1st Post-Op Ride

On Sunday we had our first ride since John's surgery. I was a little nervous about it, seeing how Zora is such a handful, but he felt like he was ready. He had been working with her on a lunge line a bit recently, and we counted on that to wear her out enough to be on her best behavior. He lunged her a couple of times last week, and then again just before we rode. That is, once I was able to "capture" The Girls...


Check out this video -- they were being real stinkers running from me. They haven't done this in a long time. It is so strange how they mess with me like this. They would run and avoid me, then all of a sudden just decide to stand still and be haltered. I think they plan it.







I didn't realize you could hear me talking. Notice I never once said "Whoa!!" (Duh!!). You can also hear the halter buckles klinking together, and when I get close to the barn you can hear the Serbian music blasting!



So then John did a lunge session with Zora saddled up.











We hit the trails through the woods just around our house. It was a short ride because we didn't want to take a chance on him re-injuring his shoulder. Plus a really nasty cold wind had kicked up, and we were wimps about it. He said the only part that seemed to not agree with the shoulder was when he was getting in the saddle -- pulling himself up aggravated the surgery site a bit. But overall, it was OK. We should be back to normal riding sooner than anticipated. Originally we thought it would be a full 6 weeks, but here it is less than a month and he can manage it. We will still have to be careful and take it easy, but at least we won't miss all the Spring riding.