Ride #25

I believe that Wednesday's ride was #25. Yes, I am still counting, and will continue to count for quite a while.

Stitch was super chill while getting tacked up. Barely any pawing. 

I was ready to tackle standing at the mounting block as the day before he had walked away while I was trying to get my leg over, which he hasn't done before. Not sure why, other than maybe because he hadn't been ridden in a week? Although he was lunged the night before, but really lightly, so maybe not enough?

Anyhow, it's something I want to nip in the bud. I'm too old and too stiff to get on via fly-by's these days. And it something that he knows how to do nicely.

He was quite fussy at the block on this day. In the end, I had my mom hold him while I got on, or I wasn't sure I was going to ever get on. So we'll work on that in-hand on my next couple of visits since I don't plan to ride again until Sunday.

Stitch says that cookies will solve the problem. Cookies solve all problems. 

Whether this is linked to the mounting issue or not, Stitch then threw in a couple of half-assed walking bucks in the first circle after getting on. That's new. 

He had a bit of that powder keg feel, not wanting to go forward, but also might explode. So not fun to feel on a greenie. 

I was thinking I might be best to get off and lunge, but wanted to get at least a bit of forward walk first. And once we got that, he was fine. So??

I'm actually wondering if maybe his back is still a bit sore from the bite he came in with on Sunday. He was fine for my Wednesday ride, other than standing at the block, but maybe the second day in a row set it off? I'm definitely giving him the next couple of days off, and will re-evaluate on Sunday. The other reason that I'm wondering if he's still sore is because he seems stiffer bending to the left than usual, and again was maybe worse on Thursday than Wednesday. I'll try some massage and ground exercises and see what I find.

But, since he seemed fine once he started walking forward, we continued with our ride. 

The goal was a figure 8 with circles at each end. And we achieved it! He was a little bobbly across the first diagonal, and we're still figuring out forward and steering at the same time, but it was a good effort. It looks much better on video than it felt! He still feels quite wobbly.

Then I ended the ride with a trot down the long side asking for a forward trot for a few strides, rebalance, and forward again, which he did really nicely. He wasn't as forward during the rest of the trot work as he had been the day before, so I wasn't sure if he would do it, but he nailed it. 

I think we only did about 3 minutes of trot, but as I wasn't sure we were even going to get into a trot when I first hopped on I was quite happy with the ride. The other rider was being kind enough to let me have the right of way, and she was ready to canter her horse and warned me that he might be a bit sassy, so I ended the ride on a good note before things had a chance to fall apart.

So other than the beginning, it was a good ride. 

Oh - and I measured him - he's grown another 1/2" to 15.1 1/2 hh. Maybe just a wee bit taller behind still. He's lost a bit of weight and looks a bit leaner these days, so I'm worried that another growth spurt is coming. (Don't worry - he's far from skinny.)

He's also far from reaching the height of his BFF Simon, who is honestly taller than any horse needs to be.