In contrast with Saturday, Sunday opened up bright and sunny with a brisk cool wind and some cloud cover. Perfect Spring weather!
My lesson was not until 3:15 so I decided to spend the day liesurely warming up Max. First, I spent some time grooming Max and combing out all the tangles in his mane and tail. Also, Max is shedding his wintercoat and there's hair everywhere on him. After I got done grooming him, there seemed to be enough hair in weave an Indian rug.
After saddling Max, I slowly warmed him up at a walk, moving around the track and alternating directions. I then decided to take Max out on the trail, following the usual path down the wash, accross the river and ultimately making a loop that would wind up back at the stables. Max seemed to do just fine and there were no signs of any lameness. I mostly moved at a walk with a little bit of a trot here and there on select areas with soft, flat footing.
This took about 1 1/2 hours and I then hitched up Max and gave him a rest. I noticed that he was breathing a bit heavily in places so I would rest him periodically. I ate my lunch while watching Max at the hitching rail (he needs to get used to being hitched up for long periods of time).
About 20 minutes before the lesson was to begin, I mounted up on Max and we did some more walking/trotting transitions with the occassional canter. The lesson went just fine and he seemed to find more energy while working in the ring, to include some energenic cantering. I naturally worked on my seat and in particular, my rein-work. I need to reinforce keeping my arms and hands quiet while keeping my hands stable. This is something that we'll have to practice more.
By the time Max and I were finished, we'd been riding intermittantly for over four hours and Max was definately looking tired out. Max definately had earned a rest and overall everything seemed to work out allright with no signs of lameness.
I'll stick to my plan of slowly working up his endurance while keeping to soft terrain. The stone bruise will eventually grow out dut we'll have to be careful in the meantime.
My lesson was not until 3:15 so I decided to spend the day liesurely warming up Max. First, I spent some time grooming Max and combing out all the tangles in his mane and tail. Also, Max is shedding his wintercoat and there's hair everywhere on him. After I got done grooming him, there seemed to be enough hair in weave an Indian rug.
After saddling Max, I slowly warmed him up at a walk, moving around the track and alternating directions. I then decided to take Max out on the trail, following the usual path down the wash, accross the river and ultimately making a loop that would wind up back at the stables. Max seemed to do just fine and there were no signs of any lameness. I mostly moved at a walk with a little bit of a trot here and there on select areas with soft, flat footing.
This took about 1 1/2 hours and I then hitched up Max and gave him a rest. I noticed that he was breathing a bit heavily in places so I would rest him periodically. I ate my lunch while watching Max at the hitching rail (he needs to get used to being hitched up for long periods of time).
About 20 minutes before the lesson was to begin, I mounted up on Max and we did some more walking/trotting transitions with the occassional canter. The lesson went just fine and he seemed to find more energy while working in the ring, to include some energenic cantering. I naturally worked on my seat and in particular, my rein-work. I need to reinforce keeping my arms and hands quiet while keeping my hands stable. This is something that we'll have to practice more.
By the time Max and I were finished, we'd been riding intermittantly for over four hours and Max was definately looking tired out. Max definately had earned a rest and overall everything seemed to work out allright with no signs of lameness.
I'll stick to my plan of slowly working up his endurance while keeping to soft terrain. The stone bruise will eventually grow out dut we'll have to be careful in the meantime.
No comments:
Post a Comment