He's A Hot Mess

Have I mentioned that Wassachusetts was once employed as a race horse?  His less than illustrious career began and ended at Suffolk Downs in Massachusetts.  With 8 starts, which included 1 win, 1 place and 1 lousy show to his credit, Wassachusetts retired in 2007 with earnings teetering on $10,000.  And while he may not have been fast enough to make it on the race track, he's more than fast enough for me.

Wassachusetts

As recently as last week, Wassachusetts reverted back to some of his old ways, but I can hardly blame him.  With the introduction of the beautiful spring weather and riding outdoors, Wassachusetts is nearly beside himself with joy and, quite frankly, a little anxiety.  There's nothing like trying to ride a fresh, young thoroughbred in a big outdoor arena on a cool and slightly windy spring day.  Boy, it seems like there have been a lot of those days lately.

After two episodes of being run away with - which, by the way, simultaneously invokes feelings of terror and exhilaration - my trainer suggested that her daughter do a training ride on my wild pony.   Now, my trainer's daughter is not only a gifted rider, but she also loves the challenge of a hot horse and more often than not, can pin point issues and either fix the problem or give the animal's rider insight into how to approach  and ride through various issues.  I also love the fact that she's empathetic to the rider's concerns and reactions to certain behaviors exhibited by their horses or ponies.  Case in point, I absolutely do not have one ounce of appreciation for Wassachusett's running off with me like a naughty pony taking advantage of a small child.  

A day or two later, I sat with my trainer's daughter to discuss her findings and recommendations.  Apparently, Wassachusetts took it upon himself to bolt during their ride leaving me feeling a slightly relieved because I no longer felt it was something I was or wasn't doing to insight his bad behavior and frustrated because here we were revisiting a vice that I was certain he had outgrown.

So, like any other problem or tribulation in life, you just have to push through it, and, in this case, I mean it quite literally.  When Wassachusetts digs in and takes flight, I need to fight my natural urge to clutch on the reins, trying to muscle him into stopping and opt, instead, to urge him forward with the hope that it will eventually click in his brain that this is not a fun exercise for him, rather it's exhausting and ultimately unsatisfying because sprinting off doesn't allow him to be in control of what we're doing.

Hopefully, Wassachusetts and I will remain patient with one another and quickly nix this bolting issue because it sure would be nice to start horse showing again sometime soon!