The Waiting Is The Hardest Part.

So, Quattro has been back in work after his winter vaycay for about 2 weeks. And if I say so myself, he's really looking rather good:



For those who may be unfamiliar with the H/J circuit, I'll just point out that for THAT discipline, this canter is very nearly spot on: he's got the nice easy pace, he's powering off his quarters, but he's RELAXED up front too, not tensely stood back off his front end. He's light enough up front that you feel he could get over a jump without ever changing the pace. And that's exactly what you want. His stride (or "step" as we call it) does need to be longer, but he's young and out of shape and simply doesn't have the motor for that yet. You can see how it *should* be when he canters along the top of the hill at the very end of the video.

Right now is the point that it is CRUCIAL not to rush with this nice young horse. If you think back to last year, there's a wonderful change between this and "Mr. Go Mo' Faster" rushing around all tensed up with his nose in the air! Heck, back then he didn't even know which foot was supposed to come down first (causing me many a *headdesk* moment).

Unfortunately, we humans are competitive by nature, and we want it all RIGHT NOW. Especially when show season's upon us and it's all this close to being within our sights. I get excited about how well he's doing, and I battle the temptation to rush things EVERY day. More than once.

Good jumping stems from good flatwork. We all know this. If I had started him over jumps last year, I'd have ended up with a panicky rusher - the scary kind we've all seen, that buck through the changes because they can't do it any other way, and try to hurtle headlong at the jumps fighting the rider at every step. If we rush it with Quattro, it could still all go in that very direction - south. Sure, he LOOKS like he could canter around a crossrails course with no harm done - but it's an illusion. He's really only playing a hunter horse on TV; he just happens to be doing it rather well.

You watch that canter, and it's just sooooooo tempting to push too hard. My daily internal monologue goes like this:

"Just ONE jump from a canter would be so great to see..." "NO!"

"Maybe we should start him with ground pole gymnastics..." "NO!"

"I wonder what would happen if we tried to start him on autochanges..." "NO!"

"Maybe we should stick him in crossrails at the Rivermont (H/J) series..." "NO!"

And so on. You get the picture. When cantering, he might give every impression that he's ready to go on, but he's NOT yet, and here is why:



See how inconsistent he still is at the trot? He's trying his little Saddlebred heart out, but he's still tense and upright in the front end and has to be coaxed to drop his head and drive from behind. It's all uneven; there's no consistency of pace and no consistency of impulsion. These are all indicators of insufficient strength in the hindquarters.

You know how YOU felt (or feel) in high school gym class when the teacher asked you to do something you knew you couldn't physically do. It doesn't make for happy students, and it doesn't make for a positive learning experience. It's SCARY. And it sets you up to fail.

Quattro still simply lacks the balance, hind end power, and confidence to be doing anything much more than what he's doing right now. Sure, we pop him over a jump every so often - a teensy-tiny vertical, leisurely thrown into a trot set, just to show him that's what's coming, and encourage the concept of "forward OVER something" with a nice, relaxed pop. But it would be a betrayal of a lovely and willing young horse to ask for more than that right now, because it's all he CAN do.

He's still only three. There is plenty of time. Time which we will use to work on lengthening, building up strength behind, and building up the impulsion he needs to have to carry him CALMLY and SAFELY over a course of small jumps.

But boy, Tom Petty is right: "The waiting is the hardest part!"

The adventure continues.