FINALLY rode!!!!

Yeah!  Yeah! Yeah!!!!  I finally got on Golly today.  It wasn't earth shattering or exciting -- which is EXACTLY what you want for your first ride back after surgery.  

So happy to be riding again

After our lunging session last week I expected him to be excited again but when I went to lunge him today he was dead quiet.  I could barely get a good working trot out of him.

So after a few minutes of lunging I decided to give it a try.   I pulled him over to my new extra tall mounting block and while my friend Dawn held him, I mounted using my right non-operated leg.   Mounting with my right leg was harder than I thought it would be.  After years of using my left leg to mount, my body is just trained to do it that way.  Now that I am putting thought into it though I am not sure why we ask our horses to be balanced on both sides and we always mount on side.   It just doesn't make sense -- it causes our left stirrup leather to stretch and has to cause our horses to be unbalanced.   Once my left leg is back to normal, I plan on mounting on both sides from now on.

My extra tall mounting block worked great.  Besides the fear of getting on a horse that had not been ridden in seven weeks, it was super easy to mount.

After dismounting on the high block

Golly was nice and relaxed and moved out at a slow amble.  He did feel like a wiggle worm though.   A shoulder out this way.  Correct and then a hip out the other way.  Correct and then the hip out the other side.  Wiggle left.  Wiggle right.  We have some work to do to remind him what straight means.  I am so proud of him though that he was so relaxed.  There are not many horses you can pull out after seven weeks off and they are close to boring.  Its why I love him and don't trade him in for a more exciting and talented model.

I even picked up a trot going both directions.   There was no pain in the leg but I can tell its weak and there is a "funny" feeling at the joint.  Kind of a wiggle left and right that I am sure is because the muscles have not fully healed to hold it in place.  I'm sure they will find their place again though.

Dismounting was a bit scary.  I just didn't know what it would feel like.  Dawn held Golly and I slid down to the new mounting block.  Again... besides the fear of the unknown it felt great.  Success!

Golly was relaxed enough that after I got off, Dawn decided to hop on for a few spins around the ring.  Its been a long time since Dawn has ridden so I think he must have looked pretty relaxed for her to trust that it would go well with her too.  It did go well of course!


So a good first ride.  I know we have a long way to go to build the muscles back up and I noticed in the picture that Golly has lost his muscling as well.  We will get there though.

Dawn hops on too