A lot like an ambush...

[glenatron]

Small pony has chosen the worst possible time of year to throw a splint- nothing serious, but he's off work for a few weeks right at the height of summer and long evenings. sleepsy_mouse is gutted, as you might expect.

It also means Zorro and I have pretty much no choice but to work on riding out alone. Today we went a little further again- with me letting him choose paths that look interesting and wander along. I seem to be having a lot of stupidly obvious revelations lately, today's: If you don't let your horse walk slowly, they won't stop so often. Well duh!

The thing about stupidly obvious revelations is that you can be told them any number of times by everyone else, but until you bumble into them of your own account or maybe if you're amazingly lucky someone tells you about them when you're ready to hear it.

We also found ourselves confronted by an ambush. Or at least a gorse bush, which is very similar as anyone who has made an expotition to the North Pole will be aware. At this time of year the gorse is covered in small dry seed pods and as they heat up in the sunshine the burst open to release the seeds with a clear cracking sound a bit like someone popping bubble wrap. This is apparently the sound of doom and as there was a particularly noisy bush at the bottom of a steep bit of hill on the trail, we got stuck half way down. After a while of asking for movement and then offering direction I figured out that we had a good chance of just scaring him if I kept pushing in that direction so rather than damage the confidence we've been building we found a convenient loop off track and went back up the hill where we found some other gorse bushes and worked on being able to approach them and then on being able to eat them. Later we worked on not eating every single plant we walked past. On the ride home I didn't need to use my reins, which made me happy.

In the afternoon we had a riding lesson with Julian where not only were we off the lunge but we did some cantering. Exciting stuff!

Comments

[makoiyi.livejournal.com]

I've found cold hosing or wrapping soaked gamgee around the splint helps to ease them. They are, after all, only the original bones when horses had toes, trying to fuse to strengthen the ones that are left. Good idea not to work or just do very gentle stuff for a week or so though.

What you're doing with Zorro is obviously working. You aren't creating a 'situation' about his going out alone and you're both finding your strengths when you are out.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

He's getting a cold hosing twice a day, so hopefully that will help, certainly seems to be reducing the inflammation around it. The splint is a little close to the knee, not dangerously so but close enough that we really don't want to push our luck with it.

[sleepsy-mouse.livejournal.com]

Soaked gamgee is a great idea! Thank you, I would never have thought of that...

We're going for a couple of weeks of not working, as Small doesn't seem to have grasped the concept of 'gentle ridden work' at the moment!

[gnapp.livejournal.com]

Eating the horrible enemy is a good way to conquer it, yes. :-)

[penella22.livejournal.com]

Gorse bushes. Wow. And Sage thought lilac hedges were scary.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

Gorse is very thorny as well. In addition to eating it ( horses are one of the only animals that do ) and being afraid of it, Zorro likes to brush along it's branches. This is where the chinks I have taken to wearing when we ride out really come into their own.