All Systems Go

Between his planned rest days and my Obligatory Social Events, Tucker ended up having most of this week off after the CTR.  I did hop on Wednesday night and hack him around bareback for a while.  He felt good: cheerful and interested and very sound during a couple of short trots.

This morning we shifted gears a bit and headed out for some galloping, albeit in less formal fashion than the timed intervals I've used in the past.  Instead we warmed up in the front field and then headed to the dirt road on the front side of the mountain and booked it up, walked back down to a different starting side trail, and galloped up again.  Tuck started off the first gallop mentally in trot mode and was going, What fresh hell is this?!? by the top, but by the second, he'd was remembering the game and shifting back to lock-and-load.

We walked down the back of the mountain and did a s'more galloping up/down the dirt road and over the causeway, overrun by the swamp after a couple days of good rain but the footing was as-ever firm beneath so hey, we just called it a water school and splashed on through.

He was a bright bouncy go-go-go brat-pony the whole half-hour walk back to the barn.  I guess I can count him as recovered?

I did end up dropping down to Novice for the horse trial -- not clear whether we'll be running HC or not; I've stated my preference but it's not a stand that I feel super-strongly about if it's inconvenient for the organizers -- and I think that was the right call, even if it does mean having to ride Novice B again.

(The best thing about moving up to Training was getting away from Novice B.  I always, always, always got lost in that test.  Seriously, I could not even practice that sucker without coming out of a canter circle going  the wrong direction.  I see many on-my-own-two-feet trips around the indoor in my future.)

We'll get in a couple more gallops and jump schools before the end of the month, knock a little rust off the dressage, and see where that leaves us.  Must admit I'm less excited, after the CTR, about the horse trial than I am about the next distance ride -- but it should be a good time, and useful for me to dip back in and get a fresh point of comparison.

Onward.