Sat in the Saddle

Good News.Bad News, Sort Of
 
Weather was warm today so, after about a 40 minute walk around the tree farm and cornfield--where I picked up left over corn for squirrels--I first lunged Chance to see how he looked.

Aside from the hind leg with the OCD stifle, he looked pretty sound. Now this is with just wedge pads and regular shoes in the front instead of the egg bar shoes.

So, I saddled him up and headed back out to the arena for a test ride.

Well, it was much better than the last time I tried. Pain still from stretching my inner thigh muscles, however. That limited how I could use my leg for any kinds of cues. Still, it wasn't agony, but I certainly would not have wanted to try a trail ride.

Now, I have been stretching my legs all summer, and within the last week stretching again in the pool. I also started using some of the machines at the gym, but only one day on my own. (The trainer set me up and had me work a little on Saturday.)  All is well and good with that...

BUT:  There is not a single exercise that I have done that really prepares the body for riding. Mind you, I am a bit limited with the exercises I can do with my replaced knees and still recovering hip but, it's simply not the same thing.

I am truly surprised at this. Having ridden for over 50 years of my life, I would think I would have a natural ability to sit in a saddle, but once again, that hip injury and the mode of recovery just wasn't "horse shape" friendly.  And not one of those darn machines in the gym requires me to use my "horse shape" muscles the right way.

So it's back to the barrel in the back yard.

So that's the half of it. The other half is Chance. He lunged pretty sound, but when I trotted just a little bit in the arena, He has a definite limp. Not being in shape enough myself to ride the trot long enough to sort it all out, I'm not quite sure if it's that hind leg alone, or some discomfort in the front. As I said, he lunged sound, so it's more likely my weight on his back and that hind leg problem.

Again, no point in making a huge deal of it at the moment. We only rode around the arena for five or ten minutes at the most, just testing things out. As usual, Chance headed straight for the gate out to the woods, telling me he was up for a trail ride.

So, plan B for tomorrow is:  Go for swim/exercise.  Sit on barrel and stretch. Then ride for a bit, perhaps going out for a very short jaunt in the woods in this lovely warm weather.

As Scarlett said, "Tomorrow is another day."

Kitty update:  Kittens are coming out to eat. The darker gray one is still much bolder. I am now suspicious they are much younger than I suspected and that they were not actually weaned until very recently. I bought some dry kitten food for them as well as more canned food today.  I'll just keep working on the taming process.