The weather has turned from "maybe it's still Winter?" to "it is most definitely Spring" in the past few weeks. We had rain, and rain, and rain. Which meant mud, mud, mud. The horses didn't seem to mind, although there was at least one day they had to stay inside because it was just such a deluge outside all day long.
Unfortunately, due to flooding in pastures, the outdoor arena has had to be put to use as turnout space, so Camaro and I haven't done any riding outside yet this year.
We've done lots of riding indoors though. We got through our prescribed walk rehab, added in rides multiple days in a row (no soreness!) plus a few steps of leg yield multiple times per ride and then moved on to the next phase, which incorporated short stints of trotting. Long sides of the arena only, no circles or corners. I'm very happy to say that while he found it confusing at first to only trot until just before the corner, Camaro felt 100% sound at the trot. HOORAY!
He quickly got used to our long-side-only trot bursts, and I looked at them as not just a way to get in some 'low impact' trot work without irritating his knee, but also a great opportunity to work on transitions from walk to trot and back to walk.
Last week we threw in a day of walking over a random ground pole here and there around the arena, and he was a rock star on those, no rubbing, no stumbling. That was followed up by such enthused trot sets that I was tempted to ask for a canter just to see what would happen.
But I didn't, because, well, we've been carefully recuperating since February. Instead, when I got home that day I pulled out my notes from the most recent vet visit and was happy to realize that exact day had been the ride that had fulfilled our required number of walk and trot only sessions before we were to move on to the next phase where we add in long-side-only canter sets.
This week, we began that canter phase. After a good warm up at walk, and half our prescribed trot sets for the session, I asked for one canter up a long side in each direction. Camaro was a little surprised by the request, but gamely departed willingly into a nice canter and then (not so willingly) came down to a trot and then walk right before reaching the corner. We finished out that session with the rest of our trot sets even though he wanted to canter more.
Also this month Camaro got his teeth floated, which took out a couple spots that were causing some bitting trouble. His contact in the reins was noticeably better after having his dental work done.
I think this Spring is going to be a time of great progress for us. We should be pretty much through rehab limitations and back to normal circles and all the other work at all gaits by the time Summer gets here. And all the slow work has really strengthened our basics, where Camaro's response to small/light aids has gotten much better.
Onward!
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