Cisco hasn't been ridden in those 4 weeks. Life got in the way - sick, work, other things - and when I did have time to do something with him he has been kind of a twit. With only 20-something rides on him, twittiness means I might die if I were to hop on him. So he's been lunged a bit, mainly at the scary end of the arena, to try to get over whatever he thinks is still going to jump out at him in that end.
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| I found a beached whale out in the paddock on Sunday. |
He's been really good the last couple of times that I lunged him. So Monday night was going to be the night to get him back under saddle.
But the twittiness was back. He did his idiot dance in the barn while I was getting him ready. I threw the saddle and bridle on him, since he hasn't worn them for most of the last month, although I was pretty sure I wasn't going to hop on him. It would be a bad night for me to die, as it was going to be really busy at work the next day, and my boss would be pretty pissed if I were to call in dead.
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| I really wanted to sneak up and tickle her tummy and see if she giggled like the Pillsbury doughboy. |
So I took him into the arena with the thought that I would just lunge him. He wasn't great about standing while I was getting myself organized. Then I sent him out on the circle. And he was really good!
He was moving forward nicely, on a big circle without falling in. He even showed that he is not a giraffe, and had moments of reaching out with his nose and dropping his head and neck a bit.
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| Legs straight out. |
I decided that it would probably be safe to hop on him to cool him out, to remind him about steering (that I figured would be non-existant after a month off). And that my chances of dying were less than earlier thought.
He was a bit bouncy when I got on, but the steering was actually quite good. We weren't doing the drunk horse routine that I thought we would be doing. A friend brought her horse into the arena (thankfully she yelled door and gave me time to position him so that he could see the door open and a horse magically appear on the other side), and this caused Cisco initially to be a bit excited. But suddenly a switch went off and he just relaxed.
I just walked him, and did lots of steering. Then threw in some walk/halt transitions to get him listening to my leg and thinking forward. And decided to leave it there. It all went much better than I thought the night was going to go, so I called that a win for me.
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| She was snoring quite contentedly. And she knew I was there, as when I arrived she was laying down in a sternal position. She moved to this position after I went out and told her I wanted to grab her before Cisco. I grabbed Cisco first. |
Phantom was feeling pretty sassy through our quick ride. Nice and forward at a trot. Waiting for me to give my hands forward after an exercise at canter to go whoo-hoo. But she was listening, and had some nice moments.
But the best part of the night? I put a pair of breeches on that I haven't worn in probably 2 years (I think my smallest pair). And they fit!!! And weren't even tight!!! (They may have actually fit fine for the last couple of years, I just haven't worn them as I like my Pikeur's much better. It's just a great feeling when you put something on after a long period and can still fit into them.)
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