I'm BACK!

Yesterday I went in to the orthopedic surgeon and NO MORE WALKING BOOT! I am VERY excited.

I now have a little brace to wear inside my shoe when I'm not hanging around my house, but he said I can take it off for riding if I feel like my boots are supportive enough.

Thus -- I rode last night!

I took Pandora for a little spin. Just some walking and trotting. Some things that came to my attention immediately:

• Keeping my heels down can kinda hurt my ankle -- less so if I simply let my heels sink, more so if I push down on the ball of my foot.
• I am a leeetle bit lopsided.
  
• Someone took my thigh muscles and replaced them with jelly. I want them BACK.
• Pandora's mouthing, tucking behind the vertical, and general futzing with the bit tends to go away with quiet hands.
• I can actually trot without it hurting very much, unless you count the aforementioned jelly thighs.

I think I can pretty easily work through Pandora's bit nonsense. Because I have better balance (ah, youth!) and more experience multitasking in the saddle, I can keep my hands quieter than my mother's (though I must point out that she's done an excellent job riding during my convalescence!). When I rode, she fussed less. Therefore, quieter hands = less fussing.

It appears to be a fairly simple, fixable problem, for which I'm eternally grateful. I am sure we'll fight our epic battles in time, but for the most part, riding her forward into a gentle steady contact with plenty of bending and serpentines seems to work very well.

Also -- THIS HORSE DOES NOT RUSH. Can I tell you how much I like that? Both horses before have been rushers. She is not. She does, of course, have her own unique issues. But she doesn't rush. Also she doesn't suck back. GOOD THING. Her speed is very steady and easily adjusted which I truly appreciate. I am really looking forward to pushing the dressage work on her.

I think Mom and I are going to go on a trail ride this weekend. I'll ride Pandora (or my Panda-bear, as I tend to call her) and Mom will ride McKinna. The walks will be good for rebuilding my strength as well as giving the horses a physical and mental change of scenery, so we'll try to take advantage of what little nice weather remains.

I start classes on Monday and am also excited about that :)



In other words -- Life As Usual is back on track. With school and actively riding both back in my life, expect plenty more of my previous kinds of posts, with musing on riding and training and the like. I can't wait until the saddle time starts the thoughtful juices flowing again.

Hope all is going well for you guys and your equestrian adventures.