Vet Approved

The vet said yesterday that I can start riding Walker again.  He took some blood, and I'm still waiting on results, but he has improved significantly enough that he thinks he is on the mend. :)

I decided not to ride him in the lesson since I didn't want to subject his first day back to those kinds of rigours, but my instructor said that I shouldn't have to worry about doing too much damage bringing him back to his regular level of fitness.  She estimates that it will only take me about 2 weeks to get him back to where he was, and given that he was sick and not injured, she says that the worst that can happen if I ask too much too fast is that he will be tired.  That's good to know.  Today when I go out to the barn, I am going to ride him walk/jog only, unless he's really excited to canter, and I'm only going to ride for a half hour.  I'll slowly increase his work load as the week progresses.

Instead I got to ride a mare named Holly in the lesson.  I was going to ride Coal, but my instructor said that he was looking lame in the lesson before, and since I didn't tack up another horse, she offered me Holly since she was ready to go.  To be honest, I really didn't think Holly was going to be my kind of horse since she's the type of horse an absolute beginner normally rides, but I was pleasantly surprised.  She is super sweet.  She never once put a foot out of place or even tried anything.  I think she is the most obedient horse I've ever met.  AND, she has a beautiful forward canter, easily as fast as Coal's but 10x more balanced.  When I rode Coal last week, if I didn't maintain inside leg contact while we cantered, I felt like he was going to slide out from underneath us.  But Holly didn't need that kind of reinforcement and she also didn't need to be kicked and kicked and kicked and kicked.  I wasn't wearing spurs and she just kept going until I asked her to stop.   What a novel idea!

The funny thing is that my barn owner is thinking about selling her and my instructor is devastated.  No one is using her.  Instead, all the kids are riding all the crazy horses that are recently giving everyone a hard time.  Holly is the perfect beginner horse, but she can also move up for someone who is looking for something with a little more go.  Needless to say, I will be handing my review of the mare to my barn owner ASAP.  She would be a waste to sell!

In other news, this is Ash.  He is ridden by H in our lessons.  I don't know if you can tell with his saddle on, but he is the most downhill horse I've ever seen.  I mean, even though you can't tell as much on his back with the saddle on, take a look at the legs.  His back legs are at least a foot longer than his front legs, and he is the clumsiest, cutest creature on the planet.  H has nicknamed him Moose, because frankly, he is long and gangly and awkward like a moose.

Because I'm swamped with school work, I don't really know my schedule for riding Walker other than that I will ride him today for about 30 minutes, and then probably this weekend.  My other goals: get two papers done and start preparing for exams.  I'm also gradumicated, people (you know, again...).  It has not come quick enough!