Days like this I just am not in the mood to ride. Rainy, windy, cold, blue; gloomy. Everything about today just set the mood for a bad day. Since it was raining, I had my horse cooped up in his stall all day. Just thinking about how I was going to have to wrestle with my huge, energetic, fresh warmblood gave me a headache. I just wanted to skip today and go right into tomorrow... I came to the barn feeling very sour. Udex was pacing around in his stall and whinnying every two minutes. I rolled my eyes and took a while setting up my tack box and getting my saddle and bridle out. "Oh great.. He's so energetic and nervous today! It's going to be a hard struggle to pick his hooves, yet alone put the bit in his mouth when the only thing he wants to do is run!"
I was right. It was a struggle to get him to stand still long enough for me to pick his hooves. After getting that task over with I very unhappily took him to the arena to free run a bit of the crazies out. After a few minutes of running he walked over to me, chomping on nothing, (sign of submission) and nuzzled me. He was still full of energy, but he let me tack him up a lot easier then he would have without letting that negative energy out.
I did notice he had a fantastic trot today. In the beginning he had a very nice long and low neck! I trotted him with no hands for a bit... Good for my balance, and good for him to really stretch down low. Anyways, after he was warmed up to some extent, my trainer arrived and we began our lesson. [At this point I was still a bit gloomy. The wind rattling the roof, Udex whinnying out to his friends every few seconds.] We started out the lesson with einfache schlange linien [simple snake lines] and lots and lots and lots of circles. Udex was going great with little head throwing and very eager to listen to my leg. We did lots of circles on a loose rein! He was being such a good boy. My bad mood was slowly getting lighter and lighter. When it came time to canter I was in a pretty happy mood considering how outstanding my horse was preforming!!! The canter was amazing. No head throwing, total response to my leg, and a nice steady pace!!!!
Udex sometimes curls behind the bit. Thankfully now he doesn't tuck his head in as far as he once did. |
Over all, today I was expecting a bad day. To my surprise it turned out to be one of our best rides yet!!! I am so, so, so pleased with Udex's recovery! Although some days It isn't easy and I want to give up, I don't. I keep on working with him. Sometimes I see an instant difference, sometimes it takes a little longer. This has been one very hard and challenging journey, both mentally and physically.. but I know what I'm doing for my horse is the right thing to do. I hate knowing he was trained with rollkur his entire life... At the same time I am thankful for it. I know that he was put in my path (and I in his!) so I can do him justice and share his story. If at least one person hears his story and changes their mind about rollkur... then I feel that I have done my job. Rollkur needs to end. It doesn't do anyone any good. Please, put an end to rollkur.
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