Factory Reset

Sunday after flying home from San Diego, I pretty much headed straight to the barn. Poor, neglected bf got to spend the fifteen minutes in the car with me driving me to my car and then I abandoned him to go walk TC.

Orrrrr make a bad life choice? Sunday afternoon. 

After some discussion with lots of people over the last week or so, I had been wavering about the move to pasture. I do want him in pasture, but I am concerned about the mud in there right now. It's awful. Like ankle deep and very sticky/slick. Not good for tendons. One or two more months at his current barn would be so much better for his leg (well, both of them).

But I also don't want to pour money into him anymore/stay attached/etc- the one post I wrote about that still stands. So I finally asked myself: what would make me think that paying the extra money (it's not thaaat much but it's not nothing) to keep him at his current barn for two more months worth it? And I decided that I would need to be able to ride him. And the good rides needed to outweigh the bad.

So I grabbed my saddle from the ranch, and my helmet, and drove to the barn.

I tacked him up and he acted all spooky about the girth being removed from the top of the saddle, but other than that he was a good boy- pretty good for a horse who had a day off (and no calming supplement) the day before. And he hasn't had a saddle on him for a month!

We hand walked for 20 minutes and then I trotted him out. He went to play and we had a brief discussion about NOT playing and then he was perfect. And sound!

I took him in the covered arena and did some trot sets in hand (they don't allow longeing but you can do ground work!). I had grabbed side reins so that he could start building strength (the stronger he is, the better for pasture), so I put them on and just jogged with him. Good for me too because I hate running. SO MUCH. But I'll run for the sake of my horse I guess.

Tuesday night

After about two total laps (with a walk break each lap), I decided to get on. My rule was this: get off the second I start feeling iffy. We did some ground work first, then I hopped on.

He immediately moved off my leg and onto the bit! And then balked, threatened vaguely to rear, got smacked on the ass once, and then trotted off like YES MA'AM WE ARE TROTTING LET'S DO THIS. I gave him a place to go but kept him on the bit and bending- something he resisted at first in favor of shaking his head and getting passagey. But no hint of bolting, I thwapped him for the head shaking and he got serious again. I put him into the right rein and immediately he connected. He's weak, as there's no more topline on him, but the amazing connection was still in tact. He was so light and maneuverable, so forward, so adjustable... all the stuff I miss so much about him. It was all back.

We trotted two laps. No spooking, no bolting, no rearing, no bucking. He thought about being bad but I kept him with me.

After that, we walked and I pet him a lot. I could tell he was so so so happy, a totally different horse than the one I had a couple months ago when the fiasco started. We marched over to the mirror like we always did, took a selfie, and then I immediately started crying. Ugly tears. I got off lest my happy tears turn into sad tears when he bolts again (he didn't). We walked around the arena, me just crying like some kind of crazy person.

Wednesday morning

My mom was surprised

I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm not making any decisions this week. I'm not going to make any assumptions about what my next rides on him (if they happen) will be like. I'm not going to try to dissect why he was better that day. Because I've only ridden him three times. He was great on Wednesday morning and up on Tuesday evening, but was super good. Each ride he's getting more connected, more rideable, more focused. It's like he's thinking finally, we're back to work. His diminished work ethic is back with a vengeance, even if he still asks "really" at the beginning of each ride.

But again, need more data points. Not making any decisions, all decisions still stand as of today.

At this point I'm just happy. Happy my horse was sound. Happy I got to ride him and have a few fun rides on him.