When it rains, it pours!
First, on Thursday while at work I get a call from my trainer that Lucy is colicking and can she call the vet. You can just imagine what was going thru my head. Long story short, Luce is fine, the problem was caught early enough that all it took was a shot, some oil, and some sort of horse Alka-Seltzer equivalent, and walking. But, very scary for yours truly.
Yesterday we did our very first trail ride together. It was a blast! Gorgeous weather, good horse-and-rider company, turns out Lucy is a wonderful trail horse. Lots of get-up-and-go, sticks to business, takes dogs and idiots on bikes who don't stop for the horses in stride. But, there's one tiny problem: She has an aversion to standing/running water. Found that out when she wouldn't cross a three-foot-wide stream without a lot of encouragement, circling towards and away from, etc. etc. etc. After that we came upon a good-sized mud puddle and she was having none of it, no sir. She actually took off and found a way around it. Startled the bejeezus outta me. So, we have a training issue to deal with. It'll be interesting to work with her on it. It rains a lot here so there will be no dearth of mud puddles to face and conquer.
Big problem came when it was time to load in the trailer to go home. She'd gotten in to go to the trail with little problem. Stepping out, I unfortunately startled her and she hit her head on the top of the box. So, I guess not wanting to get in again shouldn't have been a big surprise. What a time, though. We were parked on the side of the road, it was a hot day, my friend and I spent 40 min trying to coax her in. She kept stepping up with one foot, maybe two, and backing out again. Finally I gave up and asked my trainer to come help. Fortunately it was only 10 min from her place to where we were. At some point during this fiasco Lucy managed to hit her head and open a cut above her eye. Poor girl! Trailer trauma! Talk about another training issue! Cut required three stitches. I almost passed out while holding her for the vet. Blood, heat, and no food did it to me.
Fortunately my friend the trailer's owner has volunteered to bring by her truck and trailer so Lucy and I can desensitize her to it and get her to load. It'll probably take more than one session. Oh well. She absolutely Must load in this trailer (and others, of course). This one is a 2-horse straight load. I'm going to do lots of 'net research, talk to friends and trainer re loading, then work with Lucy.
Heckuva week, lots 'o horse trauma. Still, it beats the heck out of not having a horse!
Good riding,
Mary