I got the boys in out of the field this afternoon and tacked up Ace. It was windy but no cold or wet, so I thought we'd be OK. I put my air jacket on (now it has a gas cartridge in it!) and went to get on and a little voice said to me"what are you trying to prove?"
"eh?" I answered. "Who wanted your opinion?"
"I don't care whether you want my opinion or not" said the little voice. "You aren't young, you don't bounce, you haven't ridden this horse for a week and you have nothing to prove to anyone. Put him on the lunge!"
"Oh for goodness sake" I said "I have to have some courage sometime!"
"Courage be damned" said the voice. "If he's quiet on the lunge you can get straight on. What exactly do you have to lose?"
I put Ace on the lunge. My golly gosh, did he buck or what. Really sharp, head between the knees. Then he tried several times to get to the gate and I only held him because the lunge line was on the bit. When he calmed down we did the same on the other rein, and when that storm had gone I got on. He was sharp and feisty but I kicked him on and tickled him with the whip a lot when he backed off my leg, and we got on just fine.
I rode Jazz then and it was clear that he was not prepared to warm up slowly in walk as I normally do. I was tired and didn't want to be out in the wind for too long, so I popped him into canter. It is pointless to try to warm him up in trot because he gets too strong, and canter is an easier pace to get him free in. Almost immediately, he did two wonderful half passes into two super flying changes, and then we walked a little before trying some trot with some lengthening. I had to persuade him to keep his hocks underneath him and his body straight, but once I had that he did some super lengthening, finishing on three strides where his head went up and out (poll high) and he did a massive punch from behind. I wish I could have seen it, but feeling it was almost as good.
It was good to be back riding those two. I hope there is good weather for tomorrow but the wind is very high again tonight.
C
I am really glad you listened to that little voice. You don't have a thing to prove and Ace can be a handful. Lungeing first was a sensible idea and one you might want to make a regular part of your repertoire, even without the little voice.
ReplyDeleteWarming up at the canter is just fine. I often had trainers suggest it, particularly for my TB's. Perhaps Jazz has some racehorse in his background. *G* Either way, sounds as if he gave you some super work that way. Wowser!
He has come a long way!
As long as we don't go for a hack, he's super :-)
DeleteC