So it’s been half a year since I’ve updated. Obviously, I’m not going to write a play by play for those whole six months. I do have notes on every ride with Ezio because I’ve been keeping a log of rides and interactions so that I can compare and see the progress myself. But I’m not going to go into all of that. I am going to give a little summary of each month since I last updated and then I’m going to do my best to get back to posting regularly again. So here we go!
Scarlet is doing fine. He’s been stable for a while now which is great for me. We go for walks nearly every day and he enjoys being groomed with his scratchy places being his favorite. I still wish that he could have fully healed but I’m happy he seems to be comfortable and happy the way he is right now.
For Ezio, in June he developed issues with bridling. He had been being a bit of a butt for a while about bridling but nothing terrible. One day, he just straight up refused to bridle. So I kept at it until he did and then rode him while skipping a work meeting because that wasn’t going to stand. Those issues continued for the whole month and it was just him, no issues with his mouth according to the vets. During riding, he had some issues with turning to the right. He just resists randomly so we did a lot of small circles and serpentines that month. We also played with a light connection to the bit at the trot along with doing some sitting trot.
In July we made good progress at the sitting trot. We were able to do a full figure eight while sitting without him getting tense by the end of the month. We also added some baby lateral work and continued to work on his connection at the trot. Once he gets it, he really settles in to feeling my hands on his mouth. I think he is more secure there but he has to realize its good before he accepts it. He had an odd soreness at the trot later in the month that we think was likely from being silly in his stall. Trainer J also got a short boot camp with him due to me being out of town at the end of the month.
In August, he still had the same bridling issues. He also started snapping his mouth around at me when I tried to bridle him so we had a discussion about that. He didn’t hold onto that habit for very long. The right turn issues came up every ride, even for Trainer J so we are still working on that. I gave up the battle to bridle and started giving him a treat after he got the bridle on. I no longer wanted to die on that hill. After we got the treat thing going, the rides started off much better since we weren’t fighting before I even got on. Our focus on rides continued to be relaxing and listening to me during the rides. We also started doing a few rides in the front arena this month.
In September, we had our first in the rain ride. He was good for me but he had such unhappy ears the whole short ride. I worked more on the right turn and his shoulder drift this month. The bridling issues were mostly gone though he had some up and down this month. But overall, it took less time. I also had some important mental shifts. 1- I can do this. I’ve ridden him through fits and reluctance, both before and after we started training. 2- I need to not fear pushing him. Being soft on him isn’t going to help anyone. 3- I’ve been leaning on Jennifer for improvement rather than doing it myself. I need to do work outside of lessons, not just riding for maintenance outside of lessons. He got another mini boot camp at the end of this month due to me being out of town.
In October, it felt like we made some good progress. I had good connection to the bit and we started working on spirals. He’s quite good at the lateral work. We still had issues with his right turn but that’s an ongoing issue. I paid someone at the barn to help me give him a modified trace clip since he gets so hairy super early in the season. He also doesn’t tie still so I needed a few extra hands. He was good for it and it was great since it was still hot in Oct. We tried one canter transition before I had to go out of town again (so tired of leaving home) and we didn’t get it but he didn’t lose his mind. Trainer J rode while I was gone. Then at the end of the month we had a ride where he lost his mind and threw a fit to the point of half rearing. After that ride, everything broke. We could barely walk around in a contained manner and trotting was out of the question.
November was a bad month. Trotting was completely broken. He would get tense and up any time we tried to transition. When he tried, he’d hop in place and just not trot. It got into my head. He was riding just fine for Trainer J. But I couldn’t get past it. I think he had fun getting in my head at first and then he got worried that no one was in charge or relaxed. Trainer J took us both back to the absolute basics of riding around extremely relaxed. She wanted me to keep his head below his withers if he was at all tense during a ride.
We had a new saddle fitter come out to the barn. She’d done a couple of horses at the end of Oct and I’d seen them completely change how they were moving so I signed up to get her opinion. He’s a very narrow backed horse apparently and the saddle we had been using was too wide. With her direction, we went back to my older jumping saddle that is wide as well but fit well enough with some shims. It felt so strange to go back to a jumping saddle after most of a year in a dressage saddle. That on top of the riding issues meant we had a few tentative rides until I got settled in. I think that the saddle contributed to his right turn issues as those have been so much less since the change.
As for riding, it took most of the month to recover. I started longing him before rides and riding with spurs for an extra aid. The longing was mostly for me as I’d developed very high anxiety after the issues and needed a checklist to help me along. We finally had a good transition on the 17th and slowly continued to improve at the trot to getting multiple transitions and good circles and even some figure 8s. There’s still tension in the trot but its happening now.
December has been better. Ezio started to greet me at the gate again so our relationship has gotten better. I didn’t even realize he’d stopped doing that until he did it again. I think he reacted to the tension and anxiety between the two of us. So he’s enjoying coming out again. We’ve had consistent rides with relaxed and connected walking without much effort on my part and some reasonable trotting. Then they started fixing the fence in the back arena two weeks ago. We haven’t mastered riding in any of the other arenas so I tried to ride through it. He wasn’t worried about it at first but as the days went on, he started getting more focused. Moving boards and sawing kicked it over his tolerance levels. And they’re replacing the whole fence a part at a time. So this is going to go on for another two months. Trainer J and I have agreed that we’re just going to make the front arena work. At the minimum, I think I can get the same walk rides we’ve been doing in the back arena and possibly trotting so it will be the same or better.
So the end of this year has not been good riding wise. It’s frustrating because we were doing great for a while and then it all fell apart. We’ve somewhat recovered but I don’t feel like I’m in a distinctly different place than a year ago. Which isn’t fair because he is a much different horse. We have recovery strats. He can spook and not lose it for the rest of the ride. He’s SO MUCH SAFER on the ground than he used to be. I’ve had many instances where he has a spook or a scoot on the ground and he has chosen the option of not trampling me. I’m also a better rider than I was a year ago.
I can’t change the past. I don’t have a time machine. So sitting around worrying about what we didn’t accomplish isn’t going to change anything. All I can do is focus on the future. And hopefully I will be better about coming on here to share with you all.
Footnote: Look at the difference I found while looking for pics for this blog. These are May 2022 to May 2023. O_O
The Horse Dream 