I rode Badger today.
Triumph. My thousand dollars has paid off! He didn't even twitch when I went to mount or move as I was getting on. He moved once I was on, but because I had touched a leg to him while trying to get my darn foot in the stupid ox-bows I have on. I rode him in the round pen at first, just in case the costly training had worn out, but he did well. When I moved to the arena it was great, he moves off like a champ and we even cantered, both leads! I love my pony even more now that he is well behaved.
He has a pasture pal now too. I didn't look to see what gender, but he/she is a pain in the ass when I'm trying to lead him out. S/he crowds real close, which luckily Badger doesn't seem to care about, but if he did it'd be ugly. The crowding is a pain because I have to chase brown horse off and s/he wheels round and kicks out at us. This is obviously a bad thing.
The only bad spot of the day was the mold growing on all my leather...ugh. It mostly wipes off though.