So... let's see... Fleck had Monday off after Lucinda and then Tuesday we had our dressage lesson. We're still trying out saddles so luckily I was able to borrow a friends. We had a pretty good lesson. Nothing mind blowing. At least that I'm remembering now. ;) Then Wed I took him and Dan on a trail ride. It was fun! Read about it in Danny's blog ;)
Then Thursday he had off cause I worked and Friday... Friday was his birthday!!!
So, I went and tried more saddles. We found out that Fleck LOVES the perfection. Of course.. as it's the most expensive one. Sigh.. but my big butt did not. At least not the 17". So we're getting a 17.5" shipped to see if I like it too. Otherwise, he'll have to deal with the Connection. Which he likes.. just not as much. But I just melted into it. :) So then Saturday I decided to jump. I set up two upright barrels, the muck bucket half filled with water, and the water trough, upside down. Wow..the upside down water trough was SCARY!!! We had to sniff it and investigate before I even got on. So he jumped around the normal stuff fine and then jumped the muck bucket fine and the barrels fine. Then we trotted to the upside down water trough and he was brave and went. :) Good boy! Then we did it a few more times, then cantered it and he was fine. Then I flipped it right side up and trotted it again. He was fine. And we cantered it fine. Yay!! So... why can he do that but not the sunken water trough??! Oh well. We'll eventually figure it out. So yep. A good jump day.
Then Sunday was fitness day. Unfortunately it hasn't rained in a long time and the ground was pretty hard. And I slept in and napped because I had to work that night so it was 3:30 when I rode. We did a 45 minute trail with hills. We mostly walked but did some trotting and teeny bit of cantering. Fleck was hot and sweaty. So then we went for our gallop. We started off and Fleck just seemed sluggish. We managed four minutes, had a two minute breather and then did another set. I let him stop at 3 minutes, and then our last set, I let him stop at 2.5 minutes. And he stopped quick! He was breathing hard but didn't seem distressed... just not wanting to gallop. Although when I picked on him and told him to GO, he did... and held it... it was just obvious he wanted to stop. So I let him. Untacked him and he was already grazing. I hosed him off and he seemed fine. But now I'm panicking... is he getting too old, do his feet hurt, do his knees hurt? What's going on??!!! Of course I call Christina and she says perhaps it's just the combination of hard ground and heat and humidity. It was one of the first few really hot days and it was 3:30 in the afternoon. True, but..... Then Beth said perhaps he needs more fitness work and to remember that he's not even half TB, so he may just need more. SIgh...I just worry about the beasty. But no lameness or issues any other time.. he was perfectly fine in his dressage lessons and jumping at home. So... fingers crossed and we'll see.
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