WATTYS 2019
Emily Martin, your typical seventeen-year-old girl. well, kind of. For the past fourteen years, she's been living with her aunt, Hannah, who just happens to breed and train some of Florida's finest horses. Emily's life had always been lo...
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"Has he gotten any better about the canter transition?" Hannah asked as I rode Titan around the day after the show. I decided Dublin deserved a day or two off.
"Yeah, he's a lot better," I said as I rode Titan around. To show her, I did an easy canter transition. "We've even started over fences. We're having some difficulties though."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Let me show you," I said. I had a couple of jumps set up in a mini course, only about two feet high. We went over the first jump no problem, then a slight turn to a combination, and another slight turn to a vertical, then a rollback. I tried turning him to the rollback, but he threw his head up and put the brakes on.
"It's only when I try to to rollbacks or sharp turns," I said. "I wonder if his feet or teeth hurt."
"No, the farrier said his feet were great, and the vet said he wouldn't be due to get his teeth done for a couple of months," Hannah frowned. "That is weird. Is it the bit, maybe?"
"He's in a french link," I replied. "I had him in a normal snaffle, then he started doing this, so I switched him to a lighter bit."
"And he's still doing it," she said. "Huh. Let's try something."
She grabbed a stirrup leather (minus the actual stirrup) and put it around Titan's neck like a neck rope. She then took my reins and took of his bridle.
"Are you crazy?" I asked. "This horse would barely let me ride him two weeks ago, and now you want me to ride him bridleless?"
"The worst that will happen is he'll go fast for a lap or two," Hannah shrugged. "Just try it. See what he does."
"Alright," I said, and picked up my leather. He surprisingly listened very well, and allowed me to steer him with just the neck rope. We picked up a canter and started our course. It started just like normal, then we approached the rollback. Without me telling him what to do, he easily rolled back and went over the next jump.
"Wow, there you go," Hannah praised. "Very good."
"It's like he doesn't like me telling him where to go," I said as I brought him to a halt. "He picks the striding, and as long as I generally turn him to the next jump, he'll figure it out and go to it."
"He's a smart one," Han nodded. "That'll be fun to work on."
"This horse has gotten some serious training," I said as I gave him a pat. "He's fun."
"He's a pretty cool dude," Hannah smiled. "Hey, can you do me a favor tonight?"
"Sure, what's up?" I asked as I started cooking T down.
"I have a buyer interested in buying a horse and hopefully getting it trained on-site," she chewed her lip. "I have a few horses in mind, but he said he has a daughter your age who has worked with challenging horses in the past."
