I Still Cannot Believe It...

 

Is it really the same horse?

Back in the Saddle

That is one of our first rides out on the trail. Karina was very calm and a little playful - obviously happy to go out with me. We tried a little trot, turns on the hindquarters (which were meant to be tiny voltas, but they turned out to be rollbacks almost, because the path was pretty narrow), shoulder-in on both reins and so on. We met cyclists on the trail, and Karina wanted to chase them, only I didn't let her to ;)

Karina was pretty much on the bit all the time. She carries her neck rounded most of the time and she seems to be stretching her back more and more. However, when I asked her to do some bending after the ride (stretching carrot exercises), she had a big problem with one kind of those exercises. I asked her to bend around me, while I was leaning against her ribs and to reach to her hock joints. That she did easily to the left, and to the right she could not bend almost at all.  She can bend in the neck - that is not a problem, but to lean on her outside leg and rotate the pelvis to the left - that is still impossible for Karina to do. Well, that's great that I have discovered a problem area, because when I'll fix it - most of other problems will be gone forever :)

The Disguise is Gone

Well, I'm back after this long break... I'm back with results that I had hardly ever dreamed to achieve. I should be proud and happy with what Karina and I have achieved together, but instead I'm feeling a bit lost and... disappointed? No, 'disappointed' is not the right word... There is some sense of loss, like something was gone from my life forever... Pretty odd, huh?

Well, straight and to the point: Karina is now a perfectly normal horse. Normal, boring, pleasure riding horse. She is now perfectly safe and I can leave her with vet or farrier without fear that she'll do something dangerous in self-defence. No, no. Nothing of the kind. She is now extremely calm and reliable – a Gift in no Disguise. Now I finally recognize the horse I had bought two and a half a year ago...

How did we achieve that? I'll tell you next time.

Isn't it funny...

Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes

but when you look back...

everything is different.

C.S. Lewis