We have all been there, frustrated by the process of horse training being non-linear. It’s two steps forward and one step back.
Stanley and I have made tremendous progress this year and I cannot be more grateful for it. We’ve had some incredible breakthroughs and we’ve done well committing to our travel 2-3x per month.
I didn’t expect November to be one of those months of travel for Stanley as we don’t often go places in the winter months. With our beautiful fall, however, we were able to make it happen.
Our progress has allowed me to take Stanley on a solo trail ride for our first time ever. WOW! (See last week’s post: Taming My Lizzard Brain).
This week we attended what’s likely to be our last outing and clinic of the year.
We had the opportunity to work with Jennifer Mitchell of Atlantic Physical Therapy. Jennifer is currently the lead physio for the Olympic disciplines of the US Equestrian Federation (USEF).
Before I move on, I want to note that I’ve been working with another extremely talented friend this year who owns her own Physical Therapy business locally. With her help throughout the summer I’ve become a stronger more balanced rider. That said, because I love getting new perspectives, and because I’ve wanted to work with Mitchell for a couple of years now I signed up for this clinic, too.
Jennifer watched me ride around the arena. I was incredibly proud of how Stanley was behaving. He was calm and cool and walked around the arena on a long rein with no issue. We trotted around and cantered the right lead. We weren’t very successful getting the left. Jennifer had me trot down centerline several times. Suzanne was there with her video. What she noticed, and what you can see in the video, was that my hips sit down to the left and swing upward towards the right.
I dismounted and we moved to the viewing room where Jennifer had her work station set up. In there she assessed me from the ground. My hips were higher on the left, my hips had a rotation to the right, I had limited rotation, and weak glutes on the right side. She confirmed that my upper body moved freely so most of the blocked flow seemed to originate in my hips.
Next, Jennifer worked on releasing the tension. It felt like she was working on several trigger points that she found holding the blocked flow of energy. Within minutes my hips were no longer rotated and they were even heights when standing. I had more mobility in the rotation of my leg.
I learned several exercises to help strengthen my hips and glutes as we move forward, and Jennifer sent me an email to a portal where I can practice those exercises. I’m happy they are slightly different from the ones I was given by my friend so I have a lot to pull from in my toolbox.
**Saturday we brought Tiger and Suzanne rode, we opted to keep the boys separate since Stanley travels better alone and it gave us the ability to hold for one another during our sessions**
I then got back on Stanley, who was being led around by Suzanne while I was in the other room. He was ready for a nap! My formerly anxious traveling horse was right at home.
I got on and had to wake him up a bit. Immediately I noticed more feeling in my right stirrup. I felt more balanced.
Sadly, I could not get Stanley to left lead canter for the life of me…my equitation went out the window just trying. But Stanley never got upset or flustered, he just kept trying for me.
I watched the videos later and saw an improvement in the swing of my posting trot.
The next day I decided to give Stanley a groundwork session. I took the lead line off of him and we worked on free lunging in the indoor.
He moved beautifully and after a couple tried getting the left lead he seemed to loosen up enough and nailed it on his own. After the first couple tries he picked up the left lead consistently every time I asked.
After getting him to stretch his legs and back we worked on more brain training. I was able to yield his hind legs at liberty without trouble or tension. In the past if I touched him he’d merely walk away from me. I could tell he was truly there to be with me and wanted to work with me.
I put 2 poles out and began by walking over them. Then backing his front legs over them. Then backing all 4 over the pole. After a few successful attempts we “reset” with a couple laps around the arena.
We returned to the poles to half pass over the pole…front and on one side, back end on the other. Moving left seemed to be far easier than moving to the right but we got through them and made progress over the last session we had.
We reset again with a lap around the arena and came back to the pole for one more exercise. The straddle. This is where I ask Stanley to place his left front hoof on one side, and the right front hoof on the other side. He’s fine doing that but tends to get overwhelmed when all four hooves need to do it. We often get to all 4 in the right place, but he falls apart once he has to step forward with the back legs. We made progress but we have a ways to go with the exercise. Part of it could be it’s the last exercise and he’s mentally “over it” by then.
I let Stanley go once again to find a nice place to roll but he stayed by my side. I sent him away and like a boomerang he was back at my side. I tried to show him a good roll spot but I was all he needed it seemed. It felt pretty magical being this close to him energetically. It gives me goosebumps to think of the relationship we’re building.
The next day, Tuesday, we had another lesson with Krystal. I decided to try my dressage saddle one more time. The last time I rode in it (three weeks ago) we had a poor lesson and Stanley ended up with quite a sore back. We tested for Lyme, tried omeprazole, he had his teeth and chiro work done (and both vets weren’t terribly worried), and he had 5 days of high strength muscle relaxer. He rode well for our trail ride in my western saddle and had the rest of that week off due to my getting a cold/flu. He rode well in the jump saddle both Saturday and Sunday. I figured now was a good time to test the dressage saddle. (For background see Rolling With It)
Krystal immediately noticed my hips were open. What a huge difference from the clinic we did Sunday with Jennifer Mitchell! For Stanley, however, she first commented that he seemed to be holding his breathe. He was traveling ok so far but she made note of it. He also sweat and started to foam between his legs early into our lesson. He was just running around his paddock and steaming when I tacked up so we made a note but didn’t regard it TOO much. Finally about 20 minutes in Stanley decided it was too much. Here he was once again hollowing his back, shortening his stride, and raising his head. A clear cry for help. That was where we decided to untack him and tack the pressure off. As I ran my fingers down his back his right side began to spasm. “Holy crap you poor guy” I thought. He was trying so hard to do well and go with the flow but you can only take so much. A true testament to his generous and willing nature.
Krystal had me get on bareback so I could walk him around on a loose rein. She didn’t want him ending the ride with memories of the pain. He began to relax and breathe but the breathing was very shallow.
I’m currently at a loss about what to do with him, but luckily I have amazing professionals in my corner. In a couple more weeks my fitter will come to test the saddle fit.
Stanley has had the rest of the week off (due to my work schedule).
I will be doing more groundwork and get back on with my western saddle or bareback for now…and test the jump saddle after that.
Once we address the saddle fit in December, I hope we will have our solution. If not, we’ll be back to the drawing board.
We’ve been working hard to get Stanley to become more relaxed when traveling, I’ve been working hard to become a better more balanced partner on his back, and we’ve been working hard together to become a united team in and out of the saddle. We’ve been putting the pieces together.
The back soreness is hopefully a small piece of this big puzzle that fall out of place and I’m hoping we’ll be back to putting more pieces together again soon.
Life with horses is always interesting to say the least!
The Green Horseman 
Leave a comment