Seeing Progress in Different Ways

I've always wanted a horse to whinny at me when I got to the barn. Rico never whinnied at me. Quite the opposite. I would show up and he'd walk away from me. Me = work. And then I once had a horse who whinnied at everyone who showed up, myself included. But that doesn't really make you feel special either.

TC is getting more and more vocal. He's always whinnied for other horses under saddle, we get at least 2-3 whinnies on the trails and at least 2-3 whinny attempts at any arena that isn't his home arena.

And now he's starting to whinny or at least nicker when he sees me coming out to the barn. It's the best thing ever! He sees me, registers that it is me by perking up and staring for a second, then whinnies/nickers/etc at me and walks over. He's done it sparingly over the past few months, but the last three times I've come out to get him, I've gotten a whinny. So fun!

And then when I put him back, he looks like this

On Friday, Ali and I went on the loop at the ranch and TC felt great! He's so much stronger going downhill now. I can tell because I don't feel like we're constantly at risk of tumbling down the hill to our deaths anymore. Uphill he still struggles with the fact that putting his head straight in the air and climbing straight up with his front legs is NOT an effective way to climb hills. It still feels like I'm going to fall off the back of him, yikes.

Staring at wild turkeys

Saturday and Sunday I was coaching at a horse show, but I did manage to ride on Sunday afternoon before we had family things to do.

I'm glad I've been longeing him each Sunday because it really lets me see how he has changed. His canter is much better now, he's experimenting with stretching down a little bit and he picks it up a lot easier. The trot looks about the same, he just looks stronger and is starting to be steadier in the bridle even without my corrections.

He wore himself out on the longe (cantering to the left is fun! Stopping is for chumps! Scooting is... harder... in the chambon) so our ride wasn't too fun. He was behind my leg and got me nagging him at the trot. Then when I booted him up, he wouldn't slow down. Then he'd suck back again. The canter did feel better, but he kept wanting to break. I made my point about no breaking and let him be. No point in drilling a bad ride at this stage of his training, eventually he will have to be a bit more mature about working when he's tired and it's 90 degrees, but for now he can be a bit of a baby about it.

This is why I can't find pasture in the area that will hold this horse

I tied him up and fed him his grain. He stood square for once and I managed to get a conformation picture.

I've been noticing some differences both in how he's looking and how he's going, as well as some other minor differences. He's changed a lot over the last seven or eight months since I've been riding him. Obviously he is better undersaddle, as is well documented by this blog, but I made some other observations too.

Most pasture around here is wire or barbed wire, do not trust this
dumb animal not to try things like this and slice his throat open

When I first started riding him, he got beat up in his pasture a lot. He constantly had new cuts and kick marks. His whole rear end was covered in them for months.

Now? It's weird to see them. His pasture mates have not changed at all and they still go after him. But on Sunday when I put him back, one of them charged at him and TC did a really impressive spin and leap away from him and escaped unscathed. When I first started riding him, the other horses would come after him and TC would just hop away slowly. They'd catch up easily and bite him or kick him. He's gotten a lot quicker and a lot stronger, meaning that he can get away easier.

He's like a little kid who got bullied a lot in middle school who is now hitting the gym in high school and college.

The no climb is bowing out where he rubs

Another thing that has changed is obviously his topline. I think I notice it the most in his loins, but I don't know how well the pictures show that change. He is no longer so hollow back there. When I first started with him, there was this massive disconnect between his haunches and his back (and his back and neck which still remains, but is better) that I no longer see or feel. He feels totally connected in the hind end, there's not much tension left there. Still working on him staying out to the bridle and on the tension in front of the withers at the base of the neck, but that will be a much longer process I think.

I do want him beefier in his neck and butt too. He still has a tiny bit of a dip in front of the withers that I want to completely eradicate, and his butt is still all pointy. But I think that is partially his breeding and partially where he's at in his training. He isn't doing any collection, and no engagement yet either, both of which help round a butt out.


December 2014:

The first day I met him, hard to tell his hind end was so weak
because it actually doesn't look bad here, but it was raining
and his butt was all tucked up under him, plus his tail masks
some of the pointiness 

February 2015:

Look at that upside down neck and dip in front of the wither, he
is also super weak in his loins and his SI is sticking up a bit

March 2015:

His neck started to change shape weirdly- first the front half
turned over, and the dip still remained so we got this monstrosity

May 2015:

Then the rest of it turned over but we still had a dip in front
of the withers and you can't tell here, but there is a hollowness
under where the saddle goes that isn't present today

July 2015:

Sunday, not the best picture for conformation because he's
standing slightly downhill but less of a dip in front of the withers
and again hard to see but no hollowness behind the withers

Eating so easier to see his neck, still a micro-dip there but it's
much better! I love that he tucks his (now very large) belly
under him when he eats, pony crunches!

One of the biggest things I've noticed is how much more brave he is. He has quite a flight response in him and I knew I needed to get rid of that as soon as I could. I started to bombproof him, mostly by insisting that he go touch everything that he spooked at.

Now that he's more confident and trusts me a bit more, he has gotten very curious. He picks stuff up and drops it without startling, he's playing more, he goes up to every single thing he even snorts at once to see what it is. This is how Rico started out- a bit spooky but always curious to see what the thing was, I'm feeling more and more hopeful that TC will turn out to be as bombproof as Rico.

Who I rode bridleless and bareback around his pasture in flip flops last night. We did piaffe and passage. He was not amused by my antics but didn't try to launch me.