Monday, July 25, 2016

leave it to an ottb

The trend continues of me catching a ride on basically whatever's available for my lessons. To date, this has been exclusively ponies. Until this weekend, that is.

this is more my style of ride!
Brita was out of town for the weekend and encouraged me to take Wick out for a spin at OF. How freakin generous. Of course I said yes and showered her profusely with thanks and gratitude!

wick was marginally confused about what i had done with his mother. but was a good sport anyway
Longtime readers may recall I've gotten on Wick once before, in February of last year. Brita had pretty much just started with him (as the greenest of green beans) and Wick was all aboard the struggle bus: no left lead, super one sided, faulty steering, and no go button.

I had been ringside coaching them (potentially unsolicited) through some left lead attempts and kept telling Brita to "just put him together!" After she heard that one too many times, she simply hopped off and told me to give it a try myself. And. Well. Long story short, I had zero success. Could actually not even really get the horse to WALK, let alone pick up that damn lead.

extremely handsome
I, er, learned an important lesson that day lol. Maybe a few, actually. One of which was that Wick is not as easy to ride as Brita makes him look lol.

But she's been putting in some serious hard work over the last year and a half, and you can really tell in watching them. So I was really eager to see how it felt under saddle!

werk it wick!
Verdict? HOLY HELL am I impressed! The horse I rode this weekend is an entirely different creature from two winters ago. Completely.

thinking cap firmly on
(meanwhile i'm leaving thoughts on my position for another day. glaring issues are pervasive. le sigh)
This horse is sensitive, soft, and looks for connection. Oh. And he GOES. Not only was he good off the legs - he was actually borderline hot to the touch. He's still slightly one-sided, but only if you're looking for it. He's learning to go straighter tho and it's CRAZY when he does finally get his butt directly under him bc there is a huge surge of power that just flows forward.

a million trotting pictures bc this is my blog and i do what i want
Tho he's still learning how to really harness that power. And is maybe a little cocky haha - esp given some of the crazy big stuff he and Brita school together.

loving the light in this pic
He was just fantastic on the flat to trot, tho I had a little trouble in the canter. Just tried to get him to rock back and sit a little more without just hurtling forward. We maybe kinda figured it out.

classic wick face
And kept on working on it through the jumps. It was balls hot out, even so early in the morning, so we kept the jumping short and sweet. And the jumps were all on the smaller side - esp for Wick man who is used to much bigger fences with Brita.

tidy tidy!
He was super good tho. I just LOVE the way TBs go. Love. We warmed up over a coupe fences where I got a taste for what it takes to actually get a half halt through to this guy, then went on directly to a course.

not much effort over these fences but who cares, i was in heaven all the same
He's got a big stride and carries you right up to the fence. He's a bit strong tho and will try to take over if you're not careful.

advance mid-air planning for the tricky left lead roll back
Really tho, I just had such a blast with him. He finds his spots, jumps and lands on both leads, will stay straight with minimal encouragement, and steers way better than I expected.

easy peasy end vertical
We had to have a couple discussions about pace in a few places (like down the looooong straightaway between end jumps) but once I got a feel for him, I could figure out how to sit him down a bit then soften and still ride forward to the fence.

such a good guy
Really Wick was right up my alley. I just LOVE a ride like this - would prefer a horse who's a little strong and cocky, and just love that TB way of going. He basically rode like a more schooled version of Bali, which obvi set my little heart strings ablaze.

It was maybe useful for trainer P to see me go with him too, as I think it gave her a little more insight into my kind of ride. Sure, she saw me on Bali that one time... but that was also the day I broke my leg so it ended up not being a source for much discussion.

So this ride ended up sparking a couple ideas in her mind, a few of which sounded mighty exciting. We will see what happens. In the meantime, tho, I'm just so grateful to have had this ride on Wick. It was honestly legitimately the most fun jumping I've had in a LONG time. Thank god for friends and their cool ottbs!

45 comments:

  1. Yay! Wick sounds like such a cool guy. I'm glad you had fun! :)

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    1. I've always known he's a cool dude, but was seriously blown away by how he actually goes!

