Monday, September 6, 2021

Gallop Day

My brain!!! Good gravy! Today was gallop day! So that Dan wasn't wild and decided he needed a gallop at the AEC's. Although we probably could find a place to do it, but.... you know... lots of people... you never know. Of course my plan was to go in the morning but then the glass people for the bathroom decided to come between 10 and 11. So... oh well. And then they showed up at 11:15... so it was 2 pm before Dan and I got to ride.

I tacked him up and had his bemer boots on. They were still going when I was about to put the bridle on, so I went ahead and put the bridle on and promptly forgot to take the boots off. I hopped on and off we went. We headed up to the jump field area and went in the woods back there. He was a bit sticky so I was like "Come on Dan... walk!! Forward!". ha ha. Oops. We then hit the XC field and walked across the top and saw Lucy. We chatted briefly and I thanked her for fixing the arena fence we broke. Then I trotted Dan pretty much all the way down to the edge of the XC field right before it hits the lake. I went to tighten my girth and saw the boots still on. HOLY CRAP! Good gravy lady. I swear.. my brain is mush. So I hopped off and took them off and then Dan and I walked all the way back to the trailer to put them back. I was tempted to leave them at the lake and pick them back up when we were done but... I was afraid I'd forget! So then we walked back to the XC field and did some more trotting and then two gallops. I pushed him to go super fast! He never dropped it into that scary gear but he was going! I didn't time it, but I'm guessing probably 2 minutes almost each way. It was so hot and humid though and he wasn't feeling it. He was puffing hard afterwards so we went walking in the woods. And he was still puffing even at the human lake. Dude! I'm sorry! I felt really kind of bad for him. He also still felt a little short strided.. maybe the right front, maybe the left hind. Ugh. But he managed to catch his breath after a bit... I think the humidity just got to him. So we walked a lot more... did some more trotting and even a tiny little bit of canter too. Then we ended up at the lake and splashed a bit. He sat for a couple of minutes "icing" his legs. Not as long as I wanted, but he did stand there for a little bit. So then we headed back. 

In retrospect, I shouldn't have galloped on the hottest humidest day in a bit... during the hottest part of the day... the day after a fairly intense jump school, but... we have a dressage lesson tomorrow, so... and then Wed we leave for Kentucky, so....  too late now. It's done. And he'll be fine. And it may behoove me in Kentucky to not have a a wild and uncontrollable beast! 





 



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