Lots of variables and work and owner permissions are going into it and if the trainer we are working with says she can’t be ridden at any point, that’s fine with me. Her comfort and happiness is the most important thing.
I’ve never been more motivated to get in shape before, though. I can’t push myself too hard because I have a lot of health issues and I definitely can’t push Sandy too hard either because she’s old. Gonna take things slow and careful and hope for the best end result.
I find there’s aot of bad advice around shoes - particularly the idea that lots of padding and support is helpful.
I went to a physio who said my feet were flat and wanted to sell me inserts/special shoes. I instead fixed that with stretches and exercise.
It’s like if I’d complained that my arm hurts when lifting something heavy and instead of looking at my form and helping build up the muscles they said “just wear this sling”.
I’m getting on in years and all my other runner friends have bad knees, but I wear minimal shoes and have good barefoot form.
Got a bit off topic… yes, walking is great for losing weight as the body doesn’t seem to consider it as exercise - it doesn’t compensate by being lazy afterwards (which it does for most exercise).