"Quit Breaking Your Horse!"

I had the absolute best ride on Tuesday afternoon. Izzy was willing and focused. He did such a great job for me that I started contemplating the idea of showing at Second or Third next year; he was that good. That evening as I checked my messages before going to bed, I saw a message from CC, Izzy's body worker. He said he could work on Izzy the next morning.

Over the previous weekend, I had realized that Izzy was due for his every other month visit, so I had left CC a long text with a bunch of available dates and times. When I didn't hear back from him immediately, I sort of forgot that I'd ever messaged him. And then when Izzy gave me such a great ride on Tuesday, I figured he really didn't need any work done. I was wrong.

CC gave Izzy his regular once over, and it was quite clear that Izzy was sore in the usual places - his C7 and rib heads. He was so sore in fact that when CC checked the C7 by pressing into Izzy's lower neck, Izzy jerked his head around and glared at CC. Izzy knows him so well that he never tries to evade the adjustment. In fact, he often tries to help CC find the right spot. Izzy's face tells us exactly when CC has found the right spot and when CC has given him some relief.

Now that I am having Izzy worked on every eight weeks or so, the adjustments take only a few minutes. There was a time when the adjustments would take an hour or more. Now that Izzy doesn't resist so much during our work, he does less damage to himself. And, it doesn't hurt that I am riding him with more control. Every time he would get away from me through a bolt or ripping the reins from my hands, he would throw out the C7, his poll, ribs, and more. These days, that happens less and less.

I never want Izzy to be hurting of course, but I was really pleased that even though he needed an adjustment, he had been willing to work despite being a bit uncomfortable. I am uncomfortable every day; I have arthritis in both hands, my neck is always bothering me, and I have a bum knee. I still get up and do my job. CC has made it clear that Izzy's maladjustments aren't so severe that he can't be worked. According to CC, the more broke a horse gets, the more he recognizes that he has a job to do, so he'll learn to ignore the little aches and pains. It sounds like Izzy might be getting to that spot.

As he walked toward his truck, CC yelled at me to quit breaking my horse. We both laughed because we both know he'll back in a month or so.