Foster is finally sound again! Saturday was about 40 degrees, a veritable heat wave compared to the rest of the week, but because of the 25-30 mph wind gusts, I decided to lunge instead of ride. Foster had a great time bucking and cantering for the first couple minutes, and then jogged around happily before being turned out.

Wind up the rear!

I also took the opportunity to take my trailer in for a well-deserved service. While the cost of 4 new tires may have set me back a horse show or two (or three or four?), it is worth knowing that Foster’s vehicle of choice is ship shape and ready to go!

Foster’s Chariot, ready to rock and roll!

Then today, we were blessed with beautiful weather and our first ride in ages! He was a little weak, and a little stiff, but it felt great to sit on my pony again! We focused on efforts on stretching and moving forward, and after a little Ali hopped on and I got to see how he went from the ground. I cannot say how happy I was to see how well he is using his back end, the fluidity of his gaits and the flexibility of his hocks! Ali professed that this might be our year to really accomplish things, and I have to admit I have high hopes! We’ll spend the next couple rides continuing to stretch and get a little fitness back, and see how he feels from there.

I am still hopeful that we can get in a couple cross country schoolings and maybe even a schooling show before our horse trials in a month. But the last couple weeks have shown me that anything is possible!