How to Make a Special Day

How to Make a Special Day

Ellen and I were going to take a day off, together, but she couldn’t get that day. I decided I would take it off, anyway. She would be able to ride with me in the morning, so all wasn’t lost.

Then I saw the forecast—it was supposed to rain all night and continue on into the morning. There was enough rain to ensure that the river wouldn’t be able to be crossed. All was lost. I would have been better off at work.

Then I had a brilliant idea. I didn’t tell anyone what I planned. I was going to make it a special day—after all—I was celebrating an anniversary. Well, I don’t know what the actual date of the anniversary was—I never wrote it down—but I knew that I bought Cruiser 24 years ago in early November. It was early November. I was going to celebrate—by riding him!

I felt he was ready to go. I had been trotting him every time we went on our physical therapy walks for a month and I hadn’t seen a bad step. It was time to increase his workload, and I would do it by adding my weight on his back. I know that it was an important part of his recovery from his bowed tendon, so it should help with the suspensory ligament.

When I told Ellen, she was surprised and happy. We started our morning with her riding Dante in the indoor arena. I wanted to lead Cruiser for 15 minutes and then ride 15 minutes. Towards the end of her ride, I saddled up and brought Cruiser in to lead. After a warmup walk, we did some trotting in hand. A few times, it turned into spooking in hand and even bucking in hand. I think that Cruiser was excited to be saddled up. He seemed to have more lift in his step in both the walk and the trot. He definitely was acting out, too.

Ellen put Dante back in his stall and came out to help me with Cruiser. She held his stirrup, and I climbed up. I gave a happy sigh. I was at home. we walked around a few laps and then the rain quit. We headed out and rode the little trail loop in the back of the property until we hit our 15 minutes.

Of course we stayed at a walk. His walk felt good with no irregularities. If anything, it seemed more even than in the past. Ellen told me it was a little pacey, but it wasn’t so fast that he was doing his stepping pace.

It was a lovely and exciting feeling to be back on the best horse—ever. I hope Cruiser wasn’t disappointed that it was such an unexciting ride, but he seemed content. He has always been a horse that was happy to work—as long as he was on the trail. This was kind of a trail. Maybe it wasn’t a special moment for him, but it sure was for me.

Ellen rode Ranger and then she had to go to work. I took Cole on the hill, and we rode up and down 4 times--twice we trotted up. We did a lot of trotting and cantering at the bottom, too, so he ended up getting a good workout.

It turned out to be a great day after all.