Step Backward, Step Forward!

Life with Dublin is never very consistent. After the last glowing post, we got to take a step backward when Dublin went quite lame after a trim. That was immediately his being sore-backed after a lesson and getting a week off. So about 10 days of rehabbing with no work. Meanwhile, I ordered a stunning new bridle for him, which arrived about the time I pronounced him sound enough to ride. Got one short ride in the day before the bridle arrived, and when I unsaddled him I discovered that he had scraped the hide off his back in a strip along his spine, and the pad had re-scraped it raw again. Hey, he's tall, I didn't notice the owie along the top of his spine when I saddled him! So back to ground work again until the back healed. Cowboy has been going to lessons with me (he's such a sport!). And since sometimes the lesson is the only horse time I can fit in, Dublin has been leading quite the life of Riley, lounging around and healing. The horse has a gift for coming up with injuries that render him un-rideable.

But today I did squeeze in some Dublin time. His back is pretty well healed, and I threw a quilted pad under the felt pad under the regular pad. I feel like the Princess and the Pea when perched atop all that padding. It makes shimming the saddle pad an interesting exercise.

One thing my instructor Anne has been working with me on is canter departs. For some reason, I seem to think I need to assist the horse in this by doing my own exaggerated canter depart. I've been doing it for so long that I don't even know I'm doing it, and it's been a bit of work on her part to get me to stop. Cowboy is kind of used to it, but it just confuses Dublin and gets him off balance, and we don't get a canter. We get some sort of crazed out-of-control high-headed trot instead. It's tough to ride and probably contributed to his sore back. So I have been getting longed on top of Cowboy and learning to get a canter by doing a whole lot less work myself.

Since today was my first time back on Dublin in a long time, I hadn't really planned on try to canter him, but we had such a good ride that I decided I would try it. If I didn't get it right away, the plan was to stop immediately. But hallelujah! We got the right lead on the very first try, and then did a couple very nice controlled canters around the arena. Never knowing when to stop, I tried him on the left lead, which is often harder for him, and got that one on the first attempt too! And then we stopped.

Pics of his snazzy new bridle! Note the amethyst rhinestones on the browband. Gotta have some bling!