OTTBs… some are trained

Word to Betsy…

Obligatory cute picture to start off the post:

And a preface.  While this blog is mostly about Woody, I will occasionally talk about Ozzy and that grieving process.  It’s kind of part and parcel for me.  I hope y’all will oblige.

So today, despite me being patient zero for the first bird to human transmission of the avian flu, I went out to the barn.  Matt was in town so I had someone to video… how could I not. 

First, let me say that I don’t know if retraining an OTTB is an emotional roller coaster for everyone ( I would imagine it’s not) or if it’s just particularly taxing for me because Ozzy was the antithesis of an OTTB in many ways, and I still miss him at a level that takes my breath away. 

Even as a 2 year old, there was NEVER anything to take into consideration but the task at hand.  Teaching him to bend, all you had to focus on was, well… teaching him to bend.  You didn’t need to worry about herd anxiety, the elements, intrinsic insecurity; all you had to do was tell him what you wanted him to do.  It was like you were in a vacuum.  Nothing else mattered.

This is NOT how Woody rolls, and I would imagine it’s not how the majority of horses roll, much less JUST turned 4 OTTBs.  That is not to say that that level of sensitivity is a bad thing, I dare say for an event horse a certain amount of it is a fantastic thing.  I always joked that Ozzy lacked a certain sense of urgency (please excuse the outfit, it was the first Rec event after 6 years off, and I hadn’t found the time to correct my youthful enthusiasm…)that at times would have been useful.  I’m just saying it’s different, and I’m still pretty tweaked over losing Ozzy so I am hyper-vigilant to these differences. The differences are good though, anything else and It’d be too easy to compare a new horse to Oz, and that wouldn’t be fair to anyone.

So anyway, today Matt headed out with my hunched over groaning self to pluck Sir Woods out of the field.  His girlfriend Bunny was vexed, but Woody came willingly per usual.  After a VIGOROUS grooming session we tacked up and headed up to the Ring of Solitude.

We started with a Longe… of course.

Guess who he’s hollering to here… really, take a guess

Why am I making this face… I’m going to guess because my stomach felt like an alien was going to pounce out of it at any second.  Woody looks like he’s having sympathy pains.

And of course the video

Then, I climbed aboard (from the ground, should that deserve a mention).  I will admit, that I was not 100% today, and I had some reservation about that.  But as I said, I had someone to document our ride so a girl’s got to do what girl’s got to do for the sake of a blog.

He looks perfectly innocent here, and for the most part he is.  Again, I look like I just sucked on a lemon… cause I’m hot like that.

Not only do we get someone to video the ride, but the commentary is free. 

Apparently when I do stuff on purpose I get it wrong the first time ;)  And yes, when I get stuff wrong I like to LOOK DOWN to confirm just how wrong I am… because I’m 12.

 

Now, here is Woody showing his ass.  But really, he’s only showing a teeny piece of his ass, cause this is nowhere NEAR the fit he is capable of pitching. 

 

OTTBs, some are trained.  Some?  Not so much.  Woody likes to switch between his multiple personalities.

And the other side of Sybil?  Mr. I like to stretch way down into contact and move like a rock star.

So that was today.  He had one pretty significant meltdown (which we didn’t get on tape), but after that I had him walking (relatively) quietly on a loose(ish) rein and we ended on a good note. 

I also had a good lesson today.  As I said, I’m not going to lie, I missed Ozzy like hell today.  I missed my solid citizen that I could give Matt lessons on and spoon when I needed it.  However, once I looked through the grief I was able to see all of the fantastic things that Woody will be able to teach me.  It takes a release on my part; requires me to let go of what was, and while that’s hard, it’s also healthy.  It makes me focus on the good things about Ozzy and not just on what I’ve lost.  I just hope that I’m able to do as well by Woody as Ozzy did by me. 

P.S. Despite what the videos show, we did travel to the right today… I promise.