Pony time is the best time

Monday was a Mr. P day, and we worked in the ring. The barn has one ring that dries really fast so the footing was pretty nice, especially considering what it looked like the day before. P was really good, although maybe slightly on the muscle occasionally. Understandable with the time off he had for his hock issue.

From our field ride on Wednesday

Tuesday I rode during my usual lesson time and just did what Stampede could do of it. We are up to 16 minutes of trot and a little canter. Definitely some back soreness cropping up now that I need to figure out how to address. Disappointing but not unexpected I guess.

Miss Willow

Wednesday I got to the barn a little early and hopped right on Mr. P for a ride in the field. He was really fantastic other than spooking at a bush on the way back to the barn. He’s generally not the type to spook so it was pretty amusing. After I finished hosing off and grazing P I got Miss Willow tacked up for a ride. She was pretty lazy but very good. We had a nice easy hack.

Happy ponies

Thursday I flatted Stampede. We were definitely on the struggle bus. I felt like the trot work was a bit better because I added in some swoopy figure 8’s instead of having one direction of horse with energy and another with not much left, but the canter was quite yucky. Probably related to the emerging back soreness I mentioned before. I just got a few strides in each way, waiting til he relaxed his back a little then going back to the trot. Canter is definitely much harder for him with his back than trot.

Happy grass-eater

Friday I left on a road trip to visit my friend M in Chicago, so I didn’t see the boys again until today. Of course it rained today and I didn’t have much time so they got the day off. P got ridden by my friend’s mom over the weekend anyways, but Stampede just hung out. Probably good to give his back a break anyways! Post about my trip coming soon!