Jupiter: Cantering, Bathing, Trailer Loading

It was another big week for Jupiter. He is really coming along.

Last week, I rode him in the big outdoor again, and he was trotting up a storm. I asked him to step up a little bit, and he accidentally broke into a canter for half a stride, then immediately hit the brakes and looked panicked, like he'd done something wrong. I laughed, praised him, and came around the ring at a lively trot again. This time, when we reached the same spot, I kissed and asked for the canter. After a brief ear flick, he picked it right up. We only held it for four or five strides, but it was a pretty balanced canter for a leggy baby horse. So we've been working on that a little bit each session. Part of the challenge has been the constant rain lately. The ring is full of puddles, and even though Jupiter will go through them, we still lose momentum that way.

Last night, Mike came out with me after work with the camera handy. Of course, the one night I wanted pictures, there were lessons going on in the outdoor. I'm sure they would have shared the ring with me, but I try not to intrude since I am a guest at the barn. Instead, we worked in the indoor.

I showed Mike how much more forward Jupiter is becoming at the trot.

After some warming up, I decided to ask Jupiter to canter and see what happened. The indoor at the barn is teeny tiny, and Jupiter is all legs, and still a baby with less than 30 days under saddle. It was worth trying a canter, but I wasn't going to push it.

Instead, we got three laps around the arena!

So that's basically where we are in terms of riding. I'm working on cementing all three gaits, with decent transitions in between. By decent, I mean prompt and calm. Steering is falling into place on its own, but isn't perfect so far. Jupiter is finally learning to stay along the rail for the most part. He's a bit of a wiggle worm in general, but I'm not worried about it at this point. We have started a teeny tiny bit of steering off the leg and leg yielding, but I haven't put too much emphasis on bend just yet. Right now, we're keeping it simple. Forward, calm, and generally along the outside of the arena is just fine for now! I will say that Jupiter does a mean turn on the haunches when we change direction though :)

In the mean time, we're working on plenty of things that are not related to riding at all. Getting Jupiter going under saddle is just a small part of what I was hired to do. The good news is that he's making progress at a rate that allows me to split time between riding and other activities. 

At this point, Jupiter is a pro at fly spraying. I can spray him anywhere at any time with any bottle. Sometimes he'll still take a step sideways at the first spritz, but that's it.

The bathing is also coming along. We no longer have to dedicate an entire hour to battling the hose. Instead, I just give him a bath at the end of each training session. He's still not 100% thrilled about it, but he's no longer leaping, rearing, and threatening to break his own legs/neck. I do wish I had a video of the first time I turned the hose on near him. It would make a pretty epic before and after for my website. The woman who was returning from her dressage show that first disastrous night was there this morning and couldn't believe it was the same horse!

We have also added trailer loading to our repertoire. Poor Jupiter barely had any trailering experience when he was shipped halfway across the country from Michigan to NJ, and he seems to be pretty traumatized by the experience. Apparently, it was quite a battle to get him on board when they had to move him between barns. Yikes!

The trailer is another example of a less than ideal training scenario. I'm dealing with a step up stock trailer with heavy steel doors and dividers. It's parked in a lot at the back of the farm, right against the quarry. It's not hitched to a truck, which would be a deal breaker for me if it was a lighter trailer. It's noisy, doesn't have butt bars, and definitely isn't designed to have a single person load a horse (or horses) alone. Eep!

