Maureen's Blog

June 13th was Chance’s day to get ridden.  I noticed right away that he was a little ouchy on both fronts.  Nothing serious, but I took him back to the trailer and untacked him.  I trimmed him the day before, and though I did almost nothing, just beveled the toes on all fours, clearly it was too much.  It occurred to me over the winter, due to my stock tank heater cage becoming rust colored, that perhaps the water is high in iron.  This latest ouchiness has brought the issue to the fore.  Too much iron will make a horse ouchy, so just in case, I’m ordering a hose filter to remove any iron from the horses’ drinking water.

Yesterday (the 14th) I trimmed 11 horses.  It was an hour and half drive each way, with no air conditioning in the truck, and it was close to 90 by the time I got home. I did plan on riding Zola, but it was still in the 80′s at 6, and I was just too tired, as evidenced by the fact that I fell asleep at 7.

Today it was in the low 90′s all day.  I planned on riding Zola, and at 6:30 I went out to get her.  She didn’t avoid me today, but she was slightly sweaty on her shoulders.  No sooner did I get her tacked up than a big dark cloud arrived, along with a cool wind.  I debated, briefly, just putting Zola away, but she does have to learn to be ridden in the wind, and the rain for that matter, so I led her out to the field. I’m not sure if it was the wind, but she didn’t want to stand still at the mounting block – but was good enough for me to get on.  She walked off with a lot of energy (more than I would have liked) and was slightly overly alert.  Not spooky, but not relaxed either.  She broke into a trot without being asked, and I had to work hard to keep her from going faster.  I did  get her back to a walk, and then asked her trot, and she was much better.

Something (?) had her nervous as we approached the far turn, and she wanted to go fast and cut the corner  It took a few circles to get her to slow down, and prevent her from cutting the corner, but she refused to walk.  Still, her trot was under control – if not relaxed – so it was okay.  When we finished our lap, she did stop, and rather than push my luck, I called it a day.  Though it was far from the great ride we had the other day, it was a good ride. We dealt with some issues and it all went well.  I now have more trust in her – though she was upset and the wind was blowing, and she wouldn’t walk, that was the worst that she did.  She didn’t run off, or buck, or throw a fit.  We stuck it out and ended on a good note.  Being a horse, that is what she’ll remember.   It’s what I will focus on too.

I might have ridden Chance if it hadn’t felt like a thunderstorm was coming, but I didn’t.  Tomorrow will be his turn.  Hopefully, his feet will feel better.