There's always blue ski

 So... it was a hard 4 or 5 days (I may have cheated by a day....) waiting on the hock injections rest to be able to ride. Especially because I don't have Lyric to ride instead. And while I did ride Funny once, it's not quite the same. It will be, but ... not yet. Mike and I took a motorcycle ride to the mountains, which was nice. Of course Saturday was beautiful and lovely and Sunday was rain almost allllll day. But Dan was getting bored. So on Sunday, when the rain quit, and the sun tried to come out... I decided to do it! 

 

He's still doing that new thing where when he gets close to the trailer he almost runs at it and pins his ears. It's so weird! What is that?!?! Anticipation of pain? He's never done that before. Does he not like that spot? Guarding the hay bag that has been sitting out there that he knows he gets to munch on?? I have no idea. It's just weird. 

 

He was filthy... literally had caked on mud crumbs and even mud blobs. But amazingly he had dried off enough that I could curry him off. I gave him plenty of treats when he was good and he actually was pretty good for his grooming. I don't know if I'm just training him to "tolerate" grooming for cookies... or if I'm actually undoing his chronic learned angry behavior, but... I'm so tired of him snarking at me when I groom him. I'm just about literally doing everything I can to make him happy and comfortable... I'm not just ignoring pain. So I feel a little vindicated in my plan. But I still wonder sometimes... 

 

Anyways... we walked up to the arena and did our pillar work. He was wanting to chew on my reins but did some good work. Then I got on and we walked on the buckle for awhile. Then we walked with a slightly higher neckset but still forward and out. Just not peanut rolling. We also did some lateral work and worked on slowing the walk. Not mega slow, but... a bit more balanced instead of running. Then we trotted and cantered on the buckle. He's definitely still dragging his toes a bit and definitely still a little weird with his canter transitions but it was better. And then I asked him to slow his cadence just a hair and I think his toe drag got better. And I definitely didn't feel the unsoundness like I did after his flexions. So then we did a bit more work with a bit more contact and he was good. Then I pushed it and did some lateral work at the trot and.... no issues. No tongue.... not chomping... maybe just a little bit of snatching at his shoulder. 

 

We cantered a bit more and then did one lengthen across the diagonal and then a halt down centerline. He was good! So then we walked home via the driveway and headed to the lake and then turned around and came back. 

 

The sun had come out and it had warmed up. I started thinking.... how... the skies were like hope. The sun always comes back out. And there may still be storm clouds behind us... and even ahead of us.. but like the book says... there's always blue skies. I'm hoping to be able to stay optimistic!