Infinity

|𝚊 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚍 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚍

Grace had agreed to help me with Cypress so we were currently making our way to her stall. Once we arrived, the flea bitten mare lifted her head to look at us.

"Hello girly, ready to work?" I cooed at the mare with a small smile on my face. I unlatched the door to her stall so I could slip her halter on. Before I put it on, I made sure to give her lots of pats and scratches before carefully placing the leather halter on her sleek face. She wasn't bothered by it thankfully, so I proceeded to attach the lead rope. Once again Cypress wasn't fazed so I just stood there a bit.

Usually off the track race horses were very eager to leave their stall and would rush, so I stood in the stall a bit preventing Cypress to rush out of the stall. I took a step forward and Cypress followed, halting when I stopped. Since she wasn't too eager or anything, I exited the stall, the flea bitten mare following behind.

I led her to the cross ties, Grace by my side, and I clipped each of the cross ties to Cypresses halter. On the track, these horses usually were taken up in the aisles so it was usual for them to have never been in the cross ties. I let Cypress settle since she was prancing around and trying to get out of the cross ties. When she understood that she had to stand still I brushed her with Grace's help. We used the curry comb and the dandy bush to get all the dust off. Grace brushed her white tail, smoothing out the knots and picking out the shavings stuck in it, meanwhile I picked her hoofs. When Cypress didnt lift her right leg, I went back to the left and reached across to lift her right leg, this time she lifted it willingly. Track horses mostly worked only on the left, so it was common for that to happen. When she was completely groomed and ready to go, Grace went to fetch some front tendon boots so that we could use them for protection.

We slipped the boots on and I led Cypress out of the cross ties. Graces and my laugh harmonized as we watched the mare behind us walk weirdly due to the new boots. She had probably never been in some, so it took her some time to adjust before walking normally again. I led her to the round pen which was still damp, but nothing too bad. Grace stood outside of the railing while I stood inside with Cypress, ready to work her and gain her trust.

I remembered what I had read last night about the mare standing in front of me. She was a two year old mare who was retired sound after two unplaced races. Besides that, what her previous owner had told me was that she was very sweet, very willing and a really smart young horse. I did know about the sweet part because it had definitely shown the time I had spent with her between yesterday and today, but I was just about to prove the willing and smart part.

I glanced at Grace who eagerly waited for me to start working the flea bitten mare in front of me. Usually when Istarted, I began lungling them. OTTBs didn't really know how to lunge, so I had to teach them to work on my pressure and body presence. I had Cypress in a lead rope, so I used that as my lunge. I clicked and kissed Cypress, and when she didn't react, which I expected, I twirled the end of the line to get her moving. She reacted to the pressure and started walking around me in a circle. It was usually harder for young horses to figure this out, so I definitely started seeing the smart side showing.

I let her walk around me, and when she started slowing down or trying to walk backwards, I twirled the end of the line and clucked, encouraging her to keep on walking. After her walking around me, I introduced the whistle and the ho. I used the whistle as a reward, so when I whistled at Cypress, I turned my shoulder and asked her to turn her nose at me. That was one of the first things I introduced so that they knew that the ho or the whistle meant them to stop.

When Cypress halted by me I let my mouth curve into a smile. I turned around to pat her and I shot a glance at Grace who smiled at me. This never got old, working with new horses; It was so rewarding to see them slowly understand what they were being asked for, especially if they were eager horses like Cypress.