What's Up Wednesday

 

Had another great week with the ponies! Still low on media, but I do have some of Al! We'll get to him later. Let's cover the rehabbers first. 

Pammon is trotting five minutes and so far, that's going just fine. It's nice to be trotting him again, but boy did I forget how much bounce this horse has! It's a good workout. I'm kinda glad it's only five minutes right now... Ten minutes next week! I think he's happy to do something other than walk again too. We both agree, thirty minutes of walking in circles is pretty dull. 

Shiny pants is back to work after her injections, and I do think they helped her a lot. Her shoulders are so much more free. I can literally see them moving longer and looser than they were before. The hind end is also much improved. She's not nodding anymore tracking left and there's a little more bounce to her step. It didn't magically fix her angry canter departs, but I do think they are improving. I think some of it is that she expects it to still hurt. Then when it doesn't she's like, "oh okay, canter. No problem." I let her canter a pole on the ground today and she was really excited about that. Took me right to the forward distance off both leads. Good pony! Hopefully we can start her jumping again soon. 

Eros had a great lesson last week! We kept everything very simple, and never actually strung a full course together. Instead we worked on single jumps, one at a time. Sometimes stopping after. Sometimes letting him do some flatwork after. It was really helpful in keeping him from taking over after the jumps which hopefully will translate when we start putting lines together again. I'm sure it's not a magic cure, but it's for sure a step in the right direction. He lessons again tomorrow morning. Hopefully he'll keep on this trajectory. 

Al and I are starting to find our groove I think. Which isn't to say we don't still have lots to work on. We certainly have a lot to figure out still. But I think we're starting to speak the same language at least. I caught myself in my last lesson with a huge stupid grin on my face when the jumps starting get raised. In the past, that sound filled me with angst, but with Al, I get excited. I think that's a pretty big deal for me! 

I still find him kind of annoying to flat some days. He is the least focused animal I've ridden in a long time when he's not jumping. In our weekend lesson, we were cantering to a raised cavelletti on a circle, and the goat walked into the ring. This happens all the time, and the horses really don't care, but he literally turned his head to look as he was leaving the ground. Like, really Al? Focus buddy! But I also secretly like the challenge a little. While he can spook (we've done a fair amount of rapid direction changes), he's not dirty about it, and he makes an effort to take me with him if I'm not able to shut it down in time. I appreciate that. He's pretty tall. I'd like to stay in the saddle. He's a ton more focused when we're jumping though and that makes up for the sometimes annoying flatwork. He gives me a ton of confidence. Even if he looks a little at a spooky fence, as long as I keep my leg, I know he's going to the other side. And it's pretty rare that he even jumps it like it was scary. He just likes to check things out I think. Anyway. I'm still pinching myself that this horse found his way to me. Seems like a dream. I have some video from last week to share. I did edit where I had to circle due to traffic, but the rest is untouched; the good and the mistakes. 

In other news... I can't remember if I mentioned or not, but I once again rolled the dice for the Celeris Black Friday sale. I still wasn't fast enough for the free boots, but I got 20% off. Also a nice deal! I'm on hiatus from buying boots I don't need, but I DID need new show boots. My Parlantis are too big and too short so it was time for an upgrade. They arrived Monday, and while definitely the most boring boots I've ever ordered from them (I literally apologized in the notes on my order, and let them know they really were what I wanted in case they thought it was a mistake) they are as usual, GORGEOUS. And they fit like a glove!

I especially love how tall the tops are. Even if they fall some, they will still be tall enough. Guess I'll have to break them in soon... That's the only bad part about new boots. Next step... put some shows on the calendar, I guess? Ugh, that seems daunting.