On Friday, Jet's neck was finally looking almost back to normal. I poked it and he wasn't flinching so I decided to hop on for a ride. I basically got what I expected.
We started out with lots of walking, moving off my leg, and re-establishing what we worked on before. He wanted more rein than usual so I let him stretch out a few more laps than we would do on a normal day. We did lots of circles and changing of directions so we could stretch out both sides of his body. I tightened up my rein and he fought me for a little bit. I would have him connected through the bit for a while but we'd lose it often. I completely exppected this since it was his first ride in a week and his neck was probably still a bit sore. As time went on, he offered to take up more contact and keep it for longer.
Once I was satisfied with the walk, we trotted. It was another fight to get him to trot. He would pick it up, then break, pick it up, then break, and it went on until I got serious with him. It was hot, and he was an idiot when we turned him out earlier, so I knew he wasn't going to be energetic. To the left, he picked it up more easily and collected more. To the right....it was a battle the entire time. He was counterbending, not listening to my aids, and he kept breaking. After a 10 minute battle, we went around the ring a few times when he was actually listening and on the bit. I walked him out and ended it on that. Now that he is going to be ridden regularly again, hopefully these battles will become few and far apart or even nonexistant.
Mom and I are going for a trail ride today at Hobby Horse. I'll probably write more tomorrow!
-Emily and Jet
