The Grand Bolt

So tomorrow Sammie and I are riding in a clinic/camp thing. He gets a wee bit excited (read: takes off) at the canter when we ride with other horses in the ring. This, needless to say, is quite a dilemma.

I guess I should go ahead and tell you about our various mishaps. Usually I can nail him before it gets too bad, but last week I wasn't quite so lucky. Most of the ride we were working on transitions and little bitty fences. (Like 18" max. I don't want my boy to need hock injections at six!)

He was listening well for the most part, so I decided to ask for the canter. It's always been a rough patch just because he's a greenie, but I didn't expect any major disasters. We got maybe four strides of nice, balanced canter and then it went to the dogs. He fought me into a flat-out gallop and ignored my aids, so I grabbed mane, sat deep, and did my best reining impersonation. It was almost pleasant until we hit a cavaletti. We flew over that four inch pole like it was a four foot oxer. It must have slowed him down because I was able to bring him back to me. I can tell you what, there are few things more comforting in that sort of situation than the feeling of your horse shifting down a gear. His flat, unbalanced canter had never been so welcome. We did a circle and then went down to a walk while we caught our breath. Did I mention the equine photographer was out? Oh, yes, and he had gotten quite an eyeful.

The barn manager, Karen, and her daughter, Brittany walked over to the arena fence looking guiltily amused. Brittany, a very experienced teenage rider, offered to hop on him for a second. Brittany mounted up, trotted around, and asked for a canter. Sammie threw the biggest rodeo-style buck I have ever seen-his hind legs were nearly straight up in the air. He NEVER does that. EVER...and the photographer got several pictures of it. I'll have to post them. Brittany kept him moving and brought him into the middle. She turned him in a tight circle and pop, pop, popped his little butt with my dressage whip until he decided to behave. Needless to say, he didn't pull anything for the rest of the day.

Sammie's tried running off with me once after that, but I turned him into a tight circle and made him work. I don't know if he'll pull it again, but if he does, I really don't want it to be at the clinic. I'm not nervous about the bolts themselves- my seat is good and I can usually ride them out or just flat out prevent them-I'm more worried about further public embarassment.

I thought I'd share that with you just for the heck of it. I'll try to get a vid tomorrow and will definitely tell you guys how it goes.

Liz