A Speedy Check In

Speedy doesn't get a lot of air time these days. It's hard to come up with something interesting to say when your horse is perfect. Oh my God, I can't believe I just said that about Speedy G. Do you know for how long I wanted to sell him? I HATED him from the time he was 3 to about ... well, last year or so.

Homeboy is getting an old man's mouth - I love it!

Speedy is now 12, looking at number 13 in April. When I saddled him up on Saturday - he really does get ridden still, I couldn't quit hugging him. He stands rock solid for grooming and actually seems to enjoy it! There is no more fussing to be girthed up, and he's playful when I bridle him. This has not always been the case.

When you have this much charm, what else are you going to do with it?

When I lead him up to the arena, he walks respectfully beside me without trying to run over the top of me - something he would do just two years ago. And it's not like he's being good out of fear that I'll whack him - his whole demeanor simply exudes confidence and relaxation. Again, that hasn't always been the case.

Uh-huh. But where are the candies? (Dude loves his peppermints!)

All of this confidence and relaxation is really starting to show up in his work. He's been so much more supple and willing to give that left rein. We're still not going to earn 9s and 10s for them, but his leg yield has become nicely rhythmical. In the trot lengthening, I can finally feel his withers lifting and his stride actually getting longer - not just quicker.

He's just been amazing, frankly. I am getting a much better connection, and I can feel that he's through and working over his back. He doesn't take the right rein as easily as the left, but he is much more even in my hand than ever before. 

His canter is getting more and more collected too, and the downward transition to trot is spot on. He can almost canter as small a circle as I want. In fact, that's how I am schooling the canter to walk transition. I get him sitting as deeply as possible before I ask for the walk. That transition still needs work, but the walk to canter is pretty reliable.

Too broke to be a jerk. He'll stand there all day long.

While riding Izzy can be frustrating and humiliating, it is such a relief to have such a nice, easy horse in Speedy G. Occasionally, I think about selling him simply because he has become such a great horse for a junior or a more timid adult amateur. When I try to come up with a price however, a million dollars just seems too low. 

I don't think Speedy G is going anywhere.