SitRep Summer 2019

 
I’ve never worked so hard in my life.

Wait, that’s not true. I’ve worked harder plenty of times. Let me rephrase that.

I’ve never put so much work into a horse in my life.

Milton has a tendency not to move. Or to move too much. Either way, he is avoiding work. One way to address this is to make the work physically easier for him. However, basic walk-trot-canter is the irreducible minimum for a horse moving his body in space. I can’t make that any easier.

Instead, we are trying to get him fitter. We aren’t conditioning him for the Tevis Cup. By fit, we mean having his muscles soft and loose, his joints moving freely through their range of motion, and so on. To this end, he is doing lots … and lots … and lots of long, slow work.

During the day, a hand walk of four laps of the field which Map My Walk says totals over a mile. In the evening, lunging for 15-20 minutes. Trailering to hack around a ring. None of the workouts are long. None of them are arduous. We are hoping to build him up through gentle, consistent exercise.

No reason this doesn’t apply to Rodney as well. So, the goal is now to get both of them out twice a day.

Effect on the Blog
First effect. There’s not much to say. Rode in the ring at Stepping Stone Farm. Tiny step that might someday turn into progress. Sat on at home. Tiny step that might someday turn into progress. Had a lesson at Falcon Hill Farm. Tiny step that …

Are we moving forward? Yes. Is it narratively gripping? No. You can only repeat yourself so many times before you find yourself making pictures of random objects around the barn [Salt Block Art].

Second effect. Less time. Four-a-days gobble up time like Pac-Man gobbling up dots. Good for my mental health, bad for churning out in-depth content.

And that’s where we are right now.

Thank you for reading.
Katherine Walcott