Super B - Super Mare Extraordinaire

I really need to stick her.  I thought she was 16.1-2 but I think she may be taller.  I can't see over her back.  Klein is 17 hands exactly, and I can't see over her back either.  I'm 5'7" for reference.

Super B continues to floor me almost on a daily basis.  I'm not even sure what else to say about her...just look at her.

#topshelf

#stunner

I have had her on the lunge line a couple times recently to let her stretch and she has just been on a completely different level with her balance and way of going.  I knew she was fancy but she showed off some passage for funsies the other day and some unreal canter.  She's going to take a little bit of time to get some strength built back up but when she does...look out.

For my fellow Pulp Fiction fans, I always tell her she's a race car in the red, and that it's f'n dangerous to have race car in the red.  She is pretty intense right from the start for anything.  So my biggest obstacle with her is to help her realize that we don't have be in the red all the time.  She's not neurotic or anything, and it's not that she's out of control.  She's not dangerous either, so my Pulp Fiction reference isn't completely accurate but I love that movie and it's what popped in my head for the times she has gotten all wound up about something.  I mean, I did get right on her after not riding her for three months.  I guess you could say she is very serious about work, and I appreciate that immensely about her.

She will stop on a dime for you though and stand silently, ground tied, waiting for her next instruction.  She can take it from 100 to 0 in a split second, which is pretty impressive.

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A post shared by Stacey C (@jumpingpercheron) on Jan 9, 2019 at 10:41am PST

Watch both videos.

It is a little hard to explain.  I think she's so used to being required to explode that it has been a little challenging for her to just slow her thought process down sometimes and realize that it's not always required anymore.  Thankfully, she does listen extremely well to half halts, so if I give her a half halt through my body she immediately responds and brings it down a notch.

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A post shared by Stacey C (@jumpingpercheron) on Jan 10, 2019 at 5:27pm PST

She was just adjusted by the chiropractor and she feels amazing.  We have some work to do with her left hip that will improve with just that, work.  It was just a bit stiff and her pelvis was about bit out of line but she adjusted no problem and now that we're back in regular work, once she gains some strength and muscle that hip will be great.  The video above was prior to the chiro adjustment.

Though she has been off the track for a year now she hasn't been restarted under saddle for that entire year.  This is another place where seven years of training in a particular way will have to be somewhat undone, as in a different type of strength/balance.  A matter of months won't undo that.  Now that we are over the abscess and out of the rain forest, oh and she doesn't go feral anymore (that was a few weeks of down time too), this year should be pretty exciting and full of some serious progress.

Being adjusted.  I really like our new chiropractor too!  We had a great one in NJ and what a relief to find a great one in Las Vegas too.  He was GREAT with her and actually used to be an exercise rider so he is extremely familiar with OTTBs.

Today I sat with her for a minute before I got on and just held her head in my arms and told her how much I love and trust her.  She closes her eyes when I pet her face/ears.  The tough mare defense goes away in those times, she loves our little quiet times. 

Tough mare defense deactivated.