First of all, thanks to all of you who commented yesterday. I really enjoyed reading them and getting to know you all a little better! It was especially interesting (though maybe not surprising) to see that there were a lot of creative interests shared, fellow nerds, and to find that our equestrian lifestyle tends to permeate even the non-horsey parts of our lives.

Just a quick update on how the majestic beast is doing. His overall happiness is still greatly improved, and he’s consistently whinnying when he sees me arrive and when I walk away from his stall to get his tack. Cute as it is, I am fairly confident that he knows this adorableness often earns him a cookie. Again, horse is not stupid.

Gifs from our last Doug flat lesson

We’re about 60/40 on days that he doesn’t kick his belly as the girth is tightened, and he definitely isn’t tensing up when the saddle goes on.

At the warm up, I still have to insist he get in front of my leg at the walk, and the trot still has lots of tranter steps as he finds his groove. After having so much time off from work his right hind is back to being very weak, and his overall muscles have gone a bit soft. So the tranter response seems to happen when he finds himself a bit off balance. Once I get him going and he starts using his back and hind end, the trantering disappears almost completely.

I’m still staying somewhat conservative with what I ask of him, but slowly pushing the envelope bit by bit. What work we do I want to be correct so he builds up the right muscles, but I can only do it for so long before the fatigue becomes both mental and physical. Right now we’re at about 35 minutes of work, with about 15 of that being purely at the walk. It gives me lots of time to work on my own habits, such as my elbows, and weighting my right seat bone.

With all this is mind I have scheduled a lesson for next week with Eliza, as more of a check in than anything. Then if all goes well, the week after will include a flat lesson with Mr. Payne (or Mrs. Payne if need be), of course assuming that 45 minutes of work is something Foster can handle at that point. I know you guys have missed my lesson recaps! Right? 🙂