Tango-Mango

I swear I think Tango is a handsome horse, but a recent round of attempted conformation shots has me questioning myself, my ability to photograph anything, and what a horse is even shaped like.

Tango moved to JM's barn in June for a dressage intensive tune-up, then he went up for sale for a while. And then time yawned interminably, and all of a sudden he'd been in training for five months and I needed to bring him home or start living in a cardboard box, so he returned back to my farm December 1st.

When he returned, I immediately noticed a few things. Nine months of riding Kat has made my confidence level skyrocket. Kat regularly moves in ways that can be very unsettling, she overjumps everything like a pogo-sticking leopard, and has more tricks up her sleeve than any horse has a right to. So even though Tango is approximately 15 feet long, I'm not nearly so hesitant about his "where are my feet" moments as I used to be. I used to pause, circle back, reattempt a little slower, whereas now I'm a lot more "haha whatever dude let's push on, this time actually with legs underneath us."

"Listen lady, trail rides are for quarter horses."

Tango has a lot of strength building still to do, and I think most of the 'issues' at this point aren't training issues but rather strength issues. He's a very strong horse in that he doesn't give up easily and will happily trot/canter forever. But when we're talking about the strength to carry himself nicely? Totally different.

I'm taking him to Twin Rivers for his first 3-day in about six weeks here. The dressage will be fine if I can get him calm and stretching enough before we go in the ring, I'm not remotely concerned about stadium, and it's totally fine if he takes a week off after the cross country.

I took him up to RDLA for some cross country schooling when I rented that truck, and he really was quite good. If I let him canter, he'll jump anything. I felt wild and a touch out of control, but the videos reveal less insanity than I felt. I'll take that as a good sign.

I'll also learn to shorten my stirrups when jumping him, because his back is just so springy over these fences. 

Meanwhile, E has been having some spectacular rides with him, the very-fun-to-teach lessons where I can shape the horse through my rider's hands and play with lots of exercises. Her goal is to show him some this year which I am in wholehearted approval of.

"What's happening, why am I on fire?!"

All in all,  he's doing very well. I'm fighting the old ottb battle of please put weight on, but he generally looks quite good.

"Okay people, this work thing is overrated."