The Colt That Could

Delkari: Lead Rope and Mounted Work

West followed Eric out to where Delkari was now standing. A stable-hand gripping onto the stallions lead rope as he tugged at the length of rope. "He seems lively" she commented, glancing to Eric before looking back to the stallion that she had been asked to work with. She had yet to plan what she would do with him. But a good start would be to see how he behaved on a lead rope in the enclosure, then to see how he behaved under a jockey. She wasn't going to jump straight into how he behaved under a jockey. Most issues were ground issues and not mounted ones. But she'd work with both just to set some ground for her to build upon.
The stable hand nodded. "Always. He never liked the lead rope, so as soon as its on. He wants it off" Already, West's face held a look of shock and maybe even concern. "And you still force it on him? Think about it. If you didn't like something, and it was forced upon you. Your fight or flight reaction would be to try and escape it; Flight response. Gonna have to work on his attitude towards the lead rope then. It could be something as simple as its uncomfortable for him, or there could be underlying issues. But I'm not gonna throw around what is and what isn't until I've worked with him a little. Could you hand me the rope?" She walked forwards, taking the rope from the handler, rubbing Delkari's neck gently as she stood slightly to his side. He could see her, and she could see him clearly. She checked the head collar fitted properly, before checking the clasp on the lead rope. "His head collar seems a little tight, and I noticed how you held the rope. You held it too close to the clasp. You need to give him a little freedom to move his head around. Especially in this environment. He's gonna be curious, and he's gonna want to look around a little. I understand the want to have complete control over his head, but you never will have complete control. And the closer you hold the clasp, the closer you're going to be to him. And if he spooks, you need to give him, and yourself room to escape. Now, I'm not saying hold the very end of the rope. I'm just saying to give him more freedom on it" She demonstrated how to hold the rope, making sure everyone had been listening by asking them to take hold of the rope.
This was all the simple stuff. But it had to be done either way.
Once everyone had demonstrated that they understood, West led Delkari towards the small arena. It held a few jumps, and several trotting poles laid on the ground. It was all simple work out stuff. This would come first, then West would take the stallion to the gallops. Silently hoping the stallion didn't need a whip, but judging by his temperament, he may need one. Taking a breath, she climbed up to the stallions' back. Sliding her feet into the stirrups, instantly feeling Delkari shift under her. "Steady" she murmured gently, rubbing his neck before quickly pulling on a helmet that was handed to her by Eric. "Yeah, he does that every time he feels a jockey on him" he said quickly, before shifting to the side of the arena to stand with the other trainers and jockeys that had gathered to watch West work with Delkari.
"Not the first horse I've ridden that doesn't like weight on his back. Not necessarily a bad thing. But not really a good thing either. Ill fitting saddle, ill fitting girth. Both could be possibilities for why he doesn't like it. But we'll see.  You can't really tell how a horse reacts to the saddle until you test it for them. I'll start with light trotting over the poles, then we'll move to jumping based on how he responds over the poles" She started walking Delkari around towards the poles, before gently urging him to trot, feeling him respond instantly in what seemed to be a rather quick trot. Clumsy, almost. He clipped several of the poles, stumbling over the last. "Okay... Let's try that without the poles" She turned him away from the poles, trotting him around the edge of the arena. Noting the improvement. ~Weird~ she thought, keeping him in the trot as she turned him back over the poles. This time, he cleared them.
West raised an eyebrow slightly. "Just had a bad start? We all have them Delkari" she said, patting the stallions' neck. Talking to the horse, whether you think it's good or not, was always a good way of establishing that trust between horse and rider. It was a sense of security and trust for both the jockey and the rider. "Jumping next" said West, turning him to face the jumps. "These few are easy. You can clear these" she smiled, patting his neck again as a gentle encouragement. Delkari threw down his head as a response, pulling himself into a trot towards the jumps before he launched himself over the first jump. Completely catching West off guard as she lost both her stirrups in the sudden burst.  No matter, she encouraged him onwards, gathering her reins as they flew over the second jump. She came to the conclusion that Delkari was just extremely excitable. Extremely.
Excitable wasn't a bad thing, but before a race, getting hot under the saddle wasn't a good thing.

Keeping him cool would be something to work on at a later date though. Maybe set up a race situation to see if anything could be done. Just to give West the chance to see how he behaved whilst she had the chance. And not when they were both a bo