Spicy Day

This week's gray weather continued today with the addition of a cold, wet wind. While the temperature was a relatively mild 50 something daegrees, it was a chilly day and the horses were certainly feeling it. I'm working to be more consistent in Yeager's works so today I made sure to hurry through my other barn chores to allow enough time to work him the way I wanted. Good thing too because he was wired! Not to the point that he couldn't work- just in that hyped up, everything-is-a-horse-eating-monster sort of way. His reactivity showed a really fabulous trot and he was more responsive to up transitions (and started off blowing through my requests for down transitions). The more he works, the better his canter becomes. Today, he offered the same gorgeous, round canter I get to the right on the left lead. There were also fewer feet leaving the ground in the process of cantering. But a whole lot more stomping and tail flagging and crow hopping. He ended up working harder than I had planned because of his insistence on cantering off whenever I asked for a transition.

Once he settled down enough that he would walk-trot-walk and walk-halt-walk quietly in both directions, I removed the lunge line and got on him using the mounting block. He is suprisingly good with the mounting block, and stands quietly for me to get adjusted. He waits for me to ask for the "walk on". This has been a major training stumbling block for several OTTBs that I've worked with but Yeager doesn't seem phased by it at all. We walked and halted on the track in the arena for a few minutes. He was a little looky but was mostly paying attention. A flyover by a helicopter caused an anxious moment but Yeager handled it well- with just a head toss. He was listening well, so I asked for a trot and got a few strides until we hit a muddy spot. Asked again, and he gave both the up and down transition calmly although I could tell his tension and worry were increasing. After one more successful trot and halt, we called it a day.

All in all, I was pleased with what he offered. This was his first time being ridden in the lower ring (or anywhere outside of the roundpen) and his first ride where we were on our own. Kudos to him.

As a side note, there is a new baby at the barn, about three days old today. Mama and baby were turned out today in a paddock that faces Yeager's stall window. I was told that he stood there for quite some time staring and calling to Mama and Baby. When we were coming back into the barn after riding, Baby was trying to make an escape to explore instead of going back in their stall. Yeager stood stock still, ears pricked and nickered at baby. It was an interesting reaction from a gelding.