Tonight my mom came out to the farm and watched me ride. It's fun having her out since she doesn't see Jimmy that much. She's really been there first hand through every step of the my life with Jimmy, and at no point in-between, so she's only seen the high-highs and lowest lows of our relationship. It's a very proud moment when I get to show her Jimmy doing so well. She tried to take some photos but the lighting in the arena just isn't conducive to photography at night so she ended up taking a video instead.
We worked on a lot of transitions tonight & Jimmy is so sensitive to weight and sound it's always a lot of fun for me to work on transitions. I step to the outside at the canter and he knows to trot I mutter a "whoa" and he walks. I realized from watching this video how vocal I am when I ride. I am always babbling to him and telling him how good he is & my tone tells him when he's NOT being good. I especially like in this video how he's proving that he DOES in fact carry himself properly. Mom and I talked about it & I drilled and drilled for hours, days, weeks & months before this surgical journey to try & teach Jimmy how to properly carry his head but it just wouldn't "click" when all along I should have practiced what I preach. When I'm helping a new student or a friend with their horse who "can't get them in a frame" I always say, "You HAVE to get their body before you can get their head. Once you control their body and their body works properly, they will give you their head." That is precisely what happened here, my beautiful blogging friends. Jimmy COULDN'T give me his body for all of that time because he wasn't able. Now that he can, his head just fell right into place. I couldn't be more proud.
I'm also happy to say that Jimmy's lead changes have come back 100%. No more wiggling or trotting or skipping, he's back to getting them each direction in one fluid movement. The combination of transitions, lateral work, lots of trotting and lots of bending has really brought this big guy all the way back to 'life'. The best part? Just like when he was a baby: all it takes is a cluck. Go across the diagonal *cluck* WHAM-O. Lead change. He's too smart for his own good too, though so you have to be careful with that "cluck" queue because if you use it in combination of an inside leg bump & an accidental outside rein twitch down the long side....pop-goes-the-lead-change. Yep. He's a little too smart :-P
The BO text me this morning that Jimmy was loaded with hives :-( I realized the last few nights have been the first since he arrived at the new barn that he slept "naked" (aka - without a sheet) in their shavings so I'm attributing that to his breakout. One dose of Dex and he seemed absolutely fine by the time I was out there tonight. The diarrhea has stopped & now hives have started. He used to break out every season change but it hasn't happened for a few years. I've got my eye on him and thankfully, I have an incredibly knowledgeable barn staff that's watching him as well :-)
Can you believe that less than 6 months ago we were all terrified he'd never be the same? If he isn't proof that anything's possible, I don't know what is.
Oh - and today I realized...December 27th is our three year anniversary. Another post on that, but wow what a whirlwind 3 years it has been!!!
3 comments:
Very cool! So glad he's doing that well, and nice that your mom was there to watch.
Sounds (and looks) like a fabulous ride! I just love those days. So nice to read such a success story!
Thanks ladies!!
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