Introducing Silver

This past week Silver the gorgeous grey OTTB arrived for training.  He came off the track about a year and a half ago and is ready to start conditioning in earnest for his eventing career.  He does have somewhat loose stifles, which should respond well to the careful cavalletti, hill, and deeper sand work we do here.

In his evaluation/consultation ride a few weeks ago he was stiff tracking to the right, and had kind of a "sewing machine trot" as I call it.  His first ride here in training early this morning before the wind kicked on had a similar warmup.  However, I met a completely different horse after about fifteen minutes of warming up over ground poles with lots of bending exercises!

Silver is riding in some very specific tack here, based on what he said his preferences were during the evaluation.  He likes a three piece eggbutt snaffle with a bean shaped center link, and the same narrow jumping saddle that Raven prefers.  Because he doesn't have much hair (thanks to thoroughbred genetics) I did put a sheepskin saddle pad on him, with a sheepskin girth that is specifically designed for very narrow barreled horses. 

This seemed to be a lovely combination for Silver.  As soon as we began the pole work he realized he could comfortably swing his haunches and lift his back.  I told him he was a good boy and gently rubbed his withers.  After that, whenever I exhaled he would blow his nose and engage his core muscling a little more deeply.  We were able to walk, trot, and canter both directions, but spent a little more time to the right as that's his stiffer side.  By the end of the ride Silver was giving me lovely balanced down transitions from the canter to the stretchy trot, then on a loose rein to a round and balanced walk based on just my breathing and weight shifts.

I love this about the OTTBs.  They are so incredibly sensitive that you almost always get instant feedback regarding whether they are comfortable or not.  Getting Silver into tack that is totally comfortable for him made a big difference, and then I mostly stayed out of his way during our ride.  I suggested he try things like take longer steps with his hind end by freeing up my ankles, and engaging his core by keeping some tone in my abdominal muscles.  He happily took my suggestions, and I had an incredibly soft swingy horse by the end of the ride. 

Since I had much of the Bit of Honey Circus still set up in the arena I also rode him through the obstacles like the sandbox, the pool noodle tunnel, and the maze of flowers.  He was calm and did everything on a loose rein, listening to my weight shifts and suggestions.  I am super excited about this horse, I think we are going to have a blast bringing him along.