Meet Freddy: The Exuberant Boy Genius
What was that? I think it touched my foot? Maybe? It could have!!! Anyway, I got us WAY far away from it now!
Meet Freddy, my sweet, lovable hooligan. He once got startled and jumped so high in the air that I sprained my ankle, and I never left the saddle!We found him on a buying trip to Germany while looking for a horse for a client. He was so green I had to try him on the longe line. But, he was supple and forward, and I just loved him.
They don’t give the young horses official names here in Germany. They know them by their bloodlines. The only way I can remember the different ones I see is to come up with my own names. Freddy is by For Romance, so I chose to call him Freddy, even before I knew he would be mine.
A cool thing about naming horses in Germany, is that once we bought him, we could name him anything as long as it began with an ‘F.’ Since one of my oldest and dearest friends went in with me to buy him, we decided his official name would be For Friendship. (okay, a little dorky but I love it anyway)
Once we got him home to Landrum, we got to see the real Freddy. Oooh boy! The WORLD is just so….startling! Haha
It turns out, Freddy is always up for a good time. And he’s always on the lookout for the next fun thing to do!
He’s really affected by his environment. He gets startled by just about EVERYTHING. And he has a big, quick reaction. Like, he leaps in the air, or scoots, or runs off, or sometimes a combination of all three!
He’s crazy athletic and super quick. He goes airborne A LOT.
That has been fun (NOT REALLY)
The thing is, he’s like a happy-go-lucky kid with too much energy. He’s never naughty, and he really never puts a foot wrong. He just can’t focus on things because, you know, THE WORLD.
This is really hard when you’re trying to ride a young horse that has none of the buttons installed yet. Like, you can’t put him in shoulder-in to get his attention because he has no clue what that is!
It helps that my husband is an expert at long-lining. That has been HUGE for Freddy. He just got too ridiculous on the lunge line and we couldn’t get him to stop scooting off and leaping in the air. So long-lining was a game-changer for him.
We also do most of his handling in the rope halter.
We discovered another fun fact with Freddy, he doesn’t care for other horses in the arena with him. Coming toward him, coming up behind him - it freaks him out a bit.
It’s been an interesting 3 years.
He makes me feel like the fun police sometimes. Or like the mother who has to say “no, we need to go to school now,” when the kids are having a blast racing around the house playing. He just wants to run and jump and have fun!
But, other than that, he’s pretty easy! He learns quick, and even with all of this stuff, he stays really supple.
We’ve done a lot to help him grow up. It’s still a work in progress, though. He’s just…Fresh. All the time. He never runs out of energy.
But, as it turns out, he is a Genius.
Here in Germany, he’s learned to piaffe in-hand with Michael Klimke in 2 days. He’ll even do it for me now, too.
He’s finally turning that energy towards learning stuff, and he’s really into it!
Michael thinks he could be a star, like a world-class horse. It’s super encouraging to hear that kind of stuff from someone like Michael. It made me realize that all of Freddy’s ‘enthusiasm’ could really work in our favor going forward.
Sometimes we as riders are stuck on one thing (like survival!?!!) and we can forget that it’s just a part of the whole picture. Mostly I was just trying not to come off and help him to focus! Hard to think beyond that sometimes!
We’ve got big plans for the Fredders here in Germany. He’s doing tons better with riding with horses in the ring, but he gets overwhelmed with being ridden outside.
So we’re going to help him with that. The current plan is to show him here as well. But he’s got a lot to learn and overcome. There will be lots of horses in the warmups and we will be OUTSIDE.
But to be fair, Freddy is amazing. And every day we’re working to help him gain confidence and learn to focus on his rider and realize that he is safe and okay.
I think the systematic training approach here, and the fact that no one gets excited about Freddy’s exuberance, is really helping him settle into the work.
It’s going to be a big year for Freddy in Germany. Out of all my horses here, I suspect he will learn and change the most, and I’m excited to take you along with me each step of the way in my Passport To Germany private Facebook page.
He is currently schooling 2nd level now, but we’re planning to get the changes on him, build up his confidence and his muscles, and be ready to take over the world!
I hope you’ll join me at TeamTatePassport.com, where I’ll share it all: My lessons with Michael, my thoughts and struggles, successes, breakthroughs, shows, and everything in between!
