My name is Odin...

... and I'm really bored. My rider only does longe lessons, so I'm trotting in circles again and again. I might as well be falling asleep. And it is kind of tiring as well. Then I don't get that much food, so I am so starving all the time. Starving I tell you *kick door*. No, I should just be outside rolling in the mud all the time. Mmmm mud... But, no *paw, stomp* I have to work. In circles!
I guess it is OK when I get carrots and apples and treats, but I really don't get enough. Longing all the time, remember!

[yep, I am still getting longed. L. says she wants me to trot and canter with no stirrups and no holding on to the bucking strap. It is moving forward a lot, it is so helpful. I'm insanely thankful that Odin is such a good boy for this. ]

Back in the saddle

So, today I was back in the saddle again, I had a lesson this morning.
I was afraid that not riding for a week would have destroyed the progress I had made on the lunge the week before, but I could really feel a difference, even just when posting. Very nice.

I didn't ride very much in the lesson, since my back is still sore and tight, sadly.

The bumps on Odin's back I discovered 2 weeks ago are almost gone, the saddler pushing around the stuffing must have helped.

In other news, Odin is getting fatter, a bit too fat. The barn uses really nice hay, but that means it has a lot of glucose in it. So now we have cut back his hay, and L. said he really didn't like that and was acting up during the day... bad horsey!
I also feed him Cool Calories, 4 scoops a day as this is what his previous owner did. I will try and see how he does with 2 scoops. The theory was that the fatty calories were better for him, but I think 4 scoops is a lot, the recommended dosage is 2. We will see what happens.

No riding :(

So, Sunday I went riding and was looking forward to see if all my lunge lessons had a noticeable effect. However, after 15 min of riding, I did a trot-canter transition that somehow tweaked my back, and I was in quite a bit of pain. So Monday and Tuesday I spend on my couch, and L. was riding Odin. I passed on a lesson on Wednesday as well, even though I could sit up.
So I am waiting until Saturday to ride again, hopefully my back will be good at that point.

I also need to note to myself, last week Odin had a bit of thrush, but it got quickly fixed by using a formaldehyde solution for 4 days.

More lunging

Saturday, I had truly crappy lesson. Just nothing worked.

Yesterday I had another lunging lesson, I feel they really help. I felt a little bit more secure in the saddle, but I still really need to sit!

Before the ride, I noticed some bumps on Odin's back, right under the pack part of the panels. He didn't seem sore, though. Then the saddler actually turned up doing a fitting on another horse, so I asked him about it (since my saddle is only about 1 1/2 months old). He took a look, said I should keep an eye on it for now, and then did some wiggling around of the stuffing. I hope that helps, and we wont have any problems.

Since the saddler was doing the saddle trying with another boarder, his saddle rest was in the middle of the barn isle. After my lesson, Odin thought this was horribly terrifying, and almost pulled me out into the wilds. Sigh. I then spend some time trying to make him see that a) nothing is that terrifying and b) he should respect me when I say it is OK, and especially not step in my space. Yeah, he is teaching me about horses... There is a difference between riding and horseownership!