Pony Rides

Fleck's gotten quite a few rides in recently! We met Peri and headed out for a short hack. She rode Roux and I rode Fleck. We just walked but did a long walk and lots of hills. Flecky was feeling a bit rowdy in the beginning and was power walking like a beast! Peri had to keep trotting to keep up. Of course once we hit the lake he settled down. And by the end of the ride I could tell he was struggling. :(

 Then another day Kelli's pony had a swollen leg and Kelli desperately needed a ride. I finished work early enough to get out there so I met her with both boys. She rode Fleck and I rode Dan.

It's soooooooo hard for me. So hard!! I just... love that horse so gosh darn much.... I hate to give up the ride on him. And I know I'm possessive... no one can walk MY dog... no one can ride MY horse... but it was hard. She did good with him though and Dan and I had fun.

It was cute because normally on trails Dan has at least one or two antic filled moments and we tend to get really far ahead of other people, but... he loves his Flecky. He kept it to a dull roar and we stayed just far enough ahead that Fleck didn't have to get worried and struggle. :) Awwww.....  :)

And then on Christmas day I HAD to ride the Flecky! We had a nice long walk trail ride with Kelli, whos' horse was feeling better. It was a shorter ride as I could tell the multiple rides in the shorter time was taking a toll on Flecky. Plus I had acupunctured him the day before and did electroacupuncture too and he was super leany when I did it. But it was a nice way to spend Christmas! Especially after my cry fest that morning about Roany. I knew it was coming... I knew it was the first Christmas in 24 years without her... but it hit me hard that morning. I sat by her grave and cried for a bit. So it was nice to get to ride and snuggle with both boys.

Spectacular!!!

I rushed home after finishing work to try to sneak in a ride. Even though it was supposed to be my day off. Sigh.. Anyways, I finished and got home and was going to be at Ashland at 4 pm, but... when I went to grab Dan I noticed he had ripped half his shoe off. Sigh... So I got his shoe pulled off and flushed out his foot where he cut it and threw him in the stall. At this point it was close to 4:30. I debated staying home, but ended up taking Fleck. I'm so glad I did!!

It was pretty darn cold but I rode bareback and stayed warm. We just did a walk hack with Kelli but I did almost the entire ride with the reins tied in a loop over his neck and only used the neck strap. :) We finished with the sunset and went back to the trailers. 

About 2 minutes after getting off and getting his bridle off and my boots and helmet off I looked back and saw the spectacular sunset. And I said "oh man.. I've gotta get back on!". So I hopped on with just his halter and we trotted out to the field to see the sunset. It was AHHHHMAZING!! The photos don't do it justice. My lead rope wasn't long enough to loop so I basically only had the one rein. But Fleck was great and we just continued with our bridleless riding. :) 

Soooo amazing! I sort of needed that. :)

 

soaking up the magic

Fleck and I have been getting some quality time together :) On Thursday, I finished early enough with my day that I almost had time for a ride. It would have ended in the dark, but it could have started in daylight. But I was feeling the urge to adjust the boys, so I opted to do that instead. Dan got adjusted, acupunctured and lasered and then Fleck got the same treatment.

I've been feeling tight tight bands in Fleck's groin, with the right one being more dramatic. I wondered if that wasn't the issue. Maybe Dr. Brown is right (ha!! I know he's right, I just don't like his answer). But maybe it's a fascial problem too, in addition to the muscle tearing and scarring and sciatica. And maybe it's something I can help. So... I worked on him and used my sciatica acupuncture points. And it felt better. Although to be honest, it felt better even before I started. It felt better after just the gentle massage the other day. So yay!

Then yesterday Amanda came out to work on him. She felt what I felt and agreed that it did seem to palpate like what I was envisioning in my head. She worked on him a good bit and he LOVED it. He was licking and chewing and yawning and zenning out. So... hopefully between all of us we can get him squared away.

So today I took him for a bareback ride today. We decided to go by the "human" lake at Ashland. I swear it's magical! Today we wanted to soak up some of that magic. And so we walked around and I stopped Fleck and told him to soak it up. And then, I just sort of "imaged" (for lack of a better word) the magic flowing up through him into his hip area and... as it hit the hip area... he sighed and licked and chewed. It was... magic! So we carried on. We saw our heron friend too.

Oh, and before we hit the magic spot, we were in the field. I have been working on bridle-less riding and today we made progress. I wasn't thinking that he was getting it, but today, when I focused more on my seat and legs and was more subtle with my directions rather than "yelling" at him... it worked!! I really think he's getting it. I only had to grab the reins once. :) We even got some leg yields at the trot. (well, jog more than trot, but still). And yes, he wasn't necessarily "on the bit" or even flexed  appropriately in his neck, but his back and spine and ribs felt pretty correctly bent. And it wasn't a lot of steps or a lot of lateral, but.... it was a leg yield both ways!! We even did a zig zag leg yield. :)

So yep... a pretty darn good day. Of course any day on Flecky is a darn good day.