Sometimes I notice myself forget why I got into this sport in the first place. That pure, unadulterated love of the horse. The grin you get from ear to ear when you see your favorite horse hang his head over the stall door. Those little things. It is so easy to get caught up on your next big goal or how you want to advance in the sport and not be grateful for how far you've come and what you've accomplished.
In September of 2018, I took Charmer to his last show of the year (I was bad and didn't blog it - whoops!). Since I first owned him in July of 2015, he has never gotten very much time off. Usually nothing more than a few weeks here and there. With the entrance of Banner into my life last year I finally had another horse to focus on and compete on, so I decided to give Charmer some time off.
I actually gave him the better part of 6 months completely off (I think in the course of that 6 months I rode him maybe 3-4 times total?). He definitely lost some topline over that time, but still looks and feels really good (bonus points of pasture living!).
I began easing him into work in April(ish) and then realized I didn't really have enough time to work him plus I noticed he was struggling a bit in his hind end anyways. So I gave him some more time off and threw shoes on the back to get him more comfortable.
The week before last, I put him on the lunge for the first time since the end of April! Definitely a bit of tightness throughout his body as he remembered how to work and use those muscles again, but once he loosened up a bit, he looked really good. I decided to give him another couple of light lunging days to ease him back into work.
By the 3rd day I felt like he had mentally checked back into work and was quite happy about it! So after a quick lunge I went ahead and tacked him up for a super easy ride, just trotting around a bit both ways. He felt awesome & I felt like a little kid riding their favorite pony again!
We had a few more light days like that, especially to remind someone that brakes are a thing. I had a tiny little course of baby crossrails set up in my arena to work with my friend on jumping B and so I figured what the heck, let's see what Charmer does if I pop him over one of those!
It had been over 9 months at that time since the last fence I pointed him at. But they were super teeny tiny and I figured even if he's a little wild, we will be fine! Shouldn't have even been worried about it though, because he was more than happy to bop around over the little jumps like the good boy that he is!
I struggled to remember how to ride his jump (it is drastically different than Banner's!) but still smiled through the entire thing. That giant, big, stupid happy grin where you are just thrilled to be doing whatever you're doing. That was me! I laughed and giggled and smiled my way through the entire ride. Nothing about any of it was perfect, but man did I have fun!
Charms is supposed to get his shoes reset today (thank goodness!) and hopefully chiro the next week. After that I'm planning to drag him out to a lesson with Trainer C and pop over some jumps with her and see what she thinks! I'm hoping to take him out to at least one or two of our barn's little schooling shows this year!
In September of 2018, I took Charmer to his last show of the year (I was bad and didn't blog it - whoops!). Since I first owned him in July of 2015, he has never gotten very much time off. Usually nothing more than a few weeks here and there. With the entrance of Banner into my life last year I finally had another horse to focus on and compete on, so I decided to give Charmer some time off.
I actually gave him the better part of 6 months completely off (I think in the course of that 6 months I rode him maybe 3-4 times total?). He definitely lost some topline over that time, but still looks and feels really good (bonus points of pasture living!).
I began easing him into work in April(ish) and then realized I didn't really have enough time to work him plus I noticed he was struggling a bit in his hind end anyways. So I gave him some more time off and threw shoes on the back to get him more comfortable.
The week before last, I put him on the lunge for the first time since the end of April! Definitely a bit of tightness throughout his body as he remembered how to work and use those muscles again, but once he loosened up a bit, he looked really good. I decided to give him another couple of light lunging days to ease him back into work.
By the 3rd day I felt like he had mentally checked back into work and was quite happy about it! So after a quick lunge I went ahead and tacked him up for a super easy ride, just trotting around a bit both ways. He felt awesome & I felt like a little kid riding their favorite pony again!
We had a few more light days like that, especially to remind someone that brakes are a thing. I had a tiny little course of baby crossrails set up in my arena to work with my friend on jumping B and so I figured what the heck, let's see what Charmer does if I pop him over one of those!
It had been over 9 months at that time since the last fence I pointed him at. But they were super teeny tiny and I figured even if he's a little wild, we will be fine! Shouldn't have even been worried about it though, because he was more than happy to bop around over the little jumps like the good boy that he is!
I struggled to remember how to ride his jump (it is drastically different than Banner's!) but still smiled through the entire thing. That giant, big, stupid happy grin where you are just thrilled to be doing whatever you're doing. That was me! I laughed and giggled and smiled my way through the entire ride. Nothing about any of it was perfect, but man did I have fun!
Charms is supposed to get his shoes reset today (thank goodness!) and hopefully chiro the next week. After that I'm planning to drag him out to a lesson with Trainer C and pop over some jumps with her and see what she thinks! I'm hoping to take him out to at least one or two of our barn's little schooling shows this year!
Comments
Post a Comment