Cold day, cold back?

Really?

I’ve had a few nice rides on Derby since switching to Christy’s Isabell, good enough for me to pull the trigger when I found one for sale – cheap – online last week.  It arrives tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to putting a medium-narrow gullet in it and seeing how Derby goes, and I hope the results are better than what I experienced today.

Who knows if it was the cold (possible). some sore muscles (unlikely) or (more likely) an attitude issue, but Derby was a bit of a cow today.  He was very resistant, head tossing and inverted.  He *could* go nicely when I really rode him into it, but we spent an inordinate amount of time being ridiculous.   He felt very tense, and a bit explosive – a far cry from the sedate creature of last week.  He was way behind my leg, and unwilling to go forward freely.

At Christy’s suggestion, I hopped up into  a two point, to get off his back.  While we had been working for about a half hour at that point, we hadn’t accomplished much, and he didn’t seem to be improving.

Ridiculous.

After about a lap, the quality of the trot started to improve.  Christy reminded me to use my core – even in the two point – to improve my balance, and the horse registered a little approval, relaxing a bit more.  I was able to put him together then, but he still resisted a bit.

It was a bit colder tonight, in the low 20’s by the time I mounted up.  It didn’t feel like cold weather silliness (he’s quite forward in those cases.) This was something different, and I think it was a cold back.  I didn’t detect any soreness after my ride, so who knows.  I’ll put a quarter sheet on him next time, and will do my warm up in two-point to see if that does the trick.

A bit more relaxed.