Back on Rico

I rode Rico both days this last weekend! I put tack on him and everything. It was so fun, even if I had a bunch of human emotions on Sunday night when I was riding him in the dark.

I used to ride him in the dark when I was in grad school. I'd go to crossfit early in the morning, run to class for a few hours, go teach, go back for another class maybe, and then finally I could ride Rico, my FEI horse, just as it was getting dark in my parents' unlit, lopsided arena so that we could keep plugging away at our (well, my) Grand Prix dreams in the moonlight.

To be back riding him at night, squeezing him in at the end of a long day, brought back so many memories, good and bad, of struggling to keep everything compartmentalized so that I could have one hour to push toward a goal I'd made many years ago. It was almost surreal being back in that place.

Set up my soloshot while Rico weeded the arena

But since getting my Gold on him in late 2014, Rico has been in and out of work. I rode him semi-regularly in 2015 while I was finishing up graduate school and starting to ride TC (who I rode 3x/week). Then in 2016 I brought him back into work when TC was on rehab for his suspensory. In late 2016, Rico was diagnosed with internal pigeon fever and we nearly lost him, he didn't recover until mid 2017.

So then for 2017, I didn't ride him much at all. He was so weak after that and I was preparing to move, so it just seemed like there was no reason to ride him. Obviously I spent much of 2018 far away from Rico. Now, I'm back and closer to him. My thought is that if he wants to be ridden, I'll ride him. He turns 23 in a week and a half, he's not that old.

He does, still, have no muscle on him though. He was skeletal when he was suffering from internal pigeon fever, and never got it back, he came back to pasture fitness. Addressing this is also sort of my thought. As I get older and see certain family members have trouble getting up out of chairs or walking around my parents' property, the more it makes me 1) glad that my parents are relatively active and 2) want to lift weights for the rest of my freaking life. If Rico can stay sound enough to put a little muscle on him with some lower level dressage, I think it'd be really good for him and hopefully keep him fitter and stronger. TC is obviously my priority, then my business, then Rico (oh and my real job and own fitness is in there somewhere), but when I have time, I want to get him out, hopefully at least once a week and if I can, twice.

When I first put it on him, I got a lot of side-eye

So both days this weekend, I tacked him up and rode him! He was pretty excited to get out and do something, which was so fun to see from a horse who has been historically lethargic about working. He was way more forward than he's ever been and just plain enthused about trotting and cantering around in circles.

He remains such a nice mover, even if he's kind of uneven behind and not strong enough to contain his flingy legs. His canter is feeling great right now, though he gets tired quickly and his method to getting me to give him a break includes yanking me out of the tack as he starts "bucking" and then stopping. I told him that wasn't cool but then decided to give him more breaks. I brought my equisense over, and we did about 6 minutes of trot and 1.5 minutes of canter on Saturday and 5 minutes of trot and 1 minute of canter on Sunday. That seems like a decent starting point.

Looking around

The saddle I'm using is a reactor panel saddle I found at a tack store for way less than it should have been priced at. I think I'll be buying it, even if it's not perfect (it's not), it's something to ride in that I know I can sell for more when I want to. I might even toss it up for sale while I'm using it. If it sells, awesome, I'll make money, and if it doesn't, it does fit Rico so it's going to be great to ride in in the mean time.

I'm excited at the idea of riding Rico more. I really hope that 1) he stays sound (enough) and 2) I can make time for him. Fingers crossed he enjoys coming back into work. I'm already loving seeing him more living down here, and he seems more excited to see me than he has in the past when I've been less of a regular figure in his life.