Ringo, our resident OTTB, has been a total butt lately.
Well, not a TOTAL one, to be fair. But mostly. Gone is the eager fellow who really tried to do things my way, and in his place is a pretzel-horse with the mentality of a cranky old man who does anything he can to get out of proper work.
Such is the horse life.
We've reached a level of training now where I demand a certain level of cooperation, and Ringo has decided that the hard work and resulting sore muscles really isn't his cup of tea. The good thing is I know this is a phase that happens with all green horses as there training progresses. Another good thing is, he's reached a fitness level that allows me to ride seriously for up to nearly a hour without me worrying he's going to keel over.
Here's our issue: to the right, the horse has become quite balanced and even soft through his back. He no longer hauls along on the forehand, but pushes from the back and can even do the very beginnings of collection. He will canter straight and easily for as long as I want. We're starting 10m circles and counter flexion etc, and it's pretty cool. To the left however, Ringo is completely unbalanced and really needs extra support to hold him up on the inside, and of course, the left is MY weak side so we're ultimately SOL there.
Yesterday's ride was not going all too well and the blowing off my left leg was starting to get to me. I needed to out smart the horse, since my leg wasn't going to magically get all the strength back to hold him up. So, I regrouped, and got Brian to put me on the lunge. He literally did NOTHING except stand there holding the line and the whip, while I did the work. But what it did was take away Ringo's ability to grab the bit and run off, and just the presence of Brian there gave Ringo the reminder to stay out on the circle instead of cut in on me. Then I could actually get him to focus on cleaning up trot/canter transitions without fighting him and getting frustrated. I drilled him for probably 8-10 transitions, asking in different spots on the circle, until he stopped being braced. Then I got Brian to let me loose and I tried it without the ground support. It worked! Ringo forgot about twisting to the outside and fighting against my left leg, and actually gave me a pretty decent, pretty straight circle of canter. That was all he needed to do to be done for the day, so we ended on a good note after a long week of crap rides. Coach went out of town midweek so I trained by myself on Thursday and Friday.
On a better note, Brendan gave me what might be the highest compliment he's given thus far. He was cooling out his stallion and chatting with me about his rides with Danish Olympian Lars Peterson (I'm so peanut butter and jealous!!), and we were talking again about the importance of being fearless in the saddle. He gave me a sideways glance and said, "trust me, if you weren't (a brave rider) I guarantee you wouldn't be here."
Yes, yes, we've established that I'm unafraid but can you just start telling me how GOOD I am???
Just kidding, I'll take it!
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