Monday, March 28, 2016

APB: Right lead has gone missing

Quick post before I jump on yet another plane - this time San Diego for the hotel but daily border crossing into Tijuana for the work portion.  Try not to be jealous.

Last week CO had a major temper tantrum and threw out a surprise blizzard for Wednesday after being 78 degrees on Tuesday.  I love the dry climate but it seems to lead to some severe weather shifts.

Crazy border collies LOVE surprise blizzards
So last Monday night I was able to ride outside, with a very happy and mostly exciteable Odin.  He was largely obedient just quick and kind of tense with plenty of squealing and jumping to demonstrate said excitement.  The weather was perfect and we were loving life. Cantered both ways with minimal theatrics and got both leads.

Then Wednesday kind of threw a damper on the rest of the week.  And my soul. He was longed every day but didn't get ridden again until my lesson Saturday morning.  Please come back spring, I miss you already.


The lesson was pretty good, nothing super special, just continuing to work on the same old stuff, rhythm and Odie carrying his own head around.  We did lots of circles and turns and figure 8s to help with the rhythm, you could practically see the steam coming from his brain from all the thinking.

Then Sunday he got a training ride and got to do his favorite thing
WHEEE..then some post jumping flails




That was all his first jump, he was a total gentleman after that - video proof!

But interestingly, during regular his canter work, he could not pick up his right lead.  Which is completely opposite of his usual canter issues.  I haven't done enough young horses to know if this is normal or not but he went from favoring his right lead to completely losing it.

Tonight when I rode him it was more of the same and I could feel how frustrated he was by not being able to do it.  Like, where the hell did I put that stupid right lead???  IT WAS JUST HERE 5 SECONDS AGO.
He lands right off the jumps but seems to have confused himself on a regular transition.  Never a dull moment!

Sometimes he looks so derpy.  But shiny!

R2 has the week off of her normal job so, weather permitting, he will be getting baby boot camp over fences and the quest for the missing right lead will begin.

5 comments:

  1. d'awww good baby horse! my mare can occasionally get a little bodily wonky after big shifts in weather (esp temp drops / pressure changes) so maybe that's it? or maybe he threw himself outta whack somehow? or who knows, maybe that lead will pop right back as quickly as it disappeared? lol horses....

    ReplyDelete
  2. I wouldn't overthink the disappearing right lead, pretty normal occurrence with baby horses. It will be back before you know it...and then something else might be strange, and so on and so forth until he is a grownup.

    ReplyDelete
  3. San Diego is my favorite, Tijuana is okay. Try Franc's Tacos if they are open (or if you haven't) so good (in Tijuana). La Perla in Pacific Beach in San Diego, Al Pastor tacos are to die for.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Adventures with baby horses! Never a dull moment :)

    ReplyDelete