Hindsight

Despite being saddleless, things with TC continue to go well. I am super stoked to be moving forward with things. We just finished the second full week we've been working on the new postural stuff and I'm so happy with how he's looking. I posted a WW last week about his chest but I'm really excited to see the changes in how he looks undersaddle too. 

We've done a ton of work on posture in the last year and the whole time, I've been feeling like I've had to fight his natural tendencies. I figured that was fine because he just isn't built all that well for the sport, he's built to pull a cart. But now it just feels like he's slotting into this really great place that both of us agree is good for him. I love that feeling and TC's even gotten a little better attitude about everything. 

Slow work in this posture for two years ought to
do it!

He's been kind of snarky in the cross ties for a while, which is unlike him. I wasn't sure what it was, since he's always so excited to see me and pitches a fit if he's left in his stall (like if I ride Sunny first or have some stuff to do before I get to him). His snarkiness has always been mostly playful and it's been typical of him to do that when he's had bodywork done. So I figured he was just annoyed that I did his PT exercises every day. But now he's starting to calm down the snarkiness, so that's been great. I think we worked through a lot of stuff in his body this year and we are finally getting somewhere with it, between the new direction we are taking and the fact that he's now over a full week into hind gut ulcer treatment. 

Thoughts of "why didn't I figure this out earlier" are obviously haunting me, but I'm super happy with what we've got going on now. It gives me a lot of hope for the future. It's just going to take time. It takes two years to build a solid physical foundation so I keep reminding myself that it might take longer than I'm hoping and that this is okay. 

Good things take time! Like turning this bolter into
a horse I ride bareback all the time

We learn things with every horse that we wish we'd learned earlier, much earlier. All of what I've learned with TC has made me a better horse person and I know that if I somehow found the money to clone Rico (I super want to clone Rico lol if I could, I would), I'd approach baby Rico's training in a completely different way because of what both he and TC taught me. So while I can kick myself all day long about TC, I could do the same thing about Rico and I made a rule for myself that I wouldn't do that. 

Rico is a happy, healthy horse who I did my damn best with every single day I rode him with the knowledge I had at the time. I made so many mistakes on him and unfortunately he paid for a lot of them. So did TC, so did every horse who has ever been ridden by a human ever. Our sport is so unique and I don't think other sports have the same kind of... I guess guilt? that we can develop when we look back on our athletic career over the years. Sometimes it's overwhelming to think that if I'd started TC with the knowledge I had now, he might be a happy, comfortable PSG (or higher) horse. 

One mistake I made was not realizing that
TC's bolting as a young horse was
actually balting hahahaha

All I know, and all I can know, is that every day with TC, I did my damn best with the knowledge I had at the time. And now I get to redo a lot of what I've done with him and with all of my other horses. But I think I'd rather look back in time and cringe a bit, knowing that I've learned so much over the years, than look back in time and be impressed by myself, as that would mean I'm not learning and challenging myself with new ideas. I could say the same thing about my teaching pre and post Mary Wanless. If we don't look back and feel a little "yikes" maybe we aren't challenging ourselves enough. 

Or at least, that's what I'm going to tell myself!