What We've Been Working On

Because I don't mean to brag, but we actually HAVE been working on things!

I know, I can hardly believe it either.

still plenty of snacking to be had, no one call peta

The shockwave on Sir's SI was definitely the final step he needed to feel completely sound and we've been full send since then. (Well, also the doxy for his Lyme. The compounded powder finally got here today, his pills should be here tomorrow, and then hopefully his omeprazole will be here next week so we can knock that out.)

Feeling good has revived Opie's will to live work, which is good, but it can also be his downfall. In typical Thoroughbred fashion, he has no shortage in work ethic. Also in typical Thoroughbred fashion, it doesn't always get channeled correctly. Hubby came to watch us ride over the weekend and he was like, "You can't fault him for trying." As Opie was anticipating....I don't know, whatever it was that was in his head. He had lots of guesses, and maybe some of them might have been right if he'd waited two seconds to check in with me to see. 

Opie: I'M DOING THE THING!!!!

Me: Okay, but what are you doing?

Opie: I DON'T KNOW, BUT I AM DOING IT TO THE FUCKING MAX!!!

reel it in, sir.

I tried to give him a mental reset day on Wednesday with a plan to do all stretchy work. It was going to be so soft and lovely and he was going to be so appreciative and just float around. Honestly the walk and trot was quite nice. In the canter/canter transitions, we ran into our guessing nemesis. 

He's horrible about the upward transitions. More than anything else, this is his one big flaw for me. He jigs, or he braces, or he lurches, or he shuffles, or he throws his haunches, or--if given a nice loopy rein to try to encourage stretching--he bolts. So on Wednesday, every time he jigged I brought my inside rein to my thigh and we did a little circle. If he bolted into the canter, we came back to the walk. Rinse and repeat 10000x. Eventually it got through to him that if he just chilled out and waited, everything went his way. What a concept, Opie!

Speaking of slowing down, it's a mental game for both of us. He's been so eager to offer me a bigger trot after the shockwave that I of course don't want to shut it down, but when it comes to working on his weak points--aka the shoulder-in--he can't do it if he's blasting around. Physically cannot. But I don't want to set him off and make him mad by bringing it down a level. Earlier this week, I just quit. Because I could tell I was going to make him lose his shit. But today! He was so mature!

Today I set out with the goal of touching on all the lateral work he knows in both trot and canter in short spurts with lots of good boys and lots of redirection. No drilling, get in, get out, but damn it, we're going to meet in the middle and make it correct. That meant a whole lot of half-halting and slowing it down more than we ever would in a test, and sometimes we had to add in our comfort 10m circles to rebalance, but he did it!

he was in a very good mood this morning,
he's probably dying of something.

Also, in big news in today's ride, I carried a whip! MB and I were talking in my lesson last week about how useful it would be if Mr Tappy could reach back and tickle the hind leg in our changes, so I'm attempting to reintroduce him for the hundredth millionth time. He was very aware of it when we started out, but it never touched him and he eventually forgot about it. Good man. 

Speaking of changes, we didn't hit them this ride, but earlier in the week we schooled them. I had to go back to that last lesson again where MB chastised me to not just sit there and cross my fingers they magically happen because I'm afraid he's going to explode if I aid him. For the R-L I finally charged into them and he didn't shuffle or break. He's still doing his kung-fu chop with the LF, but it's a level change so that's a win for him. For his L-R one, he did his hoppy thing he sometimes does where he jumps, jumps, jumps, and then changes. He's not swapping when he's jumping, and the change is clean, I just have to not quit on it and wait him out. That usually scores a 6 when he does it in a test with a comment like, "Slow to develop." Whatever, we'll take it, at least he's not chucking me into the sky.