OTTB - Bouffe and The Pre-Teen Group Lesson

Yesterday, was one of those days, where everything went exactly, if not better than planned, starting with Bouffe being in his stall, when I got to the farm at 11 AM. He stuck his head over the stall door when he saw me parking my car, and gave me a look like where have you been.

One of the biggest problems I have is carrying the saddle bag to and from the car; so, today I decided to groom and tack up Bouffe in his stall, which made the trip just a matter of walking about ten yards down a hill to the barn.

Now, I have worked with several different OTTB and there has only been one other horse, Dandy Dasher, who up until Bouffe was the finest Thoroughbred I had ever ridden. I called him Dan and he basically taught me how to jump big fences and ride races; of course, that was pre MS. But like Bouffe he was a five star example of an OTTB. 

 After getting the saddle in front of Bouffe's stall, I was able to groom him and put his tack on while he stood quietly, loose in his stall. Dan was the only other horse TB or not that I have ever been able to do that with. Bouffe then walked quietly to the ring where Tricie was having a group lesson with pre-teen girls and their mothers. There was a lot: kids jumping for the first time, horses knocking down fences, screams from riders and their mothers when either of the above happened, etc.), for a horse to look at and maybe shy from, but not Bouffe, who took it all in stride.

With all of the above going on Bouffe and I went into the ring and I proceeded to get on him, which because of the stirrup leathers being shorter from Sundays show, was much more difficult for me than usual. But Bouffe stood completely still until he felt my right leg go over the cantle and come down on his side. Now, I find this standing so still completely amazing. No other horse of any breed including Dan would do this. Bouffe hasn't had any formal training he just knows I need him not to move until my legs swings over!

At first, we shared the ring with Tricie's class; again, no adverse reactions from Bouffe, just some curious glances, like he was thinking, what are they doing now. When their lesson was over and we had the ring to ourselves I was able to practice my rising trot some more. At first, I was again on the wrong diagonal, but on the third try I got it, which brought back memories of posting correctly before my pre-racetrack years, where everything was a two-point stance. I had a sense of a great accomplishment and stopped riding on that positive note.

I also rode in a different saddle, which probably had something to do with my success. The Crosby that I showed in was still tight around Bouffe's withers so I tried my old Smith Worthington Walsall AP, which even though it has a MW tree, fit Bouffe perfectly when I used the withers pad. It was like being back home, riding in that old saddle and I plan to continue using it.