Uninspired

So, I was right, Egg Head definitely needs some R&R. Winter has maintained a boney grip on South Florida. As we approach hurricane season, the weather has been oddly dry, and the evenings have been somewhat cold. Typically, by this time of year, it's raining at least daily, and the air has hit the point of being disgustingly humid. This weekend, I stepped out of my apartment into a chilly, dry morning. It was about 71* at 9am, which is definitely not typical. By the time I arrived at the barn, a strong wind had picked up.

I took Fuego out of his stall, and he was just very blah. He didn't seem super interested in doing anything. I even had to basically shove a treat into his mouth because he didn't want to take it on his own. So, with that in mind, plus the weather, I kept my expectations low and just aimed for a fun lesson. We kept the warmup pretty simple. I didn't do any extensions, no leg yields; it was mainly just maintaining a working trot and changing direction.

Trainer T had us trot over some poles, which was fine. She then set up canter poles that could either be done as a bounce or with one stride in between. Fuego and his gargantuan stride did it as a bounce, but the last time through, I leveraged some of the lost momenta from the corner and was able to get one stride in between. I have wanted to make his canter more adjustable, so this is something that I might start working on in the future.

For jumping, we warmed up over the bounces, which he's always very good about. At this point though, it was clear that he was just kind of pissed off and wanted to be done with everything. He wasn't running off or anything like that, but he wouldn't stand still, was throwing his head, and straight-up did not want to soften. He also had his trademark head fling from almost the very beginning of the ride. There was no question about him being upset about, well, something. That being said, he was still game and very rideable, just a bit wiggly.

The course was again very winding, but it gave us the opportunity to practice some tight turns. He was so rideable that my job for the majority of the course was to stay out of his way and add leg to get the distances. Of course, it was also on me to sit up and direct him through the tight turns while also staying soft. I could feel him struggle a bit, especially with getting his inside hind underneath of him to get around the turns. It's also on me to work on that engagement on the flat so that he's not struggling as much during our courses.

The only part that really got us was, again, that stupid gymnastic up the center which has been torn down to just a two stride line. That didn't stop Fuego from running through it . . . sheesh horse, what is it about this thing that you just don't like??? First time through, he ran, but we got two strides. Second time through, I half halted but didn't commit enough, so he did it in one stride. Third time through, he listened to the half halt, we jumped in beautiful, he thought about doing it in two strides . . . and then threw his massive shoulder forward and did it in a long one. He's so perfect over everything else that we all kind of laughed it off. Oh boohoo, my horse is athletic and has a freakishly huge stride. What ever will I do? How will I go on??

Because he was so antsy, we spent a lot of our walk breaks catching up with the girl who I now share a lesson with. The one time that he did hold all four feet still is when we were standing perpendicular to Destello, which put Fuego in the perfect position for face scratches. He certainly won't complain about another grown adult woman being obsessed with him.