Today I was still feeling a little sick but I went out to the barn anyway. Walker was looking much better than yesterday but was still a little off. After lunging him, I decided that he was ok to ride but that I would need to take it slow. For whatever reason, he didn't seem lame or overly sore, but he definitely seemed like he was gingerly taking every step. At first I was just going to walk/jog him, but I threw in a little lope as well.
Unfortunately we got snow the other day which meant that the outdoor arena was a mess. It was also pretty solid yesterday when we were riding so I decided that I better ride the little prince in the indoor where it was soft and warm. As nice as it was to have the farrier yesterday, I wasn't entirely ready for Walker to have his shoes pulled. I still planned on going on a little subdivision trail ride (literally a trail ride through my barn owner's subdivision), but now I feel bad making him walk on the hard pavement without shoes (and obviously, the ground is starting to freeze and we have snow) - so that's that.
I've also sadly decided that we're officially stuck in the indoor. The other instructor has already moved her lessons to the indoor, and the only reason that my instructor hasn't done so yet is that she's a firm believer in getting in every ounce of riding possible in the outdoor before we become useless in the indoor. That means that I will probably still get one or two lessons outside (unless it snows again), but having looked at the weather for the next little while, I think my own personal riding days in the outdoor are finished.
This is unfortunate because earlier in the week, I decided that my goal for riding before we moved inside was that I wanted to successfully canter Walker on both leads without fuss in the same ride - as in, ride him successfully on one side and not have him throw a temper tantrum when I asked him to do the other lead. Oh Walker. Unfortunately, a series of events led to me not even being able to ride him this week since that revelation, and apparently things can change so fast that my goal became unrealized as quickly as snow fell from the sky. :S
All that being said, Walker actually did canter on both leads correctly today in the indoor arena. Mind you, because of his feet, I only got him to canter maybe two full circles on each lead, but he did them semi-successfully (if you ignore the few bucks he threw, which, of course, I always do). The real tester will be tomorrow when he is 100% back to normal. Wish me luck.
My other news is that I may have signed up for a clinic, which, if you've been following my irrational anxieties about lessons, was probably a very foolish thing to do! The clinic is January 2nd and 3rd so luckily I have about two months before I can start freaking out about it. The clinician is a man who excels at Western Pleasure and takes his horses to Congress each year (having actually won it a few times). This is Walker's discipline so it should be useful for me, but he's also a really good rider/trainer/instructor. I know that most of the girls who ride in his clinics ride English, and they get a lot out of the clinics with him simply because he's so knowledgeable. I'm told that he will also hop on unruly horses (i.e. Walker) and straighten them out, and that the clinics are designed in pairs so that you are riding at the same time with another rider of similar capabilities (where my barn owner is going to find another fool with a horse like Walker, I don't know!). My only goals before the clinic is to have a semi-successful canter going on by then, and the only major problem I have is that I won't be around to ride Walker for a few weeks before because I will be home for Christmas. I hope to come back to the barn periodically over the holidays to get a couple rides in, but the majority of my time will be with my family (not a bad thing for me, just a bad thing for my riding). For now, it all seems doable, but I'm sure I'll have a nervous breakdown by New Year's Eve. :S
Dear God, Walker, please just be good for those two days and I will give you whatever you want!
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