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  2. Wick is such a handsome fellow. Glad you had a fun ride!

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  3. Good looking guy! Looks like you guys had a really good time!!

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    1. Yea he definitely fit my style perfectly ;)

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  4. Aww, Wick looks super fun! Gotta love those OTTBs ;)

    Maybe I'm out of the loop on this and have missed a post or two, but why aren't you riding Iz for lessons right now?

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    1. Definitely ;) Iz is getting some time off bc I'm not actually able to ride enough right now to keep her at a level of fitness that makes more intense lessons feel fair, esp in the heat. So she's getting a little vacay.

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  5. Wick looks fantastic! So happy you had a truly FUN ride! :)

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  6. You fit so nicely on him! A good TB is pretty amazing! I hope your trainer helps you find one for you 😉

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    1. Yea it was def a relief to sit on something actually horse sized lol.

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  7. I'm sorry Emma and Brita, but I think I love Wick more than both of you. ;)
    GOOOO WICK!!! #chestnuttbsforever

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    1. He is mighty lovable!! Good luck prying him away from Brita tho ;)

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  8. i love TBs. you should totally get one :P actually saw one with the same sire as runkle floating around recently... extremely partial to that sire...

    its cool when you can ride a horse in their retarded baby green days and then when they're a functional animal. and its fun for the owner/primary rider to hear as well, because it's hard to see all the progress when youre sitting on it every day.

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    1. The difference between his early days and now is unreal. I honestly wasn't expecting it at all and was armed and ready (quite unnecessarily) with a dressage whip. But yea. For sure will one day have an ottb like this all of my own ;) probably not right now tho!

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  9. Wick sounds so fun! So glad you had fun- the pictures look great!

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  10. YES YES YES GET OTTB :D

    All the cool kids have one. Well, at least all the poor cool kids, ha.

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    1. Lol one day!!! I have always believed my first horse will be an ottb. Just not sure when that day will be!

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  11. This makes my heart smile! You guys look like you're having a blast!! So so glad you had fun and I love the pictures!!! OTTBs Rock!

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    1. THANK YOU SO MUCH !!! I had so much fun playin with your boy - you've done such a good job with him!! :D

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  12. This boy is SO cute! You guys look great!

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  13. What a cool guy, and I'm so glad you were able to have a fun ride to really work on you rather than working just to get around. You guys make a great pair!

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    1. Thanks! I probably needed to work *more* on me (as evidenced by the photos lol) but seriously enjoyed just sitting back and loving the ride haha

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  14. He looks like a really fun horse and you looked great on him! Glad you had a good lesson :)

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  15. Sounds like it was a good ride! Wick is super cute, glad you were able to play with him.

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    1. I needed a good fun play ride haha. And on a real horse. Ponies are fun but it's not the same lol

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  16. You look great on him! I think you need an OTTB ;)

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  17. Awh I love this! You look great on Wick

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    1. He was good at making me look more or less ok haha

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  18. He's cute, the jumps are so fun and colorful, and you look like your having a blast! Yay! What a great ride :)

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    1. This farm always does a good job of having fun jumps and interesting courses :)

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  19. Sounds like a fun ride. If you like them, there are lots of OTTBs out there for sale/adoption. Just saying...

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    1. Don't I know it - it might not seem obvious on this blog bc it's so Isabel-centric, but the vast majority of my real experience with horses is in ottbs.

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  20. I missed the first Wick post, so glad you shared it! What a difference a year or so makes huh, he looks like good fun to ride now. I like horses a little cocky as opposed to a little sensitive, so Wick is right up my alley!! #WickFanClub

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    1. Brita and Wick actually have an entire post tag dedicated to them and their journey - just look in the tag cloud on the bottom right for "B & Wick." I've written at great length about their training progress and competitions since Brita is basically my eventing partner in crime. This is just the first real time I've personally gotten to enjoy Wick - and what a treat!!

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  21. You look awesome, hard to believe you hadn't ridden him for two years. So much fun to ride other people's horses.

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  22. Squeeeee trainer discussions...exciting times to come I hope 😜

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  23. Sounds like a great ride... Maybe you need an OTTB of your own ;)

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