Oh my god his tongue is even out that's incredible -

It's only been a week of focusing on the right side, and he's been growing so much stronger and softer. Today was a bad day, my friend was riding Pogo with us and he's super protective of Pogo and was very Concerned and Stressed about it, but he gave me some lovely canter steps and we got it on video!

Cliff's been really good this week and worked really hard, so today I saddled up with the intention of just having a nice easy positive relaxing ride. No training, just enjoying what we already can do.

Well, after a nice walk around the lake, a pair of fighter jets came screaming over the treetops by the farm and did some loops over the lake. Understandably, Cliff flipped his shit. He was actually really good considering- I didn't try to fight him, just shortened my reins and sat back- and he just jigged forwards and sideways and threw his head. But afterwards he was shaking and super tense, so we walked around the farm again and try to relax, but he just got tenser so I just got off and called it a day. Super fucking disappointed that he had such a bad experience, and we're calling the local air base to tell them off (this isn't the first time it's happened, but it's been more and more frequent and we're done with it). He's getting the rest of the weekend off and a massage on Monday, so we'll see how he feels then.

Massage Monday- she says that Cliff felt a bit tight all the way around, which is normal because it's been super cold lately, and a little bit extra tight in the left shoulder, but there was absolutely nothing else wrong anywhere else, his back was perfect, his right side was perfect (which is the side I expected trouble on, since we've been working that side extra lately), and I'm just. So happy. Music to my ears.

He didn't want to be caught yesterday (he just walked away when I rolled up, instead of coming to me), so I just let him have the day off and today he marched straight for me and shoved his face in the halter, and was super pleasant and happy to be tacked up, which is the reason why I let my horses tell me when they're not in the mood to work! Forcing them to do something they don't want to do will only make them more resistant to it as time goes by, and as it is mine rarely rarely rarely ever walk away from me in the paddock and 98% of the time are happy to work.

So anyways, for the ride he was fantastic, he's getting a lot stronger and able to carry himself on the bit for longer and longer stretches, and his right lead canter was absolutely gorgeous today. Left had a little bit to be desired- he wanted to collapse on the inside shoulder, so we'll have to work on picking that up again, but it was also towards the end of the ride so he was getting a little tired. Then we cooled off walking around the farm for about ten minutes, and he was a little nervous at first- I think he remembered the planes, because he kept kinda glancing up and jigging- but got over it really fast and just settled into a nice relaxed walk. Very happy today.

Yesterday was really good. Cliff flatted around super quietly, even though one of his pasture mates was being ridden at the same time and he was Very Concerned, and picked up a really nice lovely canter to the point where I dropped my reins and he maintained this beautiful balanced uphill canter.

So today... we jumped!

My trainer had a grid set up, a one stride to a two stride, with the in and middle jumps being crossrails and the out being a vertical. The first time through it, Cliff didn't realize we were jumping and just shot over the first crossrail and landed and spun left and almost had me over his head, but I sat up and we managed to get through it the second time and halt him in a straight line after the vertical. Then my trainer pointed out that it would be more helpful to keep cantering after and try to get his mind back, rather than jumping and immediately stopping, so we did that and he started to calm down through the grid and come back to me after. The last time through it he ended up knocking the first crossrail and going "oh shit" and jumping the hell out of the second two jumps. I'm so excited to be back at this. He's such a fun horse to jump.

Now liniment and back on track boots and robaxin!

I guess this is a weekly journal now. Seems a bit too much effort to update everytime Cliff does something.

Monday he went in the roundpen and had a lovely swingy trot, so Tuesday I got to the barn and he was an absolute fritz, just spooking and staring at everything, so we spent the whole ride in a walk, just working on softening and relaxing. Wednesday we did get to trot and canter a bit, and worked on transitions and circling and getting him bent and softer but he never really fully settled.

Yesterday he was awful. Looking back on it, I think he was sore from Wednesday, because he was resistant and hard to settle and grabbing the bit and trying to run away at the canter, and it got to the point where I lost feeling in my right arm from trying to hold him back, so instead of working through it I just threw in the towel.

So today I went to tack him up for a lesson to help work through whatever the fuck yesterday was, and he was super backsore. I think that's why yesterday was so bad (he wasn't sore when I tacked him up yesterday, but something may have been bothering him), so robaxin for a few days and we'll see how he feels.

We've decided the saddle doesn't fit anymore. Good and bad, since it means that his topline has built up very well, but now I can't ride him until we get it sorted (unless I break out my western saddle. We'll see). I already contacted the fitters to see if they can't get it reflocked sometime this year, though if I have to wait till January then that's that. In the meantime, lots of groundwork and lunging to help maintain and improve his topline even more, so that when the saddle fitters do get here he'll be in better shape.

Canterwork in the rig until the saddle guy can come down and reflock it. This might be good for him, getting his balance and cantering fitness built up without me on him holding him together. 🤞

*pats* hello, monthly journal. I forgot about you.

Turns out the saddle fit isn't perfect, but it is workable, so I've been continuing to ride Cliff. We're going back to the walk to sort out some foundational issues, but he's been really really good and sound and happy to work and shoving his face in the halter as usual. We determined that the back soreness was due to somebody biting him on the withers. I asked my massage friend to look at him and she found a bite mark beneath his mane that I hadn't noticed before (in my defense, he's very tall up there) and thinks that's where the soreness is coming from, and he got a week off and some more robaxin for that, and then another week off for Christmas, and I'm back and he's back and everything's been fine so far. Hoping the new year is kinder to him.

We're still walking. He's getting more consistent, but instead of accepting the contact on the bit he's ducking behind the vertical and carrying himself too low, which is annoying but at least it's not him yanking the reins out of my hands. Not that I want a new problem, but I think that we're moving away from the old problem, which means we're doing something different. If that makes sense.

He's filled out a lot too. I'm playing with half pad fit again. The saddle is tight on his left shoulder and loose on his right, which means we need to strengthen his right side to make it more even. Again, different problems means we're getting somewhere. Maybe not forward, but we're not staying in the same place anymore.