May: Training and Show Plans

Levi and I have been plugging along with our boring conditioning work under cart. I'm happy with his progress and our efforts so far. This training has been largely facilitated by the generous help of my headers, who are experienced drivers able to meet me at the farm and just hold my horse as I hitch or unhitch him and jump into and out of the cart, and then accept that they will be thoroughly bored while we dither around in the cart. They have taken some really gorgeous photos and videos of Levi, and I'll try to include as many of these as I can going forward. Driving is truly a team sport!

We aim for four days per week under cart with one longer conditioning workout in hand, and either two days off with turnout only, or one day in which I long-line him instead of driving. I will film some of the in-hand workouts soon, since they are a little bit interesting. I've seen a gradual progression with Levi's fitness. He is able to maintain a steadier tempo at a trot (and a slightly more forward trot as well!) for a longer duration compared with two weeks ago. The outdoor arena perimeter is approximately 1/8 mile. My goal is to increase the time and trotting distance each week until he can complete 1/2 mile at a steady working trot without wanting to drop the pace and walk. He can currently complete about four laps at a fairly steady trot, with one or two walking laps to catch his breath in between; he's clearly not very fit yet under harness, but we will get there. I have introduced him to the wonderful world of driving on the grass, which he finds so much easier than the sand, but mostly we use this arena for conditioning. I encourage him to stay on tempo, but if he can't keep up, he can't do it, and we'll downshift into a walk and do transitions until he gets the fitness he needs - I'm not going to nag or bully my horse at this point or try to shortcut any of this process through force. In the video below from our last drive, I could really see (and feel) a difference in his movement. He's stronger. He is taking more of the contact better, is experimenting more with his frame at a trot, and I was really pleased with his lovely little stretch down, toward the end of the video.

We have two shows scheduled for this month, both of which are local. Both shows are either open or open/Morgan in-hand classes. For these classes, I will show Levi turned out as a sport horse; while at one point he was taught how to park out, if I tried to ask for this now he'd probably think he was being encouraged to pee. Showing him as a sport horse in hand will be interesting since we've not competed against other Morgans before. Under cart, we will keep on driving through the month with the goal of participating in his first competition in October, which will be an open CDT/schooling show. So far, we're mostly just having fun together, which is really the most important thing.