2022 Riding Journey

#1 Lameness?

Well...  Today I went to get Shorty for our regular Sunday ride, and he was lame. 

It's in his right foreleg, and we're not quite sure what's wrong yet.  I'm hoping that with some rest it will clear up.  Either way, I'm probably not riding him tomorrow, but we'll see how he is.  I think I know what caused it, but who knows?   

So yeah, bummer.

1/2/2022

Okay, update.  

First of all, yesterday was the literally one of the weirdest / hardest / oddest days I've ever had.  I won't lay it all out here because it involved a lot of personal stuff, but yeah. (Yesterday was Tuesday, by the way.)

The farrier was to come out and trim Shorty at 4 in the afternoon, and I get off from my trainer's at 2 in the afternoon.  So, it was going to be a bit tight on time, but we could do it.   

However, just as we were half way to Trainer's place, she called and said she was sick.  She didn't want to risk spreading it to others (nice of her) so there would be no lesson for this week :(  However, this did make it easier in getting ready for the farrier.

This farrier is the same farrier that my trainer uses, which is how we found out about her.  And yes, it is a woman farrier.  

It's pretty satisfying to watch her trim, cut off the edges and making the hooves all white.  Shorty did really good, I'm so proud of him.

Anyhow, I do think his lameness is clearing up, and I'm hoping having his hooves trimmed will also help with that.  I'll probably give him the week off, and if it all looks good, ride him lightly next week.  

1/5/2022

As it turns out, I did not have wait till next week to ride him.  When I went to get him last evening (after I wrote the above), his lameness was just about gone.  He showed no signs of it walking or trotting, although I think it still bothered him on turns, especially tight ones.  

Who knows if the trimming helped or not, but it did seem like he was 95% better from Sunday when he first showed up lame.  I'm so grateful to God that he's better.  

I was hopeful that I could ride him, but I didn't want to risk tweaking it again.  However,  I hadn't ridden in FIVE DAYS.  I usually take a break that long unless I'm sick or the weather is really bad, and I had an itch to ride that was bothering me.  So I opted for a short bareback ride, and told myself that we started out and I felt him take funny steps, I'd get off right away.  

So I mounted up, adjusted my reins, and held my breath as I asked him to walk.  

He was perfectly fine, even with my weight on top of him.  As far as I could tell, his previous lameness wasn't there.  I was so happy! 

I still kept it easy, I didn't ask for circles or sharp turns, nor did I trot him.  But I did let him do some stretching.  I also kept the ride at about 30 minutes.  

It felt so good to be on the back of a horse again.  

1/6/2022