Fall (Cisco)

Cisco got going again under saddle in early September. We took our time getting going, as he was quite unfit and had lost all his strength from the previous year. 

Over the last year, he really hadn't been ridden very much. We didn't have an arena through November and December, got in a handful of rides at the neighbor's track in January, got a few more rides in our new arena in February, had a break due to a cold snap, then the summer of unfortunate events started at the end of March with a hoof abscess.

Thus, the goal was to work on him getting some strength and fitness back, focusing of straightness and encouraging him to lengthen his neck.

For the most part, he's been a very good boy. The first half of our rides might have a bit of a llama-esque look to them, but the second half of the ride has been mwuah (chef's kiss). 

I've been asking more of him in regards to straightness, and doing lots of shoulder-fore on a left lead canter to try to get his errant right shoulder back underneath him.  We've also been working on a bit of a bigger trot. It feels good, but I need to set up the video camera and actually see what's happening - PRE's are really good at faking it.

Cisco hasn't been perfect for every ride - there was the night that he just couldn't go anywhere near the scary corner, which appeared to have been because the only light that wasn't on in the arena was in that corner and once it was turned on the monsters all went away. There was also the night that he lost his brain for an unknown reason and we could not go through the short end of the arena without spooking, despite the fact that the hay bales that are stacked there had been there for weeks and that there were four other horses in the arena, which usually means that he doesn't look at anything. 

There was also the ride that I hopped on bareback and he decided to be silly about the spooky end so I had to use my left leg in a much more encouraging way than normal. My knee wasn't happy the next morning and I limped around for a few days. It all seemed good for a couple of weeks but has been bothering me after sitting or crouching. It's the same leg that I pulled an adductor on a couple of years ago, and I wouldn't say that ever fully healed, so maybe they're linked. I really need to get a strengthening program going.

There's been nothing exciting to report, we've just been quietly doing the thing. Which is just the way I like it.