Yesterday Stuart won "Husband of the Year" by watching all 3 kids while I went to the barn ALONE. It was BLISS! I took my time and spent lots of time with my Dusty!
I took a picture of him "before", because I'm hoping the lessons on him and riding him more regularly will increase some muscle tone. My BM and I joked that he's looking like such a "range pony" in the winter now, because he has such a coat on him, with a longer mane and he only wears one blanket all winter long. It's super cute, I need to buy a western saddle to complete the look! Maybe some cows to herd too? lol.
He's looking good as it is, I just think I can add some muscle in his hind end and hopefully across his back. His old back injury took away a lot of muscle tone and he looks pretty sway backed. He's still such a handsome boy!
I rode him and felt SO sloppy! I have zero riding muscle anymore, and while I felt really out of place in the saddle (I think that's a first!) it also made me more determined to go on this journey of pushing us both to our full potential. My back was aching 5 minutes into riding, and I was determined to not bug his face/mouth but I kept having to stop myself from being heavy handed. It makes me so mad at myself that I was so dumb and naive as a teen in thinking I didn't need a coach!
I know that Dusty will never be a Grand Prix horse, and I won't ever be (and don't want to be) a Grand Prix level rider.... but because of what happened to Mattie, I feel like I need to do this. I like to think of it as while losing Mattie was horrible and affected me deeply, there is some good that has come from it. It has made me look at my time with Dusty so much differently. I hope and pray that I am there for Dusty when it is his time, but I'd like to also be able to look back on my time owning him with zero regrets. For the last several years, I've had Dusty leased out or part boarded to cut the cost of boarding and because I've been so busy living my own life. I moved out of town, moved back, got married and then had 2 babies all in the span of a few years. While he isn't a horse that "needs" a job and is perfectly happy being out with his friends doing absolutely nothing (except eat of course!), I want to in that final moment with him be able to say "look what we did!". He turned 16 this summer, and I NEED him to be around for as long as possible. The best way to do that is to keep him in good physical shape. You can never plan for the end with any animal and be fully prepared, that is definitely one thing I learned from Mattie. It could be any day. I just make sure that I say goodbye to Dusty when I turn him out and so that if it is his time tomorrow, I can say I made sure to give him a kiss goodbye and told him I loved him before he walked towards his buddies in the field. I'm also hoping this journey will improve my relationship with him, so that we both enjoy riding even if it is flatwork. There is a noticeable difference in Dusty's attitude when you point him at a jump, no matter how small it is!
I took Dusty (and Max!) out to the back fields after arena work for a mini hack, and while Dusty has become slightly herd bound and was really unimpressed about heading away from his friends, we still had fun. It was so relaxing and pretty, even for mid November! Max had so much fun at the barn, from the moment I pulled my breeches out of the closet, he never stopped wagging his tail.
Here's some pictures from our hack, as well as Dusty's "before" picture.
