Orion

Courtney, I'm stealing Orion from you. We're going to run off and join the Olympics. Next time you see him, it'll be in a picture from a qualifier..... LOL!!!

In all seriousness, he is one of the most amazing and talented horses I've ever met. He is an OTTB (don't leave your computer...come back!) and he has the handsome LOOK, GAITS, and ATTITUDE of a warmblood with the heart and athleticism of a TB. The race game didn't break him at all---it made him stronger. He also has the wisdom, kindness, and intelligence of someone generations older. He is the sanest horse you will ever meet, and the most willing to do or try anything. With all that said, here is his progress for the day:

We "warmed up" in gale force winds and a temp of 30, wind chill of 20-something or so. Maybe even teens. I lunged him briefly in the back of the ring by the "scary woods" (which he never batted an eye at all night) and Joe drug the ring with the BIG drag and the ATV, breaking up any residual ice and softening it. While Orion wanted to do MORE, we kept it to walk/trot, as he has not been worked consistantly for a bit due to a recovery from a couple abcesses. I got on and worked him with a quarter sheet to keep him warm. Courtney--I used your saddle....didn't even have to change the stirrups :-). Orion's issues are that he has a "slow" right hind, which exhibits itself in falling onto his left shoulder and losing left flexion. He LOVES to not make the RH work as much and just put the job on the LF. It's slight, but it's enough of a balance issue that a rider will feel heavy weight in the left rein and will feel their left leg be ineffective at "holding" him together in the left half-pass at all gaits. In addition, it makes counterclockwise shoulder in very difficult as he trails the RH. So, a rider must keep that RH active and the left rein and poll flexed and "open". This means the lefthand aids must be STRAIGHT across the lefthand side and left ear in front of left shoulder in clockwise circles, yet hold and activate the RH in that same circle and encourage it to reach under, flex at the hock and SUPPORT the body. Orion has a GORGEOUS athletic and floating extended trot that will leave most riders (including myself) in the dust. Or, more accurately, hanging in the air a foot behind the saddle :-) He has worked lots of lengthening of frame, long and low and on the bit, with wonderful working, lengthened and extended gaits. Time for him to learn to collect. So, we worked on lengthening and compacting the frame at the walk and trot. He HAS to learn to put his weight on his hindquarters, NOT hang on his rider or DEPEND on his rider to balance him and start to lift the forehand. His rider has to be VERY careful not to block the forward or upward motion and to really encourage the hind to come under, engage, flex and PUSH. Orion is VERY responsive to seat (good boy!) and you can just about halt him from any gait reinless. Unfortunately, he takes great joy in hanging on his rider (if he can get away with it) and letting them do all the work. So, he was a bit surprised when I didn't let him hang, not even for 1/2 stride. He was the lightest I've ever felt him, totally self sufficient and in a complete state of self-carriage for just about the whole ride, once we set the ground rules of "no hanging" in the beginning. To this end, I was able to get him to collect, still engage the hind, raise the forehand on cue, and start to understand the idea of getting his hind end under him, flexing his hocks and pushing UP instead of forward from SEAT and NOT reins. I started working on training his muscle memory to several poses and states of carriage, from long, low and lengthened to raised and collected, to raised and lengthened, all without hanging or balancing on the rider too much (gotta support the kid, he's JUST learning this!).

So, we worked on lots of transitions within the gaits, lightness in all gaits, and left flexion with RH engagement. He had to do shoulder in on a counterclockwise circle (boy was he not happy with that and tried every position from sidepass to haunches in to try to get out of it!) at the walk and trot. He worked on leg yeild to the right, then halfpass to the left, back to leg yeild to the right. The most important and remarkable stride he made was the ability for me to....wait for it.......THROW AWAY my left rein the the left shoulder in and half-pass. He held it together for several strides in a row. He eventually fell on my left leg for support and I had to "pick his shoulder back up" with the leg and rein, but he was able to do this FREELY at the walk and trot for the first time since I've ridden him. The boy has heart. And the collection work, once it was made clear to him and explained to him, he was happy to comply with. He did everything I asked once he understood (getting him to get the picture of the goal was the hard part) and then my job was just keep him straight and evenly pushing from both sides (hard, he's a wiggler.....)

So, that's progress from his training ride 2/23/07

BTW, one of the things that makes him the most endearing is how amazingly sane he is. We rode the entire training ride with Joe driving around us with a VERY loud ATV dragging the ring with a very noisy drag (the BIG one!) in high wind at 8pm at night. He stands like a gentleman. He happily stood there while I was on the ground switching equipment out, Joe zooming by him, without flicking an ear or blinking an eye. He happily stood in the grooming stall with no halter or bridle on (I do this as a reward to the trustworthy horses, giving them their independence for a few minutes after a ride) as I untacked him, took his 4 boots off, put his blanket on etc. This while horses were filing in at feeding time and chaos all around us abounded. Courtney, you need to show me his Jockey Club papers. I just don't believe.....