Good times had by all...PSSM is completely managed!

Lola was fantastic tonight! I hate to jinx it, but I think we're on a roll here! We had such nice light easy cantering. She was stretching in the contact, lifting her back, stepping under herself well, and even making an effort to bend around the 20 meter circle instead of leading with her inside shoulder. This is such a difference from last spring, and even over the summer, when she was tense, stiff, anxious and generally crabby and explosive.

I've realized that lately we've been having some of the best rides ever! The day before the derby, we had a fantastic lesson where I realized that Lola finally had a real trot, she is taking big pushing strides while still stretching to the contact. After the derby we had an even better lesson where Lola picked up the canter without fuss or tension, and maintained a nice flowing balanced gait. I absolutely burst into a smile it was such a nice surprise!

This weekend we had a trail conditioning day. She wasn't perfect and we had to spend some time "schooling" the water crossing, but over all she was very good! Considering we're still getting the hang of going out alone, she's doing amazingly well. We also started to do some jumping over the natural drift wood and logs on the beach, then found a good spot to work on a 20 meter circle to do some good trot work and a little canter.

This is such a testament to the right diet and exercise managing the PSSM. It is amazing how different she is with healthy happy muscles. Considering she was probably really uncomfortable last year and her muscle tightness was keeping her from doing what I was asking, she really was fairly patient and responsive. I am amazed how much training we did get done last year. We hit the wall when she physically couldn't do it though, like cantering. Now that she is physically capable she doesn't have the tension and anxiety about it. So now, with several months of her body rebuilding new healthier muscles with her adjusted feed, she's the moldable and trainable horse again. With the physical problems no longer stopping us, she is just working so hard to please.

Sunday, though, just took the cake. We lunged to warm up, and she did the sweetest most perfect mistake ever. I tend to bring her into a rather small circle on the lunge when walking so that I can walk towards her hip to encourage her to bend and step under herself. We started with that, and she did great. Then after trotting and cantering some, I went to start that routine again, but since we've also practiced canter departs from the walk in a similar fashion she misunderstood. I gathered the rope and tightened her circle, and the minute I stepped towards her haunches the very neatly stepped into the canter! I just laughed. It was PERFECT! She tries so hard! She really tries to please.

Lola says, "Aww shucks Ma... It was nothing..."

After lunging I was going to do some little jumps and gymnastics. Lola followed me around while I took the jumps down from 3' & 4' (we've got some big jumpers) to 18" to 2'. She patiently waited for me to be ready. Then the cutest thing ever. I took her over to the mounting block, and I tend to move her around a bit, and make her get into just the right spot with her feet square before getting on. (My theory is its one last chance to remind her that I tell her where to put her feet instead of just moving the block to the stubborn horse.) We'll in the process of wiggling her around to be just right, she decided that maybe all this fussing over where I had her feet meant that I wanted her foot ON the mounting block! She plopped it up there like, "Look, there, you have it! Isn't that what you want? Can we move on now?" We've only once before worked on stepping up on a platform, so she has actually been asked to do something like that, but it was over a year ago! Plus the mounting block is really not made to support horse hooves!

It was so funny though. There's my little mare thinking outside the box! I can't even get my staff to think outside the box enough to follow a string of logic far enough to problem solve for a client! My mare is clever and impresses me with her eagerness to please. I'd love to have THAT on staff in the office!