I'm helping a neighbor start her horse and I've been riding Z over for the sessions. It's great to ride her over, let her rest in a new place, then get back on and go home. She does so well and she comes up to me willingly and even enthusiastically when it's time to leave. Today, because I've been riding much less than normal, I had to start out with 15 mins of "let's get some harmony". We did lots of transitions, figure 8's and snakey bends by the barn until it seemed that she was thinking about me and "us" and not the herd or the barn. Then we cantered off w/o emotion.
This session with my neighbors horse didn't work out so great for me. I landed on my ankle wrong while playing with mounting energy and getting the horse used to it. I sprained it badly and even had a moment of nausea and dizziness. It was stupid and clumsy and I could just kick myself. The horse was doing amazingly well with the 7 games and then with saddling and mounting prior to my ankle sprain.
I finished up with the horse and hobbled over to mount Z and get my injured self home. She's so well prepared to be what I need her to be. I managed to get my butt on the fence rail, asked her to sidle over close to me, then clumsily mounted with one leg completely useless.
We slowly made our way home. A few times she thought trotting was a better idea and although I always prefer to move faster, the bouncing made my ankle angry. She came right back to a walk for me and then stopped trying. We have a spot where I normally let her eat grass. We stopped for a moment and she grabbed a few bites, but I had to get home. Another person was coming to my house for some coaching and the ankle incident had us running late.
I gave coaching for 2 hours from Z's back once we got home. My horse was so great! She was patient and calm and listening. I was able to demo some things with her to show what things look like when they're working well, like sideways or 7 games with an obstacle. My horse rocks.
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