Punky and I have hit a little bit of a rough patch, since we learned that his superficial bow was not what we thought. He actually had a deep digital flexor tendon issue, grade 1. For those of you who don’t know what that means, (I must admit that I don’t know either); it means that he had a tear in the tendon fibers that weren’t completely healed and he had to go on stall rest again. At least that’s what my mom told me.  I’ve just started trotting him again. Since that happened, I’ve been taking little baby steps towards his recovery.

I went to Hitching Post Schooling Trials and went Beginner Novice before I knew that his injury was still bothering him. Dressage was okay. I made “squircles” which is a mix between a square and a circle. Jumping warm-up was fine. In cross country, I was eliminated on the second fence. I felt it was my fault because I had not pushed him enough. But, I was wrong. It was not me; it was the injury that was making him stop. To understand this, I will put it in a way that might sense to you. Let’s say you were scheduled to jump hurdles. It seems reasonably easy, right? But now, let’s add a broken ankle. Would you want to jump? I thought not.

I’m taking advantage of this perfect opportunity, though it is a little less than perfect, to work on his softening on the bit. I’m working on this at a walk and at a trot until Punky is ultrasounded again to see if he is ready to canter and jump.

I rode another horse in a lesson, because frankly, I didn’t want my jumping skills to grow rusty. It was a horse, much bigger than Punky and I was nervous and I was worried that the jumping part would be way bouncier than Punky and I would fall off, not that I haven’t had enough experience with that. I found it was really smooth because I absorbed with my ankles and knees and followed the motion of the horse as Sue told me to. I had a great time. Thank you, Taylor for letting ride Pepe.

Punky and I have encountered one of the many roadblocks we have faced in our partnership and I hope to be jumping him again soon.

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