Yesterday, I got Izzy out and lunged her. I decided it was bad for our corporate mental gealth to try to ride. She did ok. Still an idiot, but better.
Today, I got her out and lunged her. She was ok. I ran the lunge line through the inside bit ring and back to the girth and lunged her, which asked her to step up from behind and reach down and she was good. I got on her and rode.
It was ok. I focused on keeping her forward and straight was a secondary consideration. Yeah, we ran around on the forehand. Yeah, she kept bulging out towards her friends. However, she didn't buck or freak out and I was happy with her when I got off. That's what mattered today.
Her leg is still massive, so I hosed it for like 10 minutes, until the swelling went down. The good news is that we've done enough with water lately that she actually feel asleep while I was doing it. (Note that in her mock sale ad, I didn't say she bathed. She doesn't. She hates water very much.)
Some improvement is always better than no improvement, and an OK ride beats a bad ride any day. Sounds like progress to me! Keep it up and remember that consistency is a key ingredient to good training. Both you and Izzy have had a lot of changes in your lives in the last few weeks, which can make for difficulties. Pretty soon things will even out and Izzy will be back to her old self in no time.
ReplyDeleteAnd congrats on the bathing success! It's hard to get a horse over hating water...I'd count that as major progress!
Glad to know she's standing for the hosing. That's an accomplishment in itself.
ReplyDeletePatience is a virtue with horses, and a hard thing to learn. Sometimes it's too much like raising children....
Any signs of progress are good things with a greenie! I'd say it sounds like things are at least moving in the right direction, even if it's a little slower than you'd like.
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