The Slow Path

Hello, hello, hello.

It's not quite been a month since my last post, but I'm getting dangerously close. I do most of my posting at night, at my job, and all fall my down time at work has been taken up entirely by online classes, because I decided that taking a few would be fun. For some reason. To make up for my absence, this post is heavy on the mini-donkey pictures, because their adorableness cannot go unshared.

Spring's 20 days of groundwork went by quickly, and the improvements were definitely noticeable - not just in how she was moving and carrying herself, but also in her ground manners, which weren't terrible but definitely needed improvement.

Her appointment with the chiro was last Monday, and while it wasn't all rainbows and unicorns, it was definitely better than her first set of adjustments. She went from "completely locked up in her back" to "tighter on one side." She had a trigger point on one hip, and her neck was tight, but overall she was in better shape this time around than she was when I first brought her home.  We're on the list to see the chiro again at the end of the month, and she told me that it was totally okay to ride/jump/do whatever I pleased with Spring, but that slower is always better.

She had the day off after her chiro appointment, and the next day I lunged her (tacked up, though!) because I wanted her to move without any sort of hindrance after her adjustments. The next day, with only a little anxiety, I tacked up again and went for a ride.

And......she was fantastic! Instantly started off working in a frame, feeling amazing and carrying herself beautifully. Naturally I did something to throw that off about 5 minutes in, but was able to get it back several times throughout the walk/trot part of the ride. I was hesitant to ask for a canter, but knew it had to happen.

Before the endless days of lunging (not counting the Bad Day), Spring had a decent canter. It was comfortable, but she would often motorcycle hard around turns and on circles, and while it no longer felt like it was a struggle for her (that first month, everything was a little hard as she was so thin and so out of shape), it didn't feel particularly powerful. And now, that's changed. Spring's canter feels effortless, and she can hold herself up around a turn or on a circle with ease. It's gone from comfortable to something close to dreamy, and I honestly was a little sad when it came time to slow down.

Moving forward, the plan right now is to continue taking it slow. This past month led to overall improvement in leaps and bounds, and while I miss jumping her, I strongly feel that taking more time to focus on building her up gradually is the best path to take.  For December, I'm planning to continue focusing on groundwork, riding no more than once a week (on the flat), and will hopefully make it to an off-site dressage lesson or two.

I have lesson horses to ride weekly and a rehab project to ride (at the walk currently, but still) daily if I want, and I know that I am so lucky to be at a barn where I can give Spring this time off from riding without sacrificing my saddle time.

I'm hoping to take 5-month confo shots soon, and will try to post more throughout December! Although I haven't been commenting much, I've been trying to keep up with reading everyone's blogs as much as I can!