Labels

First Ride Back

With Guinness successfully reintroduced to field board, it was time to start putting him back to work...
"Are you my mare?"
"No."
Of course being the safety-conscious owner of a notoriously dangerous OTTB (ha!), I forgot to grab my saddle from home and ended up doing our first 20 minute "under saddle" walk sans the actual saddle. Oops.
Bareback rides, for when staying on your rehab schedule is more important than your personal safety or avoiding butt chafing.
Other than being a little extra alert, Pig was absolutely foot perfect. He seemed quite cheerful to be getting back to exploring the world, though much less excited when I asked him to put his walk together for all of 5 minutes.

Sorry, buddy. You are still a dressage horse. The nightmare continues.
Double bridle, front boots, and bareback. Because with withers like that, you know staying on isn't as big of an issue as having brakes. Let's not talk about how my #daintyhorse would actually fit in small DSBs.
Unfortunately, Pig has lost a lot of muscle tone. His rehab is going to be pretty long and slow. It will be a long time before we are back to our old level of fitness and dressage work. I don't see any work on flying changes until maybe Christmas, which is not ideal for next show season. Hopefully he's been thinking about the great work we had done before the rest break.
Labels:

Comments

  1. EventingSaddlebredStyleNovember 3, 2015 at 7:48 AM

    Bringing them backs sucks, but you guys will get there. Good luck!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Codex DressageNovember 3, 2015 at 9:48 AM

    Bringing back slowly from time off sucks when you've got a plan and a mission... but that month of no work and coming back with lighter work really helps the mind- don't worry about losing all that time that you could of been working on changes. I bet he comes back and goes, "I've got this!"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AustenNovember 3, 2015 at 9:07 PM

      He often comes back better than ever, so my fingers are crossed.

      Delete
  3. emmaNovember 3, 2015 at 10:59 AM

    omg mare stare!!! but seriously tho... what a bummer to have see such a big slowdown in your training schedule. hopefully he bounces back quickly and has a good memory !

    ReplyDelete
  4. SprinklerBanditNovember 3, 2015 at 11:42 AM

    He is so attractive. :-) Maybe someday C will be safe bareback too, haha.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AoifeNovember 3, 2015 at 1:31 PM

    Such a handsome chappie, best of luck with the rehabbing *hugs*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AustenNovember 3, 2015 at 9:08 PM

      Handsome, yes. And always trying to ruin it. :)

      Delete
  6. SheMovedtoTexasNovember 3, 2015 at 3:08 PM

    TB withers bareback = alternative forms of birth control.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dressage HaflNovember 3, 2015 at 4:00 PM

    great to see him back...keep my fingers (and Hafl his hooves) crossed for the rest of your rehab :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AustenNovember 3, 2015 at 9:09 PM

      I demand photos of Hafl with crossed hooves!

      Delete
  8. MeganNovember 3, 2015 at 4:45 PM

    Ugh rehab sucks, but hopefully it goes smoothly and you guys can get back to those changes!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AustenNovember 3, 2015 at 9:09 PM

      Rehab DOES suck. But a sound horse is AWESOME.

      Delete
  9. Wilbur, Ellie, and EmilyNovember 4, 2015 at 12:32 AM

    Slow and steady wins the race but it sure isn't fun :/. Looks like the property is gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  10. CathrynNovember 4, 2015 at 2:03 PM

    Welcome back, Pig!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Liz StoutNovember 5, 2015 at 8:20 AM

    "The nightmare continues." LOL

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment