An April update

For the past couple of days, Tally's been a snarky little bugger. He started biting when I did up the front of his cover and was just generally all touchy and snarky. The weather cleared a bit today so I decided he needed a proper work out.

I dug out the lunge whip (which is broken because the vet broke it last time he was here :-D ) and decided that Tally would work the buttocks off himself to improve his mood.

He was going so beautifully, he even cantered nicely on the left rein and was doing a beautiful big free trot and was just dancing and bouncing all over the place. I then asked for canter on the right rein and he finally, finally exploded, he galloped about 15 circles bucking before settling to his "I'm an ARAB!!!!!" trot which was actually very impressive, it was all toe flicks and a beautiful headset. He just kept going so I let him until he calmed down a bit.

He roared around again on the left rein and took off which nearly pulled me over before he calmed down again. I got a nice canter on each rein out of him, his canter looks much larger on the ground than it rides, he canters like a show-jumper with this massive shoulder action and quite a bouncy stride. I don't usually long-line in canter as he gets a bit stupid and no one but me has ridden him in a year (unless you count my totally novice friend who rode around in walk before I rescued her when Tally theatened to buck :oops:) so it was interesting to see how he was going.

He was so happy afterwards, I took him for a walk down the road after and he pranced the whole way with his ears forward.

Re his hocks, they're definitely better, he's flexing them properly but he's still not stepping through as much as he was before, so we're going to call the vet about joint injections, he's what I'd term serviceably sound, he can do everything as long as you don't scrutinise it under a microscope.

Another update

Inspiring title, I know!

I gave up utterly on saddles and began riding bareback for a bit, Tally's behaviour infinitely improved as a result. We've been battling recurring mud fever which has involved Tally wearing "Santa socks" (white gamgee, red bandages) and sulking like crazy as he hated them. I've been concentrating on keeping his back relaxed and keeping him off my leg. Canter is absolutely atrocious, I bounce and he tanks off with his nose in the air, so thats being neglected until I get a saddle that fits.

Thats about all that is happened, very boring I know! Winter is on its way, so riding time is reduced and Tallymonster needs clipping. We're going to keep it very basic over the winter, hopefully getting some lessons, doing some dressage and working on his canter as well as his manners. I'd also like to teach him to trot up properly inhand and halt square...