In addition to the absolute crap fest that the month of July has been, we missed our last horse show for funeral reasons. We do not show in August because the Carolina's become intolerable. Today is the perfect example where it is almost 7 pm and STILL OVER 90 DEGREES OUTSIDE!!!
Sweating through your clothes multiple times a day is GREAT - says no one.
So I have been switching off riding days. Uno one day and Dutch the next. I try to ride very early in the morning on Dutch days. Both boys have rocked out every ride every day. I will write more about Uno's workload and how our new jumping strategy, but short version: he is a bad ass and good good boy.
Dutch has THRIVED this summer. He has the ultimate dad bod and with the addition of AM and PM Benedryl his allergies and breathing have been ok. I have spent the last 6 months ponying and hacking him a few times a week for a combined 8 - 12 miles a week. Some days he has pulled us forward, some days he has dragged his feet and been pokey. Every few weeks I pop him on a lunge to see what his soundness and breathing look like.
Super sound - breathing well.
Last week he was so sound after his warm up period and happy to canter and pop over poles and just general looking good. He kept pulling me to a little cross rail, so I let him go over that a few times and he was SO HAPPY!!
This lunging inspired me to start doing a weekly "arena" or dressage ride each week and just see what he wants to give me. So on Tuesday I hoped on bareback and headed out to our jump field to see what we had. We warmed up very slowly and he was definitely stiff and not used to working like this. However, once I got used to his old man trot (which is much smaller than I remember, but still sound and has a clear rhythm) we went through some poles and some circles. I then asked for canter and was very slowly run away with by the "most furious bucking mustang ever." While I was glad he was feeling good, he definitely was throwing himself off balance and was tripping himself up. So we went back to the center of our area and used the fence as a natural stopping barrier to practice trot - canter - trot transitions. I rode for 30 minutes and although he was really sweaty his breathing was good and he was still marching forward at the end of the ride.
Best view.
Comments
Post a Comment