Weekend Update

Weekend Update


First off—Dante’s cough has improved quite a bit. He is still coughing, but not even close to how bad he was when he arrived.


Friday evening found me with Dante. Since Cole just got shoes the day before, he got the day off. Whenever they switch from shoeless to shoes or shoes to shoeless, we like to give them some time off to get used to the change. I spent my extra time walking Dante around. This was the first time that I had him all to myself. He was very well behaved. He did get a little nervous as I walked him towards the street, but he was sensible. The back of the property didn’t bother him in the least. I also took Cruiser on his physical therapy walk. It was an evening of a lot of walking.


Saturday, Ellen was with me. We started the morning by taking Dante for a walk on the trail down the hill to the river. He was very high headed and looked all around. He did behave well. When we got back, we cleaned the stalls and then took Dante along on Cruiser’s physical therapy walk. He was very comfortable with that, as this was his second time with Cruiser. Cruise did lift a hoof up and tell Dante not to get too close. That was a surprise from Cruise—as he had never done this with another horse. Maybe he is getting old and crotchety. Ironically, he was then upset that Dante was so far away—kept looking back and trying to turn to go see him.



Ellen and I then headed out on our ride with Ranger and Cole. We ended up turning around early because a tree was down and it was impossible to get around it. On the way back home, we found Kevin on Starry, and he joined us. We passed up home and went the other way for a while because our ride was too short.



Sunday morning was a repeat of Saturday morning. Dante was a little more energetic on the trail. I think he has recovered from the fatiguing trailer trip. We let him out in the outdoor arena to roll and explore. He did very well with Cruiser—in spite of Cruiser going Arab on me for a few minutes. I’m not sure what was bothering him, but it might have had something to do with horses getting loaded up in a trailer—but that was quite a distance away. Once the trailer was gone, he settled down.



Ellen and I took Range and Cole up to the show ring trails. They did much better this week, and we did a lot more trotting. Cole is doing better with matching Ranger’s speed at the trot. We want Ranger in the lead because we want him to choose the speed. He has slowed down quite a bit in the last few years. We feel if Cole sets the pace, Ranger will push himself too hard for his arthritic joints. It is a good lesson for Cole. He was doing very well last year, and we are just reviewing it this year. He isn’t trying to pass, but he does want to travel too close. On this ride, I was able to regulate the distance between them easier. Cole did the best ever on the super steep hill we go down on the way home. I have struggled so much with Cole and hills since I got him. I don’t think we will have a single issue with Dante on the steep hills. That is the difference between getting a horse from the mountains of West Virginia and the flatlands of Indiana.


It was a really nice ride in spite of the cold and sleet. I’ll be riding tonight with Kevin and Starry. At least it is supposed to be sunny.