Calm, Cool… Collected?

I have started riding Moli again and it is very exciting!  There have been several times along the way to recovery that I have thought I would never ride her again.  At the same time I am trying to teach her to collect herself so the work we do both online and while riding will help to build her top line.  She has lost so much muscle structure that she is a bit sway-backed.  I was lucky enough to recently get some time with my friend and horsey guru Jinita – she showed me some stretches and helped me get an idea of how it feels when Moli is carrying herself correctly. This is new to both of us, so let’s just see how far it goes. 

So now it is up to us to work through this – Moli has always been a high spirited horse, and carries her head very high – prancing and dancing her way through most rides.  We had started to work on improving her carriage (mental and physical) right before she started having problems.  Trail rides were really getting good and she was responding well to my efforts to keep her calm and thinking, but since I haven’t ridden her for close to two years, I figured we would be starting over. 

Things are going better than I expected, she is trying hard during most rides to give me what I’m asking for – and is forgiving me for not knowing what I’m doing!  There have been a couple of times where I am reminded of how it used to be, but I’m trying to be smarter about when I ride and not giving her any reason to go to that mental place that get’s her excited.

Here is a quick video of portions of my ride a couple days ago.  I’m hoping a comparison video a few weeks down the road will show some improvement!   

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