Training Week 3: Working The Muscels

   Me and Blaze went out 3 times last week as once again I was quite busy with the other horses too. I was contemplating registering Shinobi and Piggles with EGB this year too and im glad i decided not to as putting 3 horses into training i think would be near impossible! At least not till the clocks change and I can do 8,9,10 hour days with them again! Bring on summer!
   We have been focusing on her muscles. Stretching the ones she damaged in the accident and working her heart rate.

   We've been upping the anti and whilst still doing very hilly rides we're also doing alot of trotting and cantering, so much so that Blaze is still out of puff by the time we get home so we're having to play some circling game at the walk before we call it a day so as to help bring her heart rate down and just to insure that she has 'warmed down' properly. This is something im alot more vigilant about this time round seeing as Blaze is now 19 years old and not 11!
   She is doing so well. Its not until we ride out with my friend and her fitter Arabs that I realise just how amazing Blaze is a hill work. Whilst my friends Arab is trying to run up them, building as much momentum as possible to help propel him forwards Blaze sticks to a walk, her head down and her hind powering her forwards. When we get to the top, by comparison, she is barely puffing, nostrils barely flared and less a minuet later she is ready to trot off again. Whilst we cant maintain a trot for very long up hills at the moment Blaze has got a really good recovery rate, she has always had a good recovery rate. Her heart rate returns to her resting pulse rather quickly which I think is testament to her over all fitness even when out of work, Blaze lives out 24/7 and I strongly believe that horses who live like this remain fitter than horses who are stabled.

   We have also been focusing on suppleness also. Even before we had the car accident Blaze was always described as "wooden" by my instructor and friends who I let ride her (Yes, once upon a time I had an instructor, we're talking about 9 years ago though!) but Blaze's inability to bend and flex became 10 times worse after the care crash.
   In the accident she ripped open her stifle on the left and sustained major soft tissue damage down her neck, forequarter and back on the right from the impact of the trailer flipping and Piggles landing on top of her. The surgeons at Tewkesbury Three Counties Hospital said that the soft tissue damage Blaze had sustained was by far more severe than her stifle wound.

   Blaze had physio every 4 weeks for 12 months after the accident and was treated by the top psychotherapist in the area. It was a very difficult task to help loosen her muscles, she was being treated with all sorts of techniques and brand new gismo and gadgets over her 2 hour sessions. Whilst she would have improved by the end of her session no matter how many times we did her stretches and pole work exercises by the next session she had always tightened up again. She has always suffered tightness ever since. Its like her neck, shoulder and rib cage are one solid piece of wood. Its hard to flex and bend them and to get them to move separately. Whilst she has never been in any pain, she has sailed up and over mountains since the accident, and still maintains her super amazing, one of a kind iconic super extended trot Iv known that suppleness has never been Blazes strong point.


   Now that she is back in training and is doing more I feel it is important that this be something we work on, helping her to use her body more effectively, and be as comfortable as possible, so prior to our rides we have been focusing our online sessions on suppleness.  We have started with the basics which she has struggled with but we are definitely making improvements and it is definitely setting us up for some nice rides. So far we have been focusing on;

• Lateral flexion. Bring him nose round to her shoulder, then her side and working towards her flanks. Her left side is by far her worse side, I imagine because her right side is the side that is tight and cant stretch to allow her to bend to the left.
• Disengaging the hind whilst holding lateral flexion. Once her lateral flexion improved i asked her to hold is and then swing her hindquarters away. Blaze initially found this very hard. She wanted to straighten out her body and then side step her bum around. This is what i meant when i said it like the first half of her body is one solid piece and doesnt like to move separately. She has made some lovely progress with this and it is becoming less and less of an issue.
• Bending on the circle. Blaze is always very straight on the circle. So much so that on a shorter line her circles are circles at all, they are more ovals and when it comes to the archs she has to slow down, often walking 'the corner' then trotting a straight line. So every time she straightens out the the circle iv tipped her nose towards me and pushed her ribs away from me so as to create a bend/ arch in her body, trying to get some bend and suppleness in her ribcage. It took a while for her to understand what I was asking but we got there and she was doing some nice stuff. Definite improvement
• Sideways whilst bending. Iv also been asking her to bend through her ribcage by pushing her sideways. Similar to what i ask on the circle i tip her nose towards me and push her ribs out, asking her sidepass.
• Forequarter yields. We have also been doing lots of forequarter yields too, trying to get her to really cross her legs over and stretch out hoping it will help to loosen off her shoulders too. 

If anyone else has some online exercises (by online I mean on-a-line, with a halter and lead rope. Its come to my attention that when I say online people think I mean something to do with the Internet!)  that think might help Blaze to loosen up and stretch id like to hear them, thank you.