A Breakthrough Day?

I looked at P. Burch last night. On December 10, 1947 P. Burch breezed the yearling Great Sun 3f in :39. The youngster had conducted breezes of similar distance and speed on 12/1 and 12/4. Hard to believe, but, that is what Burch did with his yearlings.

I tend to be more conservative, always fretting about those unclosed knees and the still growing cartilage at both ends of the cannon bone. Nevertheless, reading Burch provides a lot of confidence as to what these yearlings can take trainingwise.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, in very decent weather, today's training:

Tues: 12/12/06 This was a pasture gallop under tack. Placed the Astride on Y at 30 lbs and galloped him for about 10 minutes back and forth over a 1.5f distance. The little horse was into it and threw in several half furlong spurts (and bucks) at probably 15sec/f and maybe a little faster. By my eyes this seemed a bit of a breakthrough day. This is one of those horses that looks better galloping under tack than he does riderless. Today he looked bigger, faster, and stronger. And, he continues to flash natural speed. Frankly, I was surprised today that the horse is looking this good this soon. As a side note, I was also quite (may I use the word) thrilled to be on the ground instead of being up on the little fellow during his bucking routine. These youngsters tend to be highly (and deceptively) cooperative the first three weeks under tack, and then, invariably, as they to lose their fear, all heck breaks lose. It's in this period that one may regularly expect to hit the ground, and it's nice have the Astride to endure those antics.