Long holiday weekend

It was a nice 4-day weekend. I was able to get Cole out on the trail 3 of the days. On Saturday, the driveway was just too icy. We were alone on our rides since Starry is recovering from a hoof abscess and my sister broke her ankle. My niece came out on Saturday and rode Ellen’s horses. I rode them the rest of the time—all in the arena. I have also been riding Cruiser a little, too. I am having fun, but it is exhausting.

I thought I would work on circles for all off them. I had my niece do circles, too. I need the practice, since one of my seat bones doesn’t listen to me and tends to float off the saddle unless I am really concentrating. I also forget to use that outside rein for support. Since I get to practice on 4 horses—each with their own way of going on circles, I am hoping to instill good habits in myself.

Ellen came out to watch us ride her horses on Saturday and Sunday. So far, she approves of what I am doing.

Kevin rode Dante a little bit in the arena this weekend, and he fell in love with the way he trots. Kevin has never been able to sit a trot in his life, so he was so surprised to find out that he could on Dante. Dante even listened to him—something my horses never do…

Back to Starry’s abscess. I had Kevin poulticing it since Starry wasn’t cooperating with soaking. I think a poultice is better, anyway. Yesterday, he thought the leg was swollen. I looked at it later when he wasn’t there, and it didn’t look swollen to me, but I figured it must have been stocked up and since Kevin was hand walking Starry, the swelling went down. His leg didn’t seem hot or sore. Starry has been walking well for the last couple days, and when I changed the poultice on Friday, there was evidence of draining. Starry was very fractious in his stall, too. He wasn’t acting like a sick horse.

When I got home, I called Kevin and told him what I thought. He went back out to the barn, thought it was swollen more and started asking everyone about it. One person touched his leg and Starry picked it up, so she assumed it was sore. Another person sprayed liniment on it to reduce the swelling. Kevin started to get confused.

When I went over Kevin’s house for dinner, he wanted me to go back to the barn with him to check Starry. By now, he thought the leg would be swollen up to the top. He thought the infection got into his bloodstream and maybe we would find him dead in his stall. Sometimes Kevin’s mind gets a little out of control.

I looked at it, and it still didn’t seem swollen to me. One leg has a stocking and the other is a grayish brown color (he is a buckskin) so I was thinking it might be an illusion. I told him to go lead him. He walked sound. I touched his bad leg, and he did pull it away. I touched his good leg—and he did the same thing. I reminded Kevin that we teach our horses to pick their legs up when we touch them. It wasn’t hot, and when I firmly felt along his leg, he didn’t react.

I tried to trot him in hand, but he wouldn’t. Kevin thought that he couldn’t, and that we shouldn’t even try. I told him—how else do we know how bad it is? We need to trot him every day so we could see if there was any improvement.

Kevin saw my logic. I was sure he was still lame, and I told him that so he wouldn’t be disappointed. We set Starry loose to free lounge him.

Starry went crazy—trotting around like a maniac—never taking a single bad step. He is as sound as a dollar. We were both laughing with joy. He trotted both directions with a lot of bucking and some cantering, too. I was surprised that the boot that was covering his poulticed hoof stayed on through it all. Kevin was acting light hearted for the first time in days.