Ups and downs

What a summer. After the up of Carman fair came the down of a horse with a problem. Even though Miss Tea had been doing so well, all that forward momentum came to a screeching halt when she started to seem sore, started bucking at the canter, and losing weight.

Just give me a carrot already woman.

Figuring it all out was a bit tricky. The ground at home was very hard after weeks of no rain. Maybe sore feet? Another possibility was her back--she is ridiculously long-backed and has always had trouble using her hind end. Perhaps all the riding we had done thus far had taken a toll?

Even lounging her was a mess. She would trip over her hind feet a lot and buck at the canter. She was just not happy.

So, step one was to just give her a brake for a bit and see what evolved...meanwhile, my sweet little Savvy girl was waiting and ready for some much needed attention! I had started her lightly last summer, but no where near truly broke to ride. A few weeks in with her and I was able to take her over to a friend's arena for our Sunday horsemanship practice and she was fantastic! She is such an amazing girl and learns incredibly fast. Her only issue is she gets VERY excitable in unfamiliar situations, but that is something we will work out by just getting her out and about more.



Smart little mare picking up on this riding thing like a Boss!



 

I discovered Miss Tea's issues were back related, so after time off, I purchased a riser for my saddle to make that as best a fit as it could be, started her slowly with lots of ground work and now we are cautiously back into riding. So far so good! The aim is to strengthen her top line and see if I can help prevent this from happening again.