Max and I got a pretty good workout this last Memorial Day weekend. Saturday, Max and I went for a light trail ride following my usual route accross the river and looping back to the Orcas Arena. I even cantered Max in a few places and the weather was quite pleasant.
Sunday, we had our lesson and we worked on various bending exercises and Walk/Canter transitions. It was pretty hard work but Max stuck with it. Afterwards, we went for a ride through Orcas Park.
Monday, we went for a more extended trail ride in the opposite direction, into the mountains to the cattle pens (which is about halfway to the Bathtub/Doc Larsen). However, as we were making our way up the steep dirt road leading up to the cow pens, Max refused to go into the canter. After several tries and a short "discussion" with the crop, he finally got going. Weird- I thought we were over that...
Max was easy to manage on the way back home, which was nice, and just to mess up the routine, I decided to add on a loop winding up at Orcas Park. Max was definately not happy passing the entrance to the stables but he complied. After crossing the river, he balked again at cantering. Hmmmm...
Everything else worked out well, even all the Memorial Day picnikers and the idiots with the ATVs.
I believe that part of the issue of Max's not cantering is that perhaps he's feeling sore from the hard riding from the past two days. Also, I've run out of his joint supplement (I have more on order) so perhaps this was part of the problem. It was also getting pretty breezy and he sometimes uses that as an excuse to refuse to do things.
I ended up giving him a good dose of Bute and I'll give him Tuesday and maybe Wednesday off. Hopefully, this problem will correct itself. I believe that we'll do some schooling around the stables when we ride again.
Always something with these critters...
Sunday, we had our lesson and we worked on various bending exercises and Walk/Canter transitions. It was pretty hard work but Max stuck with it. Afterwards, we went for a ride through Orcas Park.
Monday, we went for a more extended trail ride in the opposite direction, into the mountains to the cattle pens (which is about halfway to the Bathtub/Doc Larsen). However, as we were making our way up the steep dirt road leading up to the cow pens, Max refused to go into the canter. After several tries and a short "discussion" with the crop, he finally got going. Weird- I thought we were over that...
Max was easy to manage on the way back home, which was nice, and just to mess up the routine, I decided to add on a loop winding up at Orcas Park. Max was definately not happy passing the entrance to the stables but he complied. After crossing the river, he balked again at cantering. Hmmmm...
Everything else worked out well, even all the Memorial Day picnikers and the idiots with the ATVs.
I believe that part of the issue of Max's not cantering is that perhaps he's feeling sore from the hard riding from the past two days. Also, I've run out of his joint supplement (I have more on order) so perhaps this was part of the problem. It was also getting pretty breezy and he sometimes uses that as an excuse to refuse to do things.
I ended up giving him a good dose of Bute and I'll give him Tuesday and maybe Wednesday off. Hopefully, this problem will correct itself. I believe that we'll do some schooling around the stables when we ride again.
Always something with these critters...
No comments:
Post a Comment