SUCH a good day today. No pics but I did try my saddle without the half pad and he was so much more comfortable, forward, stretchy, and sound in it. He also was completely happy with the girth tightening, and brushing him, which has always been a problem before. Afterwards he got the back on track boots on his front legs, since I did notice some heat where his bone chip is, and liniment. Hoping we're finally figuring out the program he needs. 🤞

Good news: galloped my horse today and he felt great!

Bad news: I did not ask him to gallop. I did not want to gallop. Brakes need to be reinstalled, apparently.

We were supposed to just do a 20 minute powerwalk today. He was a little lazy and behind my leg, and after fifteen minutes of kicking him toward and making him bending and soft on the bit I decided to just go on a nice long-rein walk around the lake, which we do all the fucking time.

Yet today, the lake suddenly became a PROBLEM. Cliff reached the far corner of it and stopped, head lifted like maybe something was scary. I checked to see if there was a snake or a person or something to warrant the reaction, but there wasn't, so I asked Cliff to walk forward and he spun and BOLTED the opposite way. Completely took me by surprise and it took nearly three hundred feet at a dead run before I could haul him back and stop him. And then, because bolting is bad, I pinned his face to my boot and smacked him and made him go back the way we came.

He bolted again. So we went back to the arena, I put the bungee on him to give me some more control, and trotted around and made him move forward and bend both directions and once he was soft and listening went back out to the trail. This time we didn't even make it halfway, so I got off, lead him past the corner, walked all the way around the farm to put him in the round pen and work him until he refocused on me. Then it was back out to the spooking corner, this time armed with lots of cookies, and we kinda made it through but he was still a dick about it.

I'm not really worried about this being a pain thing- Cliff likes to find something scary every once in awhile and harp on it and turn it into an ordeal. I don't know if anybody remembered the Goat Incident of 2019, but it was kinda like that, only the bolting is a new behavior.

Liniment and robaxin and ugard and BOT boots today to undo some of the damage I'm sure he did to himself getting so tense and pulling all that shit, and then a few days off. Hopefully next week is more successful.

Yesterday I had the idea to just do a light stretchy lunge with Cliff to see how he felt after Saturday's incident, but then the farriers rolled up and getting his feet done is always An Event, so I just tossed my friend's massage blanket on him after to help him unwind and loosen his back some more.

Today was a little more productive. Puddle trotting, and he was very good. Not his best work, so tomorrow he'll go back in the pessoa system and I'm going to make an effort to incorporate that in our work at least once a week now. I think he needs that direction.

Update: massage friend checked his back just in case because I'm still paranoid about Saturday and she says he feels better than ever, so yay!

Had some fun with polework today. The past week we did a lot of puddlework and using the pessoa, tomorrow I'll ride him again and see how he feels. But he's been absolutely wonderful on the ground.

Cliff was BEYOND amazing today. We did a really long warmup on the ground to get him forward and bending and lifting his back, and then I hopped on and did a long walking bending circling session before asking for a trot, and BOOM he was round and forward and lifting through his back and beautifully sound. I'm super happy.

Pessoa tomorrow, massage blanket Friday, and then riding again Saturday. Unless I change plans. Which I usually do.

Cliffyman was VERY good for his pessoa day and really appreciated his massage day, so today we saddled up and went. I spent a long time doing groundwork and slowly tightening his girth and getting his back loose and warmed up before getting on, and he was super relaxed about mounting. Then we rode around the property, spending a long time walking, and went in the ring and walked around some more. Some jumps had been moved since the last time I rode him, and he was a dick about that, but once I kicked him he calmed down and flatted fine.

We actually cantered! On purpose! Before we trotted I asked for the canter, and he gave me four really lovely loose canter strides before I asked him to walk again, and then picked up the trot. And he felt phenomenal and behaved beautifully. Very happy right now.

Yay Cliffy! I love seeing the big red twin feeling good. You're doing a great job with him Puck!

Cliffyman got a weekish off while Pogo and I went and showed. We came back Thursday and I've been doing carrot stretches with him but haven't really had the energy to do much else. Finally forced myself to roundpen him today and he had such a lovely, free, swinging trot. Really thinking that the time off was good for him!

Of course, leaping was also involved.

Pessoa system yesterday, so I planned for today to be a nice easy session lunging over a simple grid. It was nice and easy for all of three minutes, and then the horse flies attacked. It was like a cartoon. Cliff's bucking and spinning and kicking to get them off, I'm smacking them out of the air, we started running and the horse flies CHASED US ACROSS THE PROPERTY. So we threw in the towel and Cliffy got a bath and now he's grazing and we're recovering from the trauma.

There's always tomorrow!