I spent the weekend on the beautiful west coast of Michigan for my friend's wedding. We stayed at a wonderful Bed and Breakfast, it was so cute. Wrap around porch and balcony, dainty little library under the stairs, gorgeous grounds. . .it was a dream! The reception was also at this B&B and the wedding took place on the beach of Lake Michigan. It was quite the mini-vacation for me and Mike.
On to Shyloh. . .Based on previous experiences of me not seeing Shyloh for a number of days in a row, I was under no impression that I would be warmly greeted with nickers and neighs. Shyloh did not disappoint. As I went to get her in the pasture, this was her response as I called for her. . .
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| I got a bigger greeting from Robbie :( |
I brought Shy in so I could groom her and get to work on that rear end. And of course, Shy had somehow managed to get hurt in my absence.
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| Somehow, it is on the inside of her left rear. This is after I cleaned it up. |
I warmed Shy up in the round pen, with her new saddle pad. She was not impressed. After a few warm up walks and trots each way, I stretched her legs out.
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| Now she matches her boots! |
Then we moved on to the hills! Hills, hills, and more hills! These hills are not alive with the sound of music, though. Just the sound of mini horses and dirt bikes and cows. But, I got some video.
Does it look like Shy is using that rear end? After that, I hosed her rear end off and started bringing other horses in and feeding them. It is getting dark noticeably earlier now. Sad face.
We are sticking to the plan of hills and trot poles until I can see some improvement in her rear end. Then we will take it from there. Does anyone know how long it takes for a horse to build muscle?
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| Long legs on the shadow photo! |
The hills have got to help, along with poles and backing.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how much or for how long. I think you can just be pleased in knowing that every little bit helps.
Oooh, spooky Ghost Person appears and magically evaporates at 1:16....
ReplyDeleteIt's all gotta help. I can't give any advice on "how long" except to say that after le big trek, (almost four weeks) Flurry's bum had muscled up so much that he found school work/dressage much much easier than ever before... you're hoping for less of an improvement than that, so hopefully not so long? x
Haha! That was the barn owner's dad! He was like, what the heck are you doing?!
DeleteHopefully not too long, but we will keep it up until I see improvement! Maybe I need to do Le Big Trek? :)
It doesn't take too long for you to at least see some difference. When I want to build a rear I do lots of transitions. Trot to stop to back then trot right out of it is a good exercise. It's good for horses that worry or rush. Then they are so focused on what transition you are going to do next that they forget to worry.
ReplyDeleteI was doing transitions, but I was told to stop and get her into a nice forward trot so she can see that it doesn't hurt.
DeleteBut that is a good idea once I get her going!
No clue how long it takes. But got hand it to you for finding hills! Love the video :)
ReplyDeleteThose hills are so awesome. I'm so envious!! :D Remember that the slower she goes the better. I know it's pretty steep on the end so it's hard not to trot down, but if you can get her to walk it will help out even more. Regardless though those hills are going to make a huge difference. I'm glad you have them there. :)
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