Well, if no one sees it, I feel progress.
Zim now stands for mounting. We seem to have reached a mutual agreement, that I will do my best not to jab him in the side, and he will stand until I am mostly seated, before walking off. I think its a fair deal. Its never bothered me when a horse walks off while mounting, as long as he doesn't step sideways. So I take this as a win.
He is cross-tying. I haven't actually hooked him on the other side (just looped the lead through), but he seems to be respecting it, and I think it won't be long before he is just fine with that. He has also been better with dealing with my spastic ways while tacking up. He doesn't seem to "wtf is the lady doing" and more "hi mom, stop being silly".
Zim is smart. I am constantly astounded by how smart. Its both good and bad. He will take advantage of me if I let him, but he also learns fast and doesn't seem to need 20 minutes of refresher with every ride like Penny did. Once its there, he remembers.
Yesterday during our ride, he was actually counter-bending both directions. Not much, just enough that I could get a slight lift in his shoulder and push him over. But he would willingly do it on both sides, and not just the left. He was doing so well we did some spiral in/out on a circle at both the walk and trot (trot not so great, but better!). He struggles to take more than a few steps, but can do maybe 1/4 of a circle without being frustrated. I was really proud.
His canter transitions were a bit sloppy. He bucked/spooked/took off with me going to the left for the first depart, but I got him under control and he was fine. He just needs a bit more confidence from his rider. I have no problem with that, I am just not used to it.
It wasn't a long ride, as I would rather have a few small successes that a super long, frustrating ride.
My next obstacle (on top of everything else), is to put a few poles in the arena and work on building up his confidence there.
Wish me luck.
I stumbled across your blog and have forwarded it on to my daughter who is also training her first OTTB for eventing. I think finding someone in a similar situation will be helpful to her and keep her head up during the discouraging times. We have had him longer ( 7 mos ), and due to random small circumstances, training has been inconsistent. She may have to go backward before going forward at this point but we hope we've crossed the hurdles that have been holding the training back. Good luck to you and Zim. We'll be watching/reading the progress.
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