does an LBE lick with a ton of tongue!! I LOVE IT!!
It's so amazing watching him grow and learn. He's gonna be such an amazing horse!!
Savvy On!!