In the Arena #44- First ride of the year = best ride of the year ;)

My knee has responded very well to (about a million) ibuprofren and getting iced frequently over the last few days, so I headed up to the barn as soon as I could break away from work for the year's first ride. I woke Val from his trance for a nice grooming, tacked up, and off we went.

Today I thought a lot about Erik Herbermann's analogy of keeping your horse, of keeping the energy, "between the riverbanks". You create the "riverbanks" with your aids. You don't want the energy to leak out laterally, so you channel / focus the energy between them. (It just occurred to me while typing this that if the energy isn't leaking out there should be more forwardness!) That was a great place to start, as Val was more of a noodleneck than usual. And I always benefit from trying to coordinate my legs and arms.

We worked on straightness - in Val's neck and our movement within the arena - utilizing the cones and staying on the quarter line. There were some nice round 10 meter circles in both directions. Our trot work was fun and enthusiastic. We were round, and Val was reaching for contact. His trot felt big... posting took less effort and when I sat the first few strides of each transition it felt like I could keep on sitting. Val was carrying himself. Best of all, he seemed like he was enjoying the work. 

I have two theories about why: One is that the deep footing I've been fretting about (and avoiding trotting in) doesn't bother Val at all - in fact it encourages him to engage his core and use his back. I think it feels good to him!

The other is that discovering and treating Val for this "needles in the hay issue" over the past few weeks has strengthened our relationship... the trust he has in me. No kidding, he voluntarily comes over to the spot where I take care of his mouth every evening, patiently waits and stands ground tied. He keeps his head low and within reach while I'm working on him and seems to get great relief from the process. Tonight I finished the treatment by repeatedly rinsing his gums with a diluted Listerine (vet recommended) solution after the saline rinse. He didn't bat an eyelash. I was impressed, as Listerine (the brown kind) has a pretty harsh flavor. I can barely keep it in my mouth :)

So even though I'm distressed that Val has been so uncomfortable, something good seems to have come from the situation. I confirmed the dentist's recommendations with our vet today, and feel confident that Val is on the mend. I tried to get in touch with the man who grew the hay to let him know about the foxtail issue, but low and behold, his phone number has been disconnected... I sure am tired of throwing hay out money down the drain!

Getting old sucks, but it sure beats the alternative...

After our fab ride on the final day of 2010, I was so looking forward to starting 2011 in the same way. Something about the symmetry appealed to me. We were expecting temps in the sixties, sunny with no wind. I had plans to ride, and afterwords start moving the composted manure to it's next location, my first garden on the new property. Basically a whole day spent at the barn.

Instead, when I woke up Saturday morning, my injured knee had swollen up overnight to the size of a softball. It was super stiff - no straightening or bending, and very uncomfortable to walk on. Out of commission. I spent the day, other than walking the girls and taking care of Val, on the sofa, eating handsful of ibuprofren + icing and elevating my knee. (which apparently I should have done from the start!) I had worked and ridden twice since I hurt it with not much ill effect. I definitely didn't realize the extent of the problem.

Enforced idleness is hard for me. And sitting on my butt all day gave me plenty of time to think. To think about aging... about how much time there is left to accomplish my riding goals... will physical limitations slow me down, or stop me? Heck, not only my riding might be affected, but my ability to take care of Val. How long will I be able to sling 60 lb bales of hay, 50 lb bags of feed, or even lift my saddle to tack up? I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it, and I hope that it is still far in the future. I've been fortunate to have exceptionally good health up to now. My confinement to the couch reinforced the importance of preserving it.

So, since I didn't put a leg over Val this weekend, I'm going to savor Friday's ride. We breezed through our warm-up. Val was super relaxed - snorting and blowing from the get go. We achieved some lovely forward walking - eight on a scale of ten. Smooth transitions. And finally, gorgeous, energetic trot work where Val was round. Working over his back, using his core, and reaching.

It occurs to me the less than ideal footing I've been complaining almost non-stop about reticent to do much trot work in probably has a lot to do with it. The sand in our arena is so deep in some places that Val has to engage his core and use his back just to move through it. It's a good workout. I can barely push the manure cart there.

This was the first ride where I've felt the possibility of what Val and I can do dressage-wise. A glimpse of how it will be when we put it all together. And it felt great. I can't wait for our next ride.