Canter One, Mustang Cantering

Its been a long time coming!  Its been 6 months since we cantered and last week we finally reached the point in our rehab where we can start adding canter.

I didn't realize how much I missed it, or how far we've come: hand walking, game ready, wrapping,  miserable hand walking, restricted turn out, more miserable hand walking, tack walking, adding in trot, straight lines only, hard ground…and then, a balanced trot, with slight flexion to the inside, outside leg slides slightly back, squeeze with both legs, and effortlessly, Phinn stepped up into the canter, balanced, quiet, with purpose, like we had done it the day before, and every day before that.

I only cantered about ten strides at first, and our schedule is to add in 2 mins per week like we did the trot, but it feels like quite a triumph to be one more step closer to our goal of "return to full work".  The more we work, the better Phinn is. Tack walking was such a clear relief from the mutual misery of hand walking and adding in trot was entertaining enough in itself, for a while….then the games started. 

 A mustang with a job is a happy mustang, and a safe one. A mustang without a job is a mustang who will become his own activities director.  And the activities, while entertaining, are not as fun for you as they are for the mustang, mostly because most of the activities are of one theme: buck off  rider.  While he hasn't been successful yet, (knock on wood), he's pulled some sneaky ones. Thankfully he seems to be tickled enough with himself to have pulled off a buck or two and none of them have been particularly animated or mean spirited, just mischievous. 

The most creative self-appointed mustang activity was crossing the electric tape that cut his new paddock in half. It turned into a game of horse sized 'Operation', with Phinn watching gleefully as we would try new ways of stringing the electric tape every few days, only to find him on the other side of the paddock the next morning, tickled with himself for figuring out how to get through the new 'test'. Fortunately, the problem was solved with a two pronged approach: moving him to a paddock with ample grass, and taking the time to check the fence for anything that could possibly be reducing the output of electricity.  Advantage was taken of an afternoon rain and wet grass and Phinn was slightly coerced (lured with a carrot) into touching the now-hoppin'-hot fence.  A visible spark off his nose and an audible snap of the electricity jumping off of the tape preceded a leap in the air and a horrified snort.  I felt bad, but it had to be done, "Mustang Operation" had to come to an end, I was terrified that he would somehow get tangled in the fence. Of course, now he snorts with suspicion at anything white, including the gate to his paddock, which has made walking in and out of the paddock about as entertaining as "Mustang Operation" was.

Canter Two, CANTER

I was very humbled a few weeks back when Allie and Jessica of CANTER Mid Atlantic contacted me and asked if I would be interested in doing retraining for CANTER. Jessica had noticed I had relocated when my profile changed on face book (go social networking!) and we started talking. I'm located about 2 hours from one of the Maryland farms where the CANTER horses are let down and board at a fabulous facility for a young thoroughbred to learn new skills.

The horse I picked is "Big Talk".  A 4 year old filly.

Please follow her progress on my new CANTER Blog: http://www.kcgsporthorses.com/canter-blog.html