Back in action?

It is good to be home and with no other plane tickets currently in my possession!  So of course my horse had to go and get hurt, right?  But I will get back to that.

Ireland was lovely.  The weather was perfect, it didn't rain once.  The business part was fine and the riding part was...ok.  I knew since I restricted myself to the Dublin area that it wouldn't be as cool as on the coast somewhere, but even knowing that there was slightly more walking on paved roads and slightly less playing in the fields than I would have preferred.  Still, the adorable Irish cob/Connemara cross mare I rode was fun and I am glad I was able to do it.

All that mane!

Odin was good while I was away, and I heard that Saturday he jumped a small course with fill in the jumps and didn't look at anything or misbehave in any way.

Sunday I drug my jet lagged butt to the barn to watch and then hop on for a bit.  In the special way that horses have, he didn't have quite as good a ride when I was there to watch.  The first time R2 took him to a cross rail, he was too busy messing with the bit and didn't even see the jump until he stepped on the ground line.  He stopped, confused, and though he didn't do anything else, you could tell he was a little freaked out.

It is the first time something has phased him really, so it was interesting to watch him then figure it out.  He didn't ever stop again, but did spend some time deer leaping and being nervous.  R2 stayed patient and he figured it out eventually.

Jump so high and tidy, it can't bite you

LEAP the mighty cross rail

And never take your eyes off of it

Still leaping

This is clearly a carousel horse impression

OK, still being cautious, but with less drama

More reasonable

Maybe this jump isn't going to murder us all?

Definitely feeling better now

OK, fine, this isn't so bad.

I tried out bell boots because he has a clear overreach mark on his left front and I wanted to see if he cared.  He doesn't, so we will probably implement them for rides from now on.

After he worked through the Most Terrifying Cross Rail in the Universe, he quietly popped over the jumps with actual fill:

This one seems fine but I will still keep an eye on it

Then I got on for 15 minutes, played around at all gates and jumped the cross rails myself a couple times with no drama.

Unfortunately, after a short ride tonight it was clear that his stifles are really bothering him.  Possibly sore from his acrobatics on Sunday too.  Twice his right hind got stuck while trotting.  After the second time, I just jumped off.  I am frustrated because I ordered the estrone from the vet THREE weeks ago and it still hasn't been delivered, but they promise it will be there Wednesday.  So hopefully a day off tomorrow and some estrogen means he will be feeling much better soon.

I really hope so because we are having such a blast and I want to keep the momentum going!  But of course, we will see how he feels and take it from there.