Like the famous Aussie anthem; “Take it ea-sy, take it eeeeeasy…” I have been doing exactly that with m’boy Copper.
Between the two of us, we sure have managed to rough ourselves up. *sigh* I severely twisted my ankle three weeks ago, and my physio banned me from riding for six weeks. Hah!
Copper’s been off work for more than four months and I have been dying. DYING I TELL YOU!
So I’m doing the *smart* thing and riding my not-ridden-in-forever horse bareback. I know, I know, but I just can’t help it.
Besides, we are only walking! Well, supposed to be walking anyways. I stuck to the plan for the first ride, we did a lot of lateral work. Interestingly enough, right after I hopped on he kept swinging his head around to nip at my toes. He was not happy! I knew he wouldn’t be, which was why my plan was to loosen his muscles up.
(I had lunged him first, but stopped after a few rounds, he wasn’t flexing well, he was counter-bent, and he just wasn’t softening up so I knew that continuing to lunge would be counter-productive.)
Actually, for the first fifteen minutes of our ride every time I stopped he would swing his head around and snap. I was glad that communicative, but negative behavior stopped half way through - my plan totally worked. He felt better!
Second ride, not so according to plan though… Copper was super happy to see me, he was hanging out at the paddock gate and nickering as I walked up to fetch him. He even stood like a rock for me to hop on; which is something we have to sporadically work because often his mind will leave before I’m fully mounted, and he’s walking off. But that’s by the by, because for all the sweet behavior, this time I was met with fire and brimstone pony!
He was tossing his head and snorting, and it makes me giggle so much. Copper wanted to run!
I would ask for a leg yield and he’d start trotting. So I was all, “Welp, you can do that, but you’ll have to work for it.”
I sat back and lifted my hands to try to hold him to together so that he didn’t take off. Bareback trotting is hard at the best of times when you haven’t practiced in ages, let alone done any actual riding! Add a ex-trotter Standardbred jackhammer trot on top of that. Words can’t describe the ouchie.
I worked hard to try and actually lift my seat in time to his bounce to encourage him to work through his back. I didn’t always get it right, but we actually had a half-decent trot. I would have loved to see footage or photos to see if it looked half as good as it felt. It felt up hill and powerful, not soft or elastic, but that can hardly be expected given his complete and utter lack of muscle tone. Seriously, for a horse so fat, he looks like skin and bone! He’s an absolute pudding at the moment. : P
Best of all, I felt quite secure, even when he was trying to put his head down and buck while trotting. So there’s that.
And that’s it for the rambling, I really shouldn’t go over too much more boring detail. (￫ ▽ ￩)
See ya,
bonita
