Dan and I are playing a delicate balance of taking it easy and not stressing his stifle too much and prepping for regionals so we can at least be somewhat competitive. So today we practiced. I tacked him up and got on at the roundpen and headed up to the arena.
Unfortunately, as soon as I got on, Jean's baby horse started screaming frantically and racing about. Which got the girls riled up, who started racing. And that meant Dan got riled up. He started prancing and threatening to bolt. And then he bucked. And then he reared! I was yelling at him to knock it up, because... not as much fun in a bosal! And I didn't want him to hurt himself. He kept at it because they other horses kept at it. I finally managed to get him still enough to jump off and then he was still trying to bolt and reared up at me. I managed to walk him up to the top of the hill without losing him or getting hurt and once we got up there, the baby horse had calmed down and the girls settled, so Dan settled too. Good gravy!
We got in the arena and all was well, so I got back on. He was fine so we walked a bit and worked on our marching walk and then did some trotting. I spent about ten minutes just working on our dressage. A nice forward trot with good bend/flexion and then good prompt and forward transitions. After that we added in some obstacles. He was doing pretty well. But I did have to get after him in the pen for being sluggish. I did play with it a bit and I think if I track left first, it helps loosen him up for the harder right bend. I have to make sure I come far enough out before my turn on the haunches so we aren't angled going back in. But if I go in and track left first.. come out, and then turn on the haunches left, then go back to the right, it seems to work the best. We had a one or two good runs through.
I played with running the whole course. The first run through was awful. Well, not awful, but not good at all. The second run through was much better and even quite decent. If I can figure out how to start the darn double slaloms, it's so much better. I have to make sure he's marching into the walk and make sure I use my leg in the reinback so it's "marchy". Our gates were pretty decent today. I do have to be careful that I don't overdo the "prompt" transitions and make sure my timing is good for the jug. I kept stopping a step or two too forward. Or I was too far away and had to reach too far.
He was great at the pole. Me, not so much. I didn't drop it today but bounced it out of the barrel. Ugh... But, I also managed to spear my bellboot once which feels fairly impressive. And he didn't get fast or runny, so yay.
We cantered a tiny bit because it was still pretty humid out and he was puffing, even with his haircut. Poor guy. The right lead canter was awful to start.. he was bracing with his underneck. But, once I got him to soften, it was quite nice. We finished with a tiny bit more trot work and a halt and he was good.
Tonight I went ahead and shockwaved both stifles, the right neck base and mid cervicals and then both sacroiliac joints and his lumbosacral joint. I've noticed that suddenly his neck looks very puny again and he's standing with his hind feet one behind the other. (Like Marvin). I'm not sure if it's because of his stifle (which is pretty effusive feeling) or because of his SI joints, or ??? I'm not sure Kelli has figured it out with Marvin either. Maybe it's all of the things. But he used to stand fairly square behind. And he's back to resting that right hind all the time. So, he'll get his second legend tomorrow and today we shocked. So... fingres crossed. If it helps, I'm guessing I'll repeat it next week too.
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