A beautiful day to be outside

Today we made the transition from working in the indoor to doing our entire work out outside. Despite many intrusions -- trailers being hooked up and moved, horses being bathed and brought in from their paddocks, apple trees being watered and trucks/ Harleys driving up and down the road, Blu tended to business.

While I had to dig a bit deeper to get him to move forward his work was steady and sound. His canter felt improved in both directions.

He earned a warm liniment bath, a handful of carrots and a good scratch. He will have tomorrow off and then a lesson on Monday with Linda. I look forward to hearing her thoughts on how to bring him back. Tomorrow both Blu and I will rest.

Every day just gets better

I had a great ride last night. After loosening up on a long rein we did all our lateral work at the walk -- shoulder-in, half-pass and leg yielding. He definitely needed to be reminded to move off my leg but without much effort he got in the groove. Our trot work was good and I took less breaks and moved from one lead to the other effortlessly without coming back to walk. The canter remains his weakest gait at this point. He stuck against my leg in the upward transitions but he was sound so that will come with time.

After work we both needed to get out of the ring and we went off on a short hack around the property. He was a very good boy -- a little tense and looky at times but no silly stuff. He even marched over a short wooden bridge without a blink of an eyelash. I think with time he will really come to enjoy it. He really likes when I point him out of the ring. After the hack a cool shower was in order and then I watched him walk across the pavement. He had no twisting behind and he had a very forward and sound. Yay!

Good news from Dr. Liz... If I want to do a 3rd level test later this fall then she thinks we should work towards it. She cautioned me that small circles will be the most difficult for him so to not school them excessively. She said his back is improved but still a bit sore. (She looked at him on Tuesday and did a short shock wave on him) So instead of sitting the trot I post. We will have to get to sitting soon but I think a couple more weeks of conditioning is probably in order.

Sandra and I are contemplating our first show at Carberry Fields. Jenn told me of a ride-critique-ride several weeks before and I think it may be a good idea for us to give that a whirl too. We will have to talk about it.

First lesson on Monday with Linda and then another lesson on Wednesday with Jenn... We are off and running!!!

Catching up

I have not posted in awhile because Blu continued with his ups and downs. He was re-shod 3 weeks ago and since then he has been oh so much better. He has actually come sound and I have been moving him up in his reconditioning. He is now working a good 40 - 45 minutes. I reintroduced canter and he is sound after cantering in both directions. Baby steps though...

I am starting him off long and low asking him to trot out on a loose rein. Since long lining last week he has started to get the hang of not being so up in his frame. Once I get some good steady work in both directions, I pick him up and we do transitions in the gait at the walk and trot. I have also introduced some baby leg yields and shoulder-in. I also finish giving him the rein at the trot and letting him stretch out. He really likes it and goes for it.

Long lining was a revelation for him. He was pretty funny to start -- very excited and prancing around like an FEI show pony. He then figured out what Claudia was looking for and practically dropped his nose to the ground. It was remarkable.

Next week we will take our first lesson in 4 months. I am too excited to even think about it right now. I am feeling like everything is starting to fall into place! In the meantime, we will continue with our rehab and start working back outside again. We went out at the end of the ride tonight to walk around the ring. He really loved going out. He marched right outside and down the dirt road to the arena. He wanted to get out and have a look around. I think if all goes well tomorrow we might do a short hack.