Boy, Am I Out of Shape

Workout in Increments

I have to rebuild my stamina, that's for sure.  Of course my knees don't help, but honestly, you'd think....

Phase one was a cleanup of the manure in the riding arena.  This took about two wheelbarrow loads if you include the first one that was already partially full from cleaning the stalls.  There were also a bunch of forkfuls that I threw out into the hedgerow.  OK, so then I had to go back inside the house and rest for a bit.

Phase two was to mow the rest of the lawn.  I have a riding tractor/mower, so that is not a great physical task.  It took about an hour max, but that included having to fill three tires on the tractor with air from the portable electric compressor and kind of being down on my knees to reach the valves.  I had to go back inside to rest again. (Had some lunch at that point.) 

Phase three was supposed to be working a horse, but I got distracted by the broken fence in the riding arena and some of the loose boards lying about and a fallen tree in the paddock that had some sharp looking branches sticking out.  I carried a corral panel over and tied it in to replace the broken fence, carried the bad fence posts and extra fence boards out, carried out some more fence boards, then set to work on sawing off the offending tree branches and cleaning up all the other broken off parts that were lying about the paddock.  This time I sat on the tree trunk in the shade for a while to take another rest.  

Then I went out to the pasture to capture a horse. 

Phase four consisted of convincing a horse of any name that I was going to catch him.  Toby has now taught everyone how to elude capture, so even Chance walks away when I approach with the halter.  Fortunately, he really does want to be caught so after a brief bit of exercise where he shows the "Big Boys" that he too is one of them, he stops and lets me get him.  I took him in and gave him a  nice lungeing session finished up by some jumping over about a two foot obstacle.  He was a good boy, as always and has really started to pick up the concept of how to jump softly and easily. 

Phase five sent me back out to catch Tucker, which was a bit more of a chore. He follows Toby's lead with a little more entusiasm, but after trotting around in a circle about four times, I guess he decided it wasn't worth the effort and came in to me for his treat. (Toby had allowed me to put the lead rope around his neck as well by this time, so we are still practicing "capture and release." *S*)  

Watching Tucker work on the lunge, I really cannot see any sign of lameness at the trot in either hind.  He canters well too, but there might be a slight break in the rhythm now and then, especially on the right lead--that's the one he doesn't want to take when I ride.  My vet is coming on Saturday to take X-rays and finish up the spring vaccinations, so if he does have hock issues, I will know soon. I will work him when I can this week, but it's supposed to rain for a few days at least--it's already raining this morning.  A lttle light lungeing and some trot work under saddle should be OK, and he does need to do some exercise to get his weight down.

Both Tuck and Chance are on low starch feed in small servings.  I do think the girth went up some extra holes when I rode Tuck the other day, so maybe the new diet is working. 

I might have something fun going on this afternoon, so if I do, I'll write more.

Meantime, I'll just rest for a bit.