Al is doing just fine and we've had some good lessons over the last week. I had to postpone my usual Friday to Saturday because Shiny was having some vet work done and the times overlapped. But it was a fun Saturday lesson. We rode with a couple of the younger kids. Al was feeling brave that day (no wind blowing the scary doors!) and we managed to find our way far enough toward the end of the ring to actually jump a real line. So that was a big deal for us. We're still jumping tiny, but getting further around the ring so I'm happy and feel like we're progressing. It can be a little depressing considering we were jumping around 3'6" this summer and now we're not... But that's horses. Sometimes there are set backs, but we keep plugging along and eventually we get back to where we left off. Al is such a nice horse, and it will be worth riding this struggle bus for now. Hopefully anyway.
Eros is also great! I switched him from the two ring to the dee bit, and he seems really happy in it. I can't get the same "sit" in it that I can with more leverage, so I plan to use the old bit here and there to keep his flatwork honest. But jumping in it was dreamy. I could actually take a half halt when I needed to and he accepted it without overreacting. My guess is that it might not be enough the first few times we jump outdoors, but hopefully that will be the only exception. Time will tell! He had his annual spring vet tune up today, so he'll miss his jumping lesson this week, but will be back at it for next time. Hopefully feeling amazing!
Shiny is feeling vastly improved. Doc was on the same page as I and agreed that it was time to do her neck, and also wanted to do the right stifle. Additionally she got some shockwave up by her poll. One of the things I really like about my vet is that he is interested to hear what my body worker says about the horses and lets some of her findings help guide which therapies we decided to try. He thinks the shockwave may help her next adjustment go better. We shall see! She had the weekend off and we've had a couple of fairly light flat rides this week so far. She's still kicking out when I ask for canter (doc believes that is in fact behavioral... Lol. Me too doc... me too) but her canter is so much more balanced and she's not tripping nearly as much as she had been. We're going to have a jump lesson tomorrow so we'll see what we have! I'm glad she's feeling better though. I probably should have addressed some of this sooner. It's tough to tell with her sometimes when she's hurting and when she's just being a sassy pony. Mares are tricky!
In other news, after a three year hiatus, I got to attend a really fun chili cook off hosted by a friend and her husband. They take it pretty seriously... like seriously fun anyway! The winner gets a trophy:
ugh i def know the feeling of there being a bit of, um, a 'gap' between what we're doing now vs what we've done before... horses, sigh....
ReplyDeleteRight? I really think this is the most humbling sport out there.
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