My new horse, Watch Ole Cash

I purchased Watch Ole Cash ("Cash") on Jan 16, 2012 from a guy named Aaron Smiley in the Gonzales area. Cash had been sitting in Aaron's pasture for a year or so, been ridden only about 3 times in the last year. The guy had worked cows on the 14 year old and done a little bit of team roping on him. He said he'd owned him for 4 or 5 years, but since his kids got into sports he hasn't been riding. Cash was so fat when we got him!
We tried him out for a week, and in the midst of that week I took Tex to the Daniel Dauphin horsemanship intermediate clinic.
When I first met Cash on Jan 9, it was on our way to roping practice. He was pretty responsive on the ground, neck reined pretty nicely, but he had some really, really slow feet! I wasn't convinced.
Then, on the 12th-13th, I went to the clinic and learned how to loosen up Tex's feet quite a bit. After I got home and rode Cash, it seemed as though I could do the same activities with Cash to loosen up his sticky feet. My husband, the more experienced horse person, loved him and was convinced that he has a sound mind, was very willing, and was just rusty on the things he actually knows. I trust his opinion, and I liked Cash's sweet disposition pretty well, and saw potential, so I agreed. We paid up and now he's ours.

What I like about him:
Low head set and can be ridden without a tie-down in the pasture.
He's been roped off of
He's big
Nice hips and shoulders
He is very, very gentle
He's not spooky
Not too forward- I wasn't really looking for a forward mover.
He is fast when he needs to catch up with a cow.
His head is gorgeous.
He has big sturdy feet.
I can ride him bareback!
He neck reins. :)

What needs a little work:

His headset - he's naturally low, but pops that head up when I pull back at times. You can tell he's been ridden with a tie-down and that he's looking for it.
Moving, moving, moving. He can really be slow when he wants to, and can ignore my spurs. There is lots of potential there (as seen in the roping pen) but I need it there when I want it.

Moving his parts individually. Shoulders aren't bad, hips could use some work.

Stop- could use a little work. He's about a "3 step stopper" right now. I think I can handle that problem.

Roundness. He could be a little more collected and round. Typical roping horse problem.

Ground manners. He isn't as responsive to the halter as I'd like, but he's already getting the hang of what I won't put up with just in a couple days of working on that. I will not tolerate disrespect on the ground.

We'll see how this progresses. In the meantime, I plan to continue on with Tex until I get Tex neck reining, loping more calmly, and being able to be ridden outside the arena.
TM