Losing our groove.

Yesterday and today's rides have left me feeling a little bummed out. Nothing horrible but looking back there are things I would have changed up....

Yesterday he was spooky as all get out! He was even uppity in the cross ties. He does this weird trumpet/snorty thing that freaks everyone out. So that put us off to a fantastic start - WHAT A GOOBER! By the time we were walking to the ring he was looking at everything and shying this way and that way. Super! Then some of the jumps had been moved so that the ring could be drug, which made the ring extra scary. SO I just decided we'd hack out in the field so there was no pressure. Well the dude even spooked at the gate to the field. Ha. We didn't have the most productive ride. We managed to walk and trot around a little bit and then called it a day. We did stop by the window for the office in the barn so he could really investigate his reflection (he was absolutely hilarious to watch!)

Today we put our game face on and were going to get some real quality work and we did until the last 15 minutes of our ride. I was feeling on top of the world until I messed it all up!!!! Tracking right everything was nearly perfect he was relaxing and moving out soooo well. However I worked to the right wayy to long so when we switched to the left things went flop. Plus he still had a little bit of fluid in his ankle but was still super sound so I figured we'd still ride. Maybe it was the fluid, maybe he was tired, maybe he wanted to be a but head. I don't know. But the second we tried to pick up our left lead canter it all fell apart. He just would not pick it up. So I tried wayy too many times to get it. Which frustrated him until he shut down. AND when he shuts down he grabs the bit and hauls ass!!!!!! We flew right out of the ring by the barn twice because I just couldn't get him back under control (luckily we didn't hit anything). Once I got him to just not try and run out of the ring we basically just ended. I of course was still on him just walking around on the buckle. We even went out to the field for a lap. I just feel sooo bad that I pushed things to that point today.

So my tentative plan is for the next 2-4 days (depending on work and weather) he will have off or just a quick hack. Hopefully we can "reboot" and his ankle will be completely back to normal. Fingers crossed!