I am in a bit of a bad mood today. I'm terrified that Ace will backtrack and I don't have hunting to give me a buzz to lift my mood.I need a jolly good kick up the bottom.
So, in completely the wrong mood, I rode Ace for the first time in the barn after dark. I got on, and he went backwards almost fast enough to call a run. I was in no mood to humour him even if I had thought it was a good idea. But I know the pain is gone even if he doesn't.
So I kicked him forward, and he just walked off calmly. We walked for a while doing circles, figures of eight and then leg yield. Then a couple of circuits of trot, no more because of how tight it is in there. After some trot the straight/walk the bend, I couldn't see any reason to canter the straight/walk the bend. This is the first canter/walk/canter he has done since the op and I was really thrilled with how he did it.
I was pretty worried about how he would behave inside. He has bad memories of the pain of working in that confined space with tight bends. He's never worked happy and relaxed in there that I can remember. Today was probably the best he's been, and another milestone crossed off our list.
C
:-)
ReplyDeleteDitto.
DeleteC
Every day, a new step forward. Again, things take time, but so far Ace is shortening the calendar in nearly everything. Glad you rode through your bad mood so you ended up with another smile on your face.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good one to have got over and done with, I was concerned about the very bad experience he had of the tight space. He's due a hack today but I feel like conquering my fears of transitions on the arena instead.
ReplyDeleteC