Last Sunday was absolutely beautiful so I decided to ride Dude. As I was saddling up, another barn mate was getting ready and we decided to ride out to the outdoor together. It worked out well - her horse is young and Dude's role was to be a good influence, and having someone else out there kept me in the saddle a little longer, which was a good test of the ol' knee.
It was fun. Dude was a little hoppy as we approached the outdoor, but not bad. Turned out there were deer along the treeline, and horses in the adjacent field that were just barely visible through the trees, and that was the cause for a little bit of consternation on his part. We trotted a little bit, but mostly walked. There was a jump course set up, so it was good practice to ride him around in little patterns. At about the half hour point I felt like I needed to take my right leg out of the stirrup and stretch out my knee, but other than that I felt pretty good.
So good, in fact, that I asked Emma if I could join the lesson group she has on Tuesday nights with a bunch of moms whose kids are off (or soon off) to college. It'll be a lot of fun to ride with other people and learn from each other, and I really enjoyed my lessons last winter with Emma on Dude, so I'm looking forward to it. I think Dude will enjoy it, too. He likes being in a program. We'll both be getting back into shape together.
Katie got home last night and rode him today. I'm sure he's glad to have his kid home for a bit.
No comments:
Post a Comment