Oh, was he ever a good boy. I mean, a really, really good boy. Aside from having developed a serious lazy side, we had an absolutely awesome ride Thursday evening.
What is up with the laziness? I mean really. Gabe...in case no one bothered to tell you, you're a THOROUGHBRED. Which means you're supposed to like to go forward at a faster pace than a drunken snail. Sometimes I feel like I'm riding a dead-sided warmblood or a plod-along drafty. Seriously. Move it! Pick up those feet. When there are hoof drag lines in the dirt behind you...that's you being a great big lazy lug.
I assure you there is absolutely nothing physically wrong with him, he just doesn't feel like doing much. He responds to my requests, he just does it at his own pace!
I very briefly considered strapping on a pair of spurs to deal with this lazy issue, but quickly quashed that idea. Spurs are not to be used for forward, they are for sideways. So, I'm upping my expectations of what he offers as "forward" and I'm going to make that lazy boy work for his meals. He is slow off the leg and want him to be ELECTRIC off the leg, which means I'll be employing the use of my dressage whip a little more often than I do now.
The cornfield was not an issue and the telephone poles barely warranted a second glance. I guess the time I took to really get him to look at them and think about those things stuck. Thank goodness the boy has a brain. He might not have get up and go, but at least he has a brain!
The more we work the canter the more I realize he was regularly worked in draw reins on the track, which isn't a surprise to me at all. I hate, hate, hate draw reins and I hate even more trying to undo the curled neck created by draw reins. It is not an easy nor fun task. But, I have been working on it.
So, onward we go! Goals: Energize the gaits, keep working on the lateral response and get him out and about even more. The more we see and experience, the better he is!
"The more we see and experience, the better he is!" - Girl, that's the damn truth for sure. We saw joggers today and she didn't even assume they were demons.
ReplyDeleteI suppose you could up the alfalfa a bit for a more energetic Gabe ;)
Maybe he is an early morning boy and would show more energy on a 5 a.m. ride? I have less energy in the evening myself. I rode my new grey mare for the first time on Wednesday. I was glad for lazy.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had an awesome ride, despite the slow pace. Maybe Gabe is just feeling some summertime sluggishness. Has it been hot in your neck of the woods? A lazy TB with a brain sounds kinda nice to me. :-) But hopefully he will pick up the pace for you soon....and keep the brain. He does sound like a very good boy.
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