Quadi intimated that he would rather roll before he came in. Stupid Me took his rug off to let him do so, which left me with a damp skewbald. Damn. Caught them in the end by fooling Quadi into believing there might be an edible treat in the offing.
He was sluggish again. I took up warm water in a hot water bottle but forgot to soak his feet, so I had to endure a hot back through my rucksack for no reason!
Because he was rather backward yesterday my game plan was to lunge with Pessoa, but it was such a clear day I fancied a hack on the road. So we were done up in our finest high-viz and headed out via the forest.
Sticky to get off the yard because there were people around and he tried to plead with them that I was about to take him out and feed him to a tiger and really Quadi shouldn't be expected to work as hard as he does so could he please stay home?!
Once out we saw the people with their ponies again, moving field. So we had a repeat performance of yesterday where we stopped and started and stopped and started and stopped and started...
I did push him up into trot and we had a few sudden halts and plants. Once into the forest he was ok, but most insistent on going home. I had planned a little canter but he spooked at the start of the track I was about to use so I thought it safest to regain composure and not bother!
Heading to the underpass which leads to the housing estate we ride through, we stopped on the approach and gazed around. The worst was at the underpass where he refused to go in and I had to back him up, I was losing patience. On reflection, I should have sat it out and gone in forwards but once in there he realised it wasn't the belly of a dragon and we headed on.
I have to say he redeemed himself fully on the roads. It wasn't busy and every driver was so polite and considerate (I made sure I thanked every one!), but there were ample 'opportunities' for silliness and pseudo-spooks which never occured to him. I think he was so far out of his comfort zone he did exactly as asked, and I managed to leg-yield him back and forth to check my controls. As we trotted up a hill he received compliments from pedestrians on how pretty he was, he does cut a fine dash even when he's in giraffe mode.
He was very sluggish though, and only picked up once he realised we were heading for home. I couldn't relax my seat and felt like I had to shovel him on. Absolutely the wrong thing to do. I dunno if I was making him tense and switch off or if his mood was causing me to feel like I had to over-ride him. Either way, it didn't feel too good :(
Oh, and he started headshaking today :( Nosenet from now on and if there's no improvement there will probably have to be another powder or potion in his meager ration. Poor love gets more powder than chaff.
On a positive note, I've lost half a stone. Hope I can keep it off.
I took some shots today, I think he looks worse than he has. Although his stance on all four legs has improved dramatically, despite my not being happy with his feet at the moment. I don't like the way his hind toes point out, he always looks like a ballerina in first and third position. His tummy doesn't look so dropped, but look at the lack of muscle :(
This one is just because he was being a sweetie whilst I inspected his all-over muddiness:
Perhaps we could average our horses and come out with two that were just right - yours won't go and mine doesn't want to stop! LOL!
ReplyDeletewoo half a stone, well done you. Lucky he was good on the roads, it's my biggest fear as drivers here are speed merchants and rarely slow down properly :-(
ReplyDelete*lol* In company we have issues with brakes, even his inconsistencies are inconsistent!
ReplyDeleteTrudi we avoid all but the most open and clear roads and drivers so far have been most reasonable. We were covered in high-viz too which helps a lot!