Bittersweet...

So I have not been in the saddle in 13 days, 18 hours and 17 minutes... or thereabouts.  Fortunately my surgery went well and I did not have any side effects or lasting pain.  According to many of my friends who have had this surgery, I am healing remarkably quickly and moving around much more and more quickly then they had.  I am trying to be really careful about not overdoing it so I don't have a setback, but that is a hard task.  To assist me in the feat, I have, for the most part, stayed away from the barn except for Saturday of last week, I went out with my husband and we groomed J and gave him some love (a.k.a. treats).  On Monday of this week I met Shelley at the barn and watched while she rode J.

Now this is the moment that is bittersweet.  At this point on Monday, Shelley has ridden J three times the previous week and this was her fourth ride.  J is having NO other exercise besides this, except for slopping around in the mud (thank god he is barefoot!) every day.  Shelley gets on him and as usual, he has to start off with some protesting, just to make sure that we all know that this was not his idea nor was this in his contract (LOL!).  But Shelley rides him through it, asking for him to be more active while staying straight through the neck.  She rides him primarily going to the left, as that is his more crooked side.  At first, the ride looks about average, nothing earth shattering or vastly better or worse.  Shelley then takes a break to discuss with me what she was doing with him and why she was doing it.  Basically the same issues we've been working on for the past few weeks- getting him more active in the hind end while staying honest up front, not pushing his chest into the rein and truly carrying himself.  While she is doing all of this, she is allowing (and sometimes asking) him to keep his head/poll really high and not encouraging (or even allowing) him to get round, her theory being that it is hard him to work more honestly as it is, why make it more difficult by asking him to be round.  Also, when he is round, he is more able and/or likely to cheat and push his shoulders forward instead of bringing his back up and hind end underneath him. 

So after the walk break, she starts back up again, but this time she puts everything together a little more cohesively and this time asks him to be a little more supple... and voila!  J has a fabulous trot hiding in there!  I couldn't believe my eyes- it was like his entire body structure changed, his weight shifted to his rear and he really started using his hind end and especially his hocks!  I had no idea that my little yellow horse was capable of this, I had only dreamed of him having this kind of movement.  Shelley did a few straightaways of a trot that was nearing a medium trot!  It was beautiful.  So at that moment I knew that we were on the brink of making a large step in training and I couldn't possibly go back to once per week lessons.  So Shelley and I discussed it and made arrangements for three sessions per week, two of those being rides and one being a lesson.  We are going on a month-by-month basis and just see how well he progresses. 

And ultimately this means that I will not be showing J in March, as I don't have an endless supply of cash.  My feelings are that J's training is more important than showing and we will accomplish more if I invest in his training at this point.  My ultimate goal would be to get my bronze medal and bar with J, and I already have the scores for 1st level, so I need to get him comfortable with the 2nd level work.  And neither him nor I are getting any younger, so if I'm going to make a strong push to get him there, it's going to have to be now.  Shelley thinks that there is no reason that J can't do 3rd successfully!