Zakai: July 15

Zakai & I had a bit of a rough start to our week.

On Tuesday, Zakai & I made our trek over to the WMA. As we were loping down the gravel road, Zakai stumbled, couldn't recover, & we bit the dust. Thankfully, he only fell on my leg & while that didn't feel great, we were & are both okay. I had intended to continue our ride to the WMA, but the gate was closed once we got there & I wasn't sure if I could get back on a second time with a sore leg, so back home we went. I did give him Wednesday off, but he showed no outward soreness.

The stumbling is truthfully the only issue that I've had with Zakai beyond just being young horse that hasn't gotten to experience everything in life yet. I've had a sense that it could be borderline dangerous if he weren't able to catch himself & we proved that this week.

The rest of the week was spent inside the arena, aside from a quick little ride out into the hay meadow this morning. In the arena, the stumbling is quite rare & minimal.

I'm going to reach out to Jen (Knotty Equine) & see if she thinks it's something she could help with. Regardless, we'll be scheduling our follow-up session in the next few weeks before we go out to Fort Rob. I've considered it being a saddle issue, but he seems to walk the same with my three saddles & while bareback, so I'm not convinced that's the issue.

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Next week, we'll continue riding out & about & start working with a few obstacles.

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I'll be heading back to Pierce the weekend of July 30 for 2-3 days of trimming, lessons, & hopefully, some additional riding & plan to fill the trailer with a few client horses. Would you be interested in having Cactus & Zakai tag along for the experience?

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Next week's update will be posted Friday.