Just Looking

Wednesday I didn't sleep well and woke up tired and absolutely, under no circumstances, wanting to go worry about my dumb horse and his dumb injury and ride on boring dumb circles hoping that his dumb brain didn't make him bolt and drag me around.

But I dragged myself to the barn anyway because that's how we do. There was a time even just a month ago where I would have killed to feel burnt out like this. Interesting how circumstances can so drastically change your opinions on things.

So cute, but so annoying

TC was really annoyed that I wasn't fawning over him as much as I should have been. I just gave him a couple of cookies and quietly brushed him while watching Netflix on my phone, unlimited data is a beautiful thing. TC thought it was quite unacceptable that 110% of my attention was not on him, so he learned to not shove his face in my face when I tried to walk around him, and not to paw the hell out of the railroad tie in front of the cross ties that he loves to stand on and freak me out about.

To add to my irritation, I saw that his leg looked a little bigger after the BOT wraps. I know it's good to get bloodflow down there, but I hate how the legs fill up a little bit. Yeah, legs. Because after walking right up to the edge of mental break down territory, I felt the other leg and realized they were the same. I sort of managed to convince myself they were different, and even now I'm still not sure. I'm trying SO HARD not to obsess over his legs like I did with Rico. Every day I stared at his legs and tried to figure out if one was different than the other or than it had been the day before. I did that for years, and you know what finally clinched his full retirement from dressage? Arthritis in his neck. Something that had never bothered him before! Gah. His legs look perfect all the time now. But it's hard to follow my own advice sometimes. And it's hard when there is so much on the line- I CARE whether this horse stays sound.

I took him once around the barn and saw BRH trainer, who said he'd meet me in the round pen soon, so we walked over there. I was glad to get started quickly. TC was totally fine wandering around the ranch, just a couple of snorts in the barn, because despite the many horses that live in that barn and have never been eaten by anything, TC is convinced that there are monsters in there.

Mam stop taking pictures of me and give me cookies

Longeing was uneventful. There was a guy cleaning the water trough in the pasture next door, and while TC looked, he didn't do anything bad.

BRH trainer got on and that's when TC started being kind of obnoxious. Nothing big or crazy, just some head tossing and a LOT of distraction. I've ridden through that shit a lot at shows/new places and it's very annoying. He wants to look at stuff, so he carries tension in his shoulders and gets his neck all short. Then his back goes rigid and his hind legs go out behind him. All you want to do is pull on his face, but when you do that, he just retracts his neck (or puts it down and shakes it at you).

Poor BRH trainer had to deal with it. It's not very fun. But we talked about how good he was being despite being so looky. Every time he'd pass the pasture horses (who were doing nothing) or the turnout horses (who were also doing nothing) or a worker did anything (even doing nothing), he HAD to stare at them. But nothing else happened. So that's good.

They did one lap of canter each way, which TC really struggled with. The transition to the left is just a train wreck. He really wants to canter on the right lead instead, so keeps picking up the counter canter. He finally got the canter though, and then it was much better.

To the right, the transition is a lot easier for him, though he really didn't want to keep going. BRH Trainer used the whip on him and he porpoised a bit, but just cantered quietly along afterward. Poor pony, it's hard to have four legs. Still awaiting that buck that I know is coming!

Good pony

I was in a better mood by the end of the ride so got on for a short time. I got him a bit rounder in walk and that carried okay into the trot to the left. He was still looking around a lot and was sort of hot off the leg, so I stuck my leg on and left it there so he'd stop taking aids away from me. Once as my leg was on, he started focusing a little bit better and I was able to get him on the aids. He was falling way out over his right shoulder, so I put my outside leg on stronger and directed him inward with the inside rein opening a bit. He straightened out okay but would then look up and get a little drunk as he was trying to look at the pasture horses and stay trotting in a straight line.

The right was much better. He was much more even on both sides and was better about responding to my left leg to straighten him. I didn't do much that way since it was so good.

We walked back to the barn, and I had to keep reminding myself not to drop the reins and look at my phone. And it was really hard not to ask whether we could keep walking toward the covered arena or down to his stall or somewhere else. That really shows me how much he's improved and how comfortable I feel on him now. BRH Trainer is doing a good job of holding me back from pushing too much, since until TC really proves to us that good days aren't outliers, we're just going to stick with the plan. Still, I do enjoy the outliers.

His tail is so pretty

After riding TC, I headed across the hill to Tracey's barn to see Kate and Kat in their lesson! After seeing Kat with Kate's students and getting a good idea of a) how freakishly talented Kat is and b) how sensitive she is, I had to recommend Tracey. She's ideal for the sort of rider Kate is- someone who thinks about their riding a lot and who doesn't mind taking the scenic route- and is also ideal for the sort of horse Kat is- a horse who can't have a ton of pressure put on her. After hearing about their first lesson, I invited myself along to their second one!

It was a brilliant lesson, Kate and Kat look SO GOOD! But I'll let Kate talk about the lesson. Afterward I cornered Tracey and showed her video of TC. She hadn't seen him go in over a year, last time was our lesson with her last April. I showed her the trot video of me riding him (which I want to post here but haven't tried too hard to get out of the internet) and she said he looked really good. And then I showed her a canter video, forgetting that it was one where TC was porpoising. Oh well.

I harassed her about what she thought of his canter. It's not the most brilliant canter, though has improved a LOT since rehab packed a ton of muscle on him. Just based on what it looks like, extensions and changes are going to be easy (he has a TON of suspension) while collection will be hard. I also get it in my head all the time that I think it's lateral. If you slow down the videos, you can see that the outside front leg hits a split second before the inside hind. But Tracey said that it wasn't, and that the change of rhythm at times was caused by tension. Good!