The next morning bright and early I went back to the farm and brought him in to his stable for the day with a nice little net of soaked hay while I went off to work.
Once my boring day job was out the way I headed straight to the farm to see Jack and tackle our first lunging session on the pessoa! He was a little on his toes and calling to his mates out in the field a lot. I am obviously out of practice as it seemed to take me ages to find all my stuff, get it all organised, tack Jack up and actually get into the ménage!
As I lead him through the gate Jack started jumping about, throwing his head and stamping his feet and I was glad I had got my hat and gloves on! He shot off on the circle leaping about, kicking at the pessoa and cantering at speed but bless him he never tried to pull away just kept going round and round me! I made sure the circle was big and tried to encourage him to calm and slow down! It didn't take too long until he was working properly. I even managed to get my phone out and take some video - this is a still taken from the video:
I think he looks pretty relaxed and is working well! The pessoa is attached to the bottom ring between his front legs and quite loose to encourage him to work long and low to use his back and hind end correctly and keep the muscles developed from the aqua treadmill.
I'm thrilled with how well he worked, although he was a bit excitable he didn't take too long to settle and the work he did when he was calmer was really good. His stride length is longer and he is using his hind end much better than before the surgery with a clear 3 beat to the canter.
I had intended to attempt long reining on Wednesday but Jack was even more excitable and wound up so in the end I was only able to pessoa him again. I don't want to pessoa everyday as it puts a lot of pressure on his joints so hoped in a few days he would settle enough to being long reining. We had never attempted it before so I felt he needed to be calm and listening before we gave it a try!
Thursday I lunged him just in loose side reins and took in a 2nd lunge line so that I could try the long reining if he was ok. He was much calmer on the lunge and only trotted off this time with less bucking. leaping and kicking! After a good warm up on each rein he seemed to be listening enough so I attached the 2nd rein and positioned myself behind him slightly to the side so he could see me. I started next to the fence on the track to help get us going the right way and after a few tentative steps we were off. Jack seemed to get the idea pretty quickly and we managed some large circles figures of 8 and to go large on each rein in walk. I'm really proud of him and how well he is doing!
I'm hoping to start bringing in some pole work and even venture up the lane if he is behaving himself for a change of scenery.
Tuesday is our next big milestone the saddler is booked to come and check his saddle which will mean him being ridden! He has not been sat on since early January so this should be interesting. I will have a neck strap attached and a body protector on just in case and the saddler will be there to pick me up should I need it! He will be out all day and lunged before I even attempt to get on! Fingers crossed the saddle will just need some minor adjustment that can be done on site, then we can crack on with ridding!! EEEEKKKK!!!!
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