An old guy I knew, always says it could have been worse.
How?
You could have been on him!
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He s a smart boy, and has a sense of humour, so yes probably plotting.
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Whew… glad it wasn’t worse. I wish I could say I’m 100% focused on the horse every minute, but yeah… it’s really easy to have that fleeting second where you don’t see something and things happen. Don’t beat yourself up.
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Now let’s see…in no particular order, can’t ride horse, sore after above incident. Can’t ride horse I have an attack of Trochanteric Burstitis, do not recommend, can’t ride horse arena is closed. Can’t ride horse, well choose not to, because haven’t not ridden in ages, I arrive just as they are turning all the horses out for the first time this year, because AT LAST, we have grass, oh and it’s blowing half a gale, at just the right speed to set up a whine in the arena roof,
Monday I didn’t ride my horse because…well this what I found when I got there
He was a sorry sight, way down the far end of the field, my exercise tracker said I walked 1.2 miles from gate, to horse, back to gate. He looked pretty badly beaten up, but after a bath, we could see everything was superficial, and mainly looks like wire marks 
Of course I wonder if pics will load!
Well yesterday went to check on him, he has been in the dry lot overnight, and he looked good. After lunging him I thought “DAMMIT GOING TO RIDE MY HORSE” so I did, and he was awesome! Crossing everything that June is the month we start regular riding again.
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Oh my… what did he do to himself. Glad he’s on the mend and it wasn’t deeper.
And here we are, on the roller coaster of life, and we have just gone up a hill and am enjoying the view from here, until the inevitable happens and we zoom back down into another trough.
My vet asked me to a Horsemanship clinic at her place this weekend, the vet who owns her own PSSM1 horse, she offered to haul him, keep an eye on him all weekend, to look after us, so I agreed to go. Having spent an anxious relatively sleepless night on Friday, we had a blast. I rode, or was in the saddle anyway 4 hours a day, and the boy did great. He was antsy in the first session, so I just kept him walking, stand for a little while, then walk again when he couldn’t stand still any longer.
Second session this happened, yes he is fast asleep, so now Ike worried about narcolepsy! Vet says “seriously?”
We discovered that Mellow likes working the flag, maybe he has a little cow horse in there. For some reason the clinician decided that Casper was a good name for Mellow, so that’s what cowhorse Mellow is.
Two of my favourite photos from the weekend, back to loping after a long time not loping, and him carrying himself without contact.
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Yay Mellow!
Woo hoo! Look at you two - you both look great!
And he’s so clean. How do you keep him so white? Mine would have been filthy.
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I did bath him and put sheet on for the weekend, but he is pretty good.
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Look at that leg position! You look fantastic and so does Mellow!
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The leg position my trainer has been complaining about? Then she rode in my saddle and realized that the way it’s built doesn’t allow my legs to any further forward! So we work with what we have.
Two things I forgot…for some reason the clinician decided to rename Mellow, when we got to flagwork, thought he looked like a Casper, so Casper he became…it’s actually a great name, he can be Mellow, or Casper the Cowpony on the flag.
Also reading the body shaming thread, and thinking. Riding in a clinic situation a thing that was scary, because I knew I would be the fattest there. I was, but it was a good reminder that even fat, iKm actually a better rider than some of my skinnier participants. At the same time some were better than me, the weight didn’t factor.
Will also admit that the same thread has inspired me to try losing again, using My Fitness Pal, and what do you know, it’s working. The shocking thing is that is set my calorie allowance way over what I normally try and diet at, so the changes I have had to make have been fairly small, but significant it seems.
8 weeks in, 13 pounds lost, have been at a plateau for 2 weeks so time to harness more support to keep me going. I know that the more lose the easier it will be for Mellow, so I’m working on it.
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I don’t know what she is complaining about. Your leg should not be any further forward (at least not in these pictures). You’ve got great ear/shoulder/hip/heel alignment. I’m jealous! https://dressagetoday.com/instruction/correct-rider-position-collected-work-dressage
And good name, I’m sorry I missed that upthread!
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A huge congratulations on your weight loss so far, KBC! Are you walking daily in addition to dieting? I personally am horrible at dieting, but pretty good at walking daily as my 3 dogs will not let me do otherwise. 
Whatever works for you, keep up the great work so you can enjoy riding Casper/Mellow for many years to come.
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Thanks, feeling pretty good about the losses so far, slow and steady wins the game they say…
I try and ride my bike days I don’t go to the barn, but seems I am brilliant at doing ONE thing. For months I was fanatical at closing the exercise and move rings on my watch, but now I am 100% on tracking calories seems I need all my effort for that.
I do walk the dogs twice a day, but it’s getting bitter sweet, my JRT just turned 15, and over the last few weeks he has let us know that walking is fine, but not too far or too fast, and I will chase my ball once, once only. 
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Spending a winter doing ground work is paying off…he is ground tying like a champ now!
Yesterday we worked on a horsemanship pattern, should be a doddle right? I mean I can ride a second level test, how hard can 3 simple movements be?
HARD is the answer, 2 of us in the class, between us we invented many ways to screw up a simple pattern. The most interesting thing, the tension that comes over me because “we are riding a pattern” very odd.
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You both look great! He always looks freshly groomed, I have no idea how you manage that, but he glows.
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I was looking at the other boarders riding today, most had a hoof pick, and a dandy brush. I have a heap of HAAS brushes, mane comb, mane and tail detangler, mane conditioner, oh and Tiger Tongue. BUT, I don’t spend long on him, just little and often!
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Barefoot trimmer, she’s good! She owns a filly by him, it’ll be interesting how she develops.
We are doing another Working Equation Clinic with her on Sunday, will be interesting to see how he does this year.
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