Fason's First Ride Off the Track

Today I rode Fason, my first ride on him and his first ride off the track.  I took him to the round pen and we lunged a little first so he could get his jollies out.

He was pretty good, so I then took him to the mounting block.  Usually I would take a little more time to introduce this idea, but I had someone with me today to take photos so I kind of hurried through it.  Fason was understandably puzzled about why I was climbing on this block and asking him to stand still.  Usually racehorses are mounted while they are walking or jogging and someone tosses the jockey aboard.  Fason is a really good sport and after walking around the block a few times he figured out I wanted him to just stand there, so he did.  I climbed aboard and we began our ride.

He was a perfect gentleman.  We began by walking around the round pen to the left and to the right, doing some simple figure eights.  Fason took a few minutes to figure out how I wanted to steer, with weight shifts and not really the reins.  Once he had that down he was all business and very focused on whatever I wanted.  I was told by his track people that he is like this, very focused and business-like and eager to work.  It is so nice to have such accurate information about a horse!

Once I had confirmed steering, gas, and brakes, I asked for a trot and then a canter each direction.  He was very well behaved for this as well, but had the typical stiffness and wasn't really swinging through his back.  That will come with time as his body changes from racing fit to sport horse fit.  He is very balanced, though, which is a perk of having a sound adult horse to work with.  He also has obviously had good track training, because he is so balanced and had no trouble with picking up each lead at the canter.  My friend taking photos did comment that this large horse made the 100' round pen seem quite small!

Some video of him trotting can be seen here:
https://www.facebook.com/kim.leonard.100/posts/10208751888372030

While most of his cantering was fairly quiet, we did have a "racehorse" moment or two.  It is so fun to ride these guys right off the track and feel the amount of power they have in their haunches.

Overall it was absolutely a wonderful first ride off the track for Fason.  He is turning out to be everything I was told, and with a sensible brain like his I'm excited for the rides to come!