10/26/2026
Coda and I did a thing. It was so fun starting this sport this year after years of wanting to do it. I wanted to get into working equitation while I was still riding Weston, but life just kept getting in the way and I kept taking the kids to the horse shows they wanted to go to. Then Weston retired and I hadn’t started another young horse yet and had nothing to ride and compete for myself. Then I ended up with the blue potato (Coda) who was supposed to be the husband horse, but was not a husband horse mentality with his ADD, anxiety, and lack of self-control. He had no idea where his feet were in the arena and tripped and stumbled and scared me half to death he was going to fall. He even went down on his knees one time while I was riding him. I was starting to have PTSD in the saddle because you can ride a buck, but you can’t really ride a fall. After a full lameness and neurological exam, in which Dr April could find absolutely nothing wrong with him, and having Dr. Derek do acupuncture on him, we did a bunch of proprioception exercises, worked on correcting his ADD brain, and got him figuring out where his feet were. Working equitation really keeps his brain busy and even in my inconsistency, he does pretty well and thrives with the work. I’m finally getting to the point where I feel like I can work on his canter without fearing him falling on his face or on me. Anyway, all of this to say that, even though we are starting at the bottom of the sport, for Coda, it was a big accomplishment and I’m really proud of him.
