Bones

One of us is a dinosaur. One of us is Sue.

Apparently, 8 weeks on your couch and then sloooooowly starting to person again is not a recipe for peak physical fitness or excellent riding. I was kind of hoping we could roll with the whole "my muscles are too useless to have muscle memory so let's forget those bad habits", but no, that would be too easy.

As my trainer pointed out, I know that I'm weak and unbalanced and useless (and Courage DEFINITELY knows), so I overcompensate by being tighter and trying harder and making it worse. I mean. That doesn't sound like me at all? Shut up.

I was struggle-busing my way through a lesson, which is mostly my trainer watching me walk my horse around while calling out "try not to fall off" and "take a break", when she said something that sort of rocked my world.

"Let your bones get into the right position and and your muscles can just support them".

whaaaa

Profound, no?

sigh yes this is a good moment now

And then we trotted a solid half circle like badasses.

And then I went home and laid on my couch.

But next time I'm strong enough to get on, I'm excited to build on that.

Back at It

Back in the saddle

We're moving forward. Cuna is better in work, so we're easing back up to our normal workload.

Yesterday I set up some wee tiny jumps (cross rail and 2'6" vertical) and just practiced cantering in from a half seat. He picked all the distances and I just had to wait for him without jumping ahead.

It is kind of hilarious how much he loves to jump. If he thinks we're doing flatwork, he fusses in the contact, flips his nose about bugs, and skitters around. The moment I point him at a jump, he's forward, straight, and all business.

Today I put on dressage tack for the first time since he tied up. I wanted to see how he felt more than anything--he hasn't wanted to really sit and push off his right hind and I wanted to know if it was a pilot problem or if he was weaker.

Answer:

Total pilot problem.

We had a great warmup, and then I was able to sit his trot for the rest of the ride. He reached for the contact and pushed from behind and was just delightful the whole time. You know, as delightful as a dressage-hating stiff horse can be. ;) Another rider commented on how fancy he was looking.

I am looking forward to showing him off this summer, but my car is back in the shop again (yay...), so we'll see what the finances allow. Looks like we may be having a later start than anticipated.

Honestly? As long as I can have rocking rides at home on my wonderful old man horse, I don't care. He makes every day worth it.