Back on Board

Having been injured on 29th November, Sampson has not been ridden since apart from some lessons to convince him to stand at the mounting block while I clamber on.

Although he still has a yukky sore on his leg (which is having copious amounts of manuka honey applied with a paintbrush morning and night) he hasnt been looking sore at all, and apart from a small amount of swelling, any fill in the leg has gone totally (so no tendon damage...thank goodness).

He stood like a rock while I got on, and apart from one small start while walking up the drive past the house, didnt shy or anything. There were three horse trucks, two buses, one very large house truck, a van, and a car, plus people, music, dogs and noise....apart from a little tension (probably more from me than him) he just kept walking.

Likewise he took no notice of the tractor turning the hay next door.

We did about 15 minutes of trot work, and I was pleased to find that although he has slipped back a bit from where he was, he did do some really lovely work; soft and round. The main thing I found was that he was easily distracted and quickly lost concentration, which for a young horse after a period of time off is hardly surprising. I think he will come back up to where he was pre injury pretty quickly.

Unfortunately, he is still a bit snorty - especially from the seeding grasses; a hangover from the bad batch of meadow chaff he was fed some time ago.

When his trot slowed and became very high and springy, throwing me out of the saddle, (in response to one of the gypsy's lorakeet screaching), I decided that we (I) had probably had enough for his first ride in a long time. When he gets into springy trot mode, I am unsure how to deal with it as it seems the more you try to push him forward, the higher and springier the trot becomes (and the more I get catapaulted at each stride)....perhaps he has a natural passage just waiting to be discovered?