Born to Run

Good news for the horses! Cole must of just had a stone bruise, as I was hoping. Throughout the week, I soaked his hoof and hand walked him. Thursday, the farrier came out and couldn’t find any trace of an abscess. By then, he wasn’t even limping in the least. Friday, I did my leading out on the hard and stony drive, and he was fine. I rode him on Saturday and Sunday, and he was sound and a joy to ride—even though he had a week off. I took him out with my sister and her horse, Ranger. The first day, we only did a little trotting since they both just had trims, and we thought they might be tender. Sunday, we trotted a lot and even cantered a little bit. What a relief.




Another big relief—Friday, when I rode Cruiser with my boyfriend and Starry, he was off at the trot. Now, this happens now and again, and the vet said not to worry—just keep him going, after all, he is almost 25 and is a high mileage horse. He must have arthritis—then there is his carpal tunnel on his bowed tendon leg. Thing is with Cruiser—nothing slows him down. He just wants to go and go and go. Saturday, I took him on a walk-only ride, and he seemed to move well enough. Yesterday, I added some trotting, and he was sound. Whew. It could have been caused by the farrier stretching out his bum leg when he was shoeing him. Cruiser had an uncomfortable look on when he did that.



So, I went from 2 lame horses to 2 sound horses in a week’s time. Things are looking good for our long weekend of riding coming up.



At home, things are still complicated—though improving in some aspects—still very sad, though. Having the horses sound will give me a way to escape for a little while. When they were hurting, I had no refuge.