We had a great hunt on Saturday. The weather was perfect, the footing was great, and the territory was beautiful.

Freedom started out nice and calm in the second field. He was nice and calm with no jigging. In fact he was so well behaved that I decided to move him up to the first flight after the check. I figured that the first hour of the hunt had taken the edge of him.

I was wrong. It was off to the races. He must have known that the Preakness was later in the afternoon. At one point after we’d gone around a jump and the field got a bit ahead, he put his head down and just accelerated. It was fun, kind of.  I can’t remember if I’ve ever gone quite that fast before. But it was not what my shoulder needed. He was pulling like a freight train and the loose ring snaffle was more or less useless. Within minutes I had a horse that was lathered up and jigging. He definitely didn’t feel tired then.

He did later, though. After the hunt I turned the horses out on grass for an hour or so. When I came back they were all inside the barn, chilling in the shade. I’d left Freedom’s cribbing collar off while he grazed but there he was standing in the barn, snoozing and not cribbing. He had to be really tired to not have the energy to crib. Maybe that’s the cure?