A little set back

After my glowing post last week things went a little down hill. 

Chilly is now an entire hand (4 inches) shorter in her front end than her hind.  And it happened in about 2 weeks. For that reason I've backed off a little bit with her.  She'll go back to driving some on the weekend but its not fair to her to push the riding when she is so growthy at this point.  We did cut her mane off though, and she now looks like a real grown up horse.

I took Oscar out to ride on the weekend and he was dead lame.  Turns out the Barbie horse he was turned out with kicked him really hard on the inside of his stifle.  It was really sore for a couple of days, and his leg swelled up a bit, but by Tuesday he was sound at all 3 gaits and we went for a little ride on Wednesday.  He was back to 110% on Thursday night which was good as his owner comes home today for the weekend!  He still has a bit of a cut, but it will heal with time. 

I've decided to kick up the intensity of our rides, for me.  Lots more rising trot with 2 point and sitting mixed in to strengthen my legs and improve my balance (and rising trot is much harder than sitting so it will help my fitness as well).  Last night was the first night, and the legs are a little tender tonight!  I'll appreciate the hard work when it comes time to ride Chilly this winter though.  I'd ridden Lucy without striupps but it will be harder on Oscar, hes is extremely rough to ride. 

I'm off to watch a dressage clinic on the weekend at my old coaches place.  Should be a fun learning experence, I'll bring back a report!