Poor Teco had to work today!

We had a flat lesson with my trainer Paul today, and boy, Teco was tired! The fat horse needs to get in better shape!

We had really hoped to get some good work done on his counter-canters; because of his jumper training, Teco is a little flying-change-happy. At Southern Pines I last weekend, both his counter-canters in the test got a little messed up -- we need some practice. 

The run tired him out far more than I expected. When I got him three months ago, the only shape he was in was ROUND - in the belly, that is - and he really hadn't competed in a couple years. The conditioning seems to be coming a little slow to him, in particular, the whole galloping-and-jumping-big-fences part. He ran like a champ on cross-country at Southern Pines, which was our first Prelim, with plenty of energy. I definitely felt him tiring towards the end though, and three days later (Wednesday, today) he's still wiped out and stiff. He even had Monday off and an hour-long walk on Tuesday... I'll have to experiment with him and figure out what gets him happy again after a tough event. I think I'll try longing him, next time....

This weekend we're gonna practice some cross country, especially drops. Drops didn't go so well for us at Southern Pines - he took a HUGE leap into the water, and I lost my stirrup and we missed the jump out. So we're going to try to avoid doing that again.

Till next time -

Christie