Let's Try This Again

 Last week was the first week in a month that my leg wasn't super achy at the end of the day. It wasn't just the sprained knee, but the calf and ankle that just ached. It just wasn't comfortable enough to consider getting back in the saddle until last week, but since I'm off this week I decided to wait until now to get back on just in case my leg wasn't happy about it and I would need to recoup afterwards.

For the last month, Stitch has been enjoying being out in the summer pasture with his friends and not really having to do much. The grass has apparently been of benefit to him as I think he's growing yet again. I took his fly sheet off for the farrier last week and had to take a double look at his butt to wither height. I know he was level for a while because people had commented on it; it wasn't a figment of my imagination!

The mirror doesn't lie.

Otherwise, I put him in the arena for a run or a lunge weekly, do a little bit of groundwork, and try to find something easy but useful to work on with him. This included getting hosed off (not his favourite thing), getting his tail washed for the first time, and getting his fetlocks clipped for the first time. I'm regretting the fetlocks. When he is a twit about getting his feet picked up, the fallback way of doing it is to pull on the fetlock hair (which I suspect is how his previous owner trained him). When he does the cha-cha or straight legs it when asked to pick up his foot, I don't have that fetlock to grab onto anymore. I might let that grow back in.

Definitely not Stitch and I! The Lord Strathcona's Horse of the Canadian Military, which are based in my city, are currently in London, England, and standing guard over Buckingham Palace. They have a musical ride that performs at various events including Spruce Meadows, so are used to be on horseback. This soldier is Sam, the boyfriend of a lady who used to ride at my barn. I asked her if they were riding Canadian or British horses while over there, and her response: "They are on the King's Guard horses. I'm told they are "bigger and spicier" than the QH crosses they are used to here in Canada, haha." Pretty cool!

Last Thursday I put him in the outdoor arena for a free lunge. When I had arrived, someone was lamenting to me about how one of the mares from the pasture next to the geldings had been moved to another paddock and how her gelding had had feelings about that that he expressed in the way of equine interpretative dance.

Stitch didn't seem to have any cares about the missing lady horse. In the outdoor, I chased him out of the first grassy corner, then the second corner. As he approached the third corner, which has tall upright slats to mostly close it off from the horses on the other side, he gave the studdy low whicker to the horse on the other side of the fence. That's interesting, I thought. 

That horse was apparently the missing mare. And she played the damsel in distress card. 

Stitch didn't go full on macho mode, but he did put out the most energy I've seen him put out so far. Laps and laps and laps of canter. Not frantic or anything, just enthusiastic. And vocal.

Sound up to hear his very not-macho whinneys.

This totally surprised me - this is the horse who canters half of the arena when free and is all "I'm good, thanks". Guess I don't have to feel bad for him and can start putting him to work!

Thus, when I hopped on him for the first time in a while on Monday, he had zero desire to be silly and was a total gentleman.

The "why aren't cookies being shoved in my face?" look.

I did a whole 15 minutes of walk with one longside trot. When my right leg was the dominant leg asking for inside bend, I felt it. The trot was just to test my leg out - it was fine for the rising trot, although I was smart and went to the left so that I wouldn't have to use it for much steering.

I was worried about getting off more than getting on, but it was actually getting on that twinged it a bit. The action of the hop/push up with my right leg off of the mounting block was what hurt the most. 

Fifteen minutes was definitely enough. It was a bit achy afterwards, and I put an ice pack and tens machine on it when I got home. The good news is that it felt fine the morning afterwards, so I didn't do any damage to it.

I'm going to stick with 15 minutes every second day for a bit. And I guess I need to start doing some squats. Blech.