Update and Introducing Carerra!

So It's been a while, I know. I took a couple years off riding completely to see if  it would make a difference with my spine and slow down any progression of future herniations, or pain or whatever, and it hasn't so as long as I am careful about riding, not getting on silly young horses or riding in unsafe situations I should be ok. I am no longer very brave, since I have 3 active herniations - at L3-L4, L4-L5 and L5-S1 with compression on the S1 nerve root. Just a bit of a status update on that. It's pretty much constantly painful both in my lower spine and my left leg, and my left foot is often pins and needles or numb in areas. Oddly enough I don't notice any pain when I ride, because I am not focusing on it at all I suppose!

I wanted to introduce Carerra. She's a 16 hand Warlander mare (Andalusian x Friesian) who's about 8 years old. she's pretty green in that she only knew basic w/t/c and at that, had pretty inconsistent, choppy rhythm and horrible contact when I got on her about 3 weeks ago. I've ridden her about 10 times including tonight, which I will post about after I ride.

My biggest challenge with her has been so far getting her to relax, both mentally and through her body. I started her out on the longe before I ever got on her back and I noticed right away that she kept everything bottled up up high. She holds her breath, doesn't chew on the bit, and keeps her shoulders and tail tucked up and really tense. it takes lots of trot/canter transitions and making sure she stays in a good slow rhythm but mixing in transitions as well to get her to relax, breathe, and let go of that tension through her top line so that she swings, chews on the bit, licks her lips, lets go of her tail, and drops her neck. 

This longe work is important so that once I get in her saddle I can do lateral work and I don't have to do more than breathe sideways and make sure my outside aids contain her angle and voila! she moves with me. If I don't get her to loosen on the longe, I really have to push, and it's a struggle to break up the tension in her body. So why even go there?

Also, as she's part cart horse (friesian!) she has a bit of a knee-ful, choppy stride, which I have to slow down and make her swing through instead, and eventually add cadence and suspension to, THEN the knee action will be welcome back in a sense,  but right now I want her hind legs to slow down, push, carry, and spend more time on the ground. lateral work like leg yield along the wall or on the circle (as long as she is going forward to the line along the ground!) is helpful for this. I know what you're all saying....

so here is a bit of a teeny tiny video from one of our first rides. sorry for the crappy. This is pretty much what I consider "before"

I'll let you know how tonight goes. Comments are welcome!

Jamie