February 16th, 2010
» taking the plunge
I’ve been meaning to write a horsey post for a while now — something other than just My pony is awesome! (Which: he is.) But every time I’ve started, I’ve written My pony? He is awesome. Or some variation. And then had work appear on my desk. (And actually, I started writing this an hour ago. You see the problem. Pony: awesome. Work: less awesome.)
We’re over the initial ‘getting to know you’ period and have settled into a nice routine — which has really settled him. When he first came to the barn, it was a lot for his li’l three-year-old self to handle. A new place, plus the whole new-to-him stall thing, which he didn’t find much to his liking. He’d lived out with a herd his whole life, but while he was on trial with me I had to keep him in a stall and private paddock. (He took the hot wire down in the paddock playing with a horse on the other side, and banged on his stall door whenever he saw someone. “Over here guys! I’m over here! Come love me!”) He wouldn’t stand still for mounting, or grooming, or tacking; he completely forgot how to pick up his feet; had to be bribed and finessed for bridling. Throughout all this he was still at heart a very good boy — just a good boy with a serious case of ADD. I always lunged him before I rode, to gauge his mood and remind him of the pecking order while I still had two feet safely on the ground.
These days he’s much more relaxed, and so am I. I know that even though he gets tall walking from the paddock to the barn, the barn to the arena, it’s just him sticking his giant giraffe neck up to have a look around, not the start of a spook or bolt. He’s had a few (two? three?) little starts in the arena, jumping a bit off the track to have a look at some for-horse-eyes-only little ghostie, and they’re very rideable and over in an instant — and he stays over it, no eyeballing that same spot the next time around. He is so sensible. I love it. LOVE it. I am so unutterably excited to get out for a canter in the back field this spring. (Have I said that before? I’ve probably said that before. Probably every time I’ve written about him.) I don’t lunge at all any more.
He’s still 3 so he still has ADD, and wants his mouth on everything, and I suspect will always wish he could just climb right into your pocket. But we’re hard at work every day at standing quietly in the cross-ties (he still shifts about some but has gotten SO much better), taking the bit lower than ten feet in the air, standing for mounting (I give him a B/B- on this most days; much improved from his initial D-), etc, etc. He’s an absolute joy to ride: he has his own motor (and what a glorious thing that is!) and he tries so, so hard.
We aren’t really jumping yet — he’s a big, growing warmblood, and I want him to still be sound and happy in thirty years. There is some thought/evidence that mild concussion helps strengthen growing joints and bones — but jumping them off their hooves or over-lunging youngsters is a very quick way to break them down. Anyhow, I’m waiting at least until he’s four this spring to start any real jumping work (low stuff!), but on Friday we tossed out a few groundpoles and a baby cross-rail (maybe 18″?), just to remind him that we don’t ONLY go in circles, that this is a jump and the idea is to go OVER it. He’s a total baby and very adorable; couldn’t've cared less about the poles, but the first time we stuck the last one up to an X his eyes bugged out of his head all Waaait a second! There’s something in my way, on the ground there! And after that he popped right over it, la de dah. When we stuck it up to a vertical he clobbered it a few times, not lifting up his front feet, but he got the idea the third time around. Then we popped over it the other direction and called it a night.
Most days we work on basic walk, trot, canter, and I’m constantly impressed by how balanced he is for his age, and how quickly he’s catching on. He had a LOT of trouble getting his right lead canter when I first got him; he’s picking it up consistently now, and in the last week or so it’s become his better lead. He’s got a really fun canter overall, with an absolutely enormous stride, and — well. Like I said: back field, this spring.
I am so, so glad I took a chance with this guy. I will admit, the first time I rode him I wasn’t head-over-heels in love. I was thinking mostly about his age, and his wobbly baby steering, and my wish that I could compete this spring. I spent two years working with Everett, only to have our debut event canceled for rain, and him sold a month later. I wouldn’t redo any of it for the world (well, except for the rain), but I had the notion that this time around I wanted something ready to go. Something that would let me work more on my own shoddy riding. But after that first time with Reliant I had a feeling.
A feeling not unlike crouching before the open door of a plane, staring at the countryside far, far below.
Of course I didn’t tell anyone this, and refused to consider it too much myself. It was a good decision, I knew. He was not the horse I would have dreamed up for myself — but for that horse I would’ve had to dream up a bigger bank account and better riding skills and maybe a truck & trailer, a fifteen pound weight loss, a shorter winter. And I would’ve missed out on what may turn out to be one of the best leaps of faith I’ll take in my whole life. I have come to love this horse so much, and I am so excited for our coming years together.
