I've been avoiding the blogosphere this week, because I wanted to be careful and not jinx my good luck. However, since it's been over a week (and four rides), I think I can finally say it out loud: Gali is sound!
Last week, I began using some massage techniques I read about in Practical Horse Massage on his shoulders and back. I also did some research and found some stretches that are particularly helpful for shoulder stiffness and started stretching his front legs and back legs thoroughly before tacking up. It looks like it's working, and I'm absolutely ecstatic!
My first two real rides back - all focusing on conditioning, of course - were lovely. Gali was feeling great and picking up his feet and his back like we haven't had any time off. Yesterday, however, was a bit of a disaster and he was a total cow.
My biggest challenge right now is getting him over his reluctance (read: straight up refusal) to work nicely on the busy side of the indoor. I know that fighting him is not the correct way to get him to focus on me when he'd really rather stay away from the scary stuff, but after half an hour of walking past the same mounting blocks, cones, buckets and hoses, you'd think he would realize they are not going to eat him.
I just need to be patient. It's supposed to be warm this week, so I'm hoping to get out to ride tomorrow morning before class, Wednesday morning before work, and Friday afternoon. I've been very bad at sticking to a schedule this winter, but now that pony is sound, I'm feeling a lot more motivated to get up and go ride.
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