Still, I work with what I have, not with what I would like in an ideal world, and Jupiter figured things out pretty quickly. It only took one session to get him in the trailer quietly. He's not self loading yet, but he walks right in on the first try every time. Today was only our third time trying it and I was able to load him, close the door, secure the divider, and then tie him. The fact that he is known to panic when tied, combined with the fact that there are no butt bars in the trailer has thrown a wrench in my system a bit, but we're working around it. I do think his owner is going to need a second person to help her for the foreseeable future though. That's the next video I plan to get :)

In the mean time, Jupiter's owner got him a somewhat ridiculous fly protection outfit. You all know that I'm the hippie horse trainer who keeps her horses naked year round. Still, I'm all for fly spray, SWAT, and even fly masks as needed. I have met a handful of horses who benefit from fly boots to keep them from stomping their hooves off. I have also met thin skinned horses who break out in hives if they're not in fly sheets. For the most part, however, I think fly sheets just heat a horse up, causing them to sweat and attract more flies. They also often trap bugs against a horse's skin, making the problem worse than it would have been otherwise. Plus, in Jupiter's case, the fly gear is red, a color that attracts bugs. 

I will give Jupiter credit. He handled wearing his superhero outfit like a champ on the first try (cross tied and everything).

So silly.

The next day, however, I came out to find him panting in the field with all the layers on, even though it was cooler than it had been all week. Ugh! I raised my concerns with his owner. Thankfully, the barn is backing me up. I don't think the staff is thrilled about having to peel this outfit off of him and then put it back on every day. 

I have also been talking to his owner about long term plans for Jupiter. It sounds like the plan on paper right now is to have me continue working with him through July, then have him go back to the show trainer in August. I don't know for a fact that he's going back to the same barn he was at before, and I haven't asked. I know his owner is thrilled with the progress he has made, and the change in his demeanor in the last month. She feels he'll be ready to go into an intermediate program, and then go on to a show program. She wants him to be a five gaited park horse, which will involve things like weighted shoes, stretchies, and minimal turn out. I'm sure he'll be in a double bridle in no time. I am not against double bridles per se, but he's certainly not ready to go in one now. 

I have been up front about the fact that I know almost nothing about saddleseat, and I have asked many questions along the way. I want to make sure that my training doesn't 'ruin' the horse for his discipline. In the process, Jupiter's owner suggested I reach out to his breeder. She already sent photos and videos of my work to the breeder, and I was relieved to hear that the breeder doesn't seem to think I'm doing anything detrimental to his show career. 

"If I was going to nit pick, I'd say she could start working on raising his head," she told the owner. My response to that is twofold:

1. His head can go higher?

2. I'm not even thinking about headset right now. I wouldn't be thinking about it if he was doing dressage, hunters, or western pleasure either. We're just working on stop, go, and steer right now!

Jupiter's owner loves him to pieces, and is relatively new to saddlebreds. She showed walkers in the past, but not in the way that makes many people cringe. She didn't do any soring or anything along those lines, and her horses live out in a big paddock with a run in shed, go trail riding, etc. I know she won't do things like tail setting, etc. Still, I worry that a saddleseat barn is not going to be good for Jupiter mentally. The hardest part of my job is the fact that these are not my horses at the end of the day. It is not up to me what disciplines they end up in or where they are boarded or how they are fed. I can make suggestions and share articles and videos and insight, but at the end of the day, an owner can do whatever they want with their horse.

Jupiter's owner has been a wonderful client, and I have nothing but nice things to say about her. I wish her all the success she could dream of in the sport of her choice. I hope to see both her and Jupiter end up happy together for years to come.

And on that note, I saved the best of this update for last. Last week, after resolving some issues with her own back, Jupiter's owner met me at the barn one night. She hadn't seen her horse go since the first time I sat on him, and was blown away with the change. 

After a disclaimer along the lines of, "He's coming along nicely, but I wouldn't call him broke yet," I invited her to sit on her own horse for the first time in the almost-year she has owned him. 

I told her that I don't normally have owners ride their horses this early in the training process, but he is completely comfortable with having a rider on board, and isn't prone to doing anything dirty or scary. He's just green.

And so, under my close supervision, Jupiter's owner was able to sit on him and walk him around. It is going to be a while still before she really rides him (or at least, if I have my way) but it was a brilliant start, and a good way to end my day. After all, I always say:

"My goal is not for me to be able to ride your horse. I have plenty of horses to ride. My goal is to have you be able to ride your horse."

"Ma, what are you doing up there?!"