Lame Horse

Well, as the title suggests Titan had a small bout of lameness a week ago that luckily only lasted for the week. The reason is fairly obvious to me, we have a new farrier at the barn and he took his hooves way too short and he was so very painful. For some reason he was more reactive to his right front hoof and wouldn’t even put weight on it, poor guy! Luckily, the day before we ran all around the outdoor arena for about 4 hours without any kind of incidence with the exception of one thing: I changed Titans bit from a kimberwicke to an eggbutt snaffle bit.

I had noticed that he was really trying to avoid the bit a lot recently so thought I might try a snaffle out and see how he went in it. Let me just say that he loved it…didn’t have to fight with him to get it in his mouth BUT I did have to fight him while riding. He is very responsive but if I am being honest I would have to say that he doesn’t have a “snaffle mouth,” we did several unintentional gallops simply because I didn’t have the leverage to stop his BIG canter from turning into a gallop. Ah well, I survived and was laughing somewhat manically.

In the following week while Titan was on rest I rode Chance and popped over a few jumps because he is more than happy to jump like a normal horse rather than the odd and unpredictable method of jumping that Titan employs. Not that I am complaining too much as jumping isn’t where my heart is but it is still fun to do from time to time.

But the best news is that Titan is all good to ride again so I went out and rode him for for about 3 hours today. I was a little worried that our normal workout might be too much for him after being on stall rest but he was ready to go and I had trouble keeping him in the walk…go go go, that was the mode he was in. We rode outside for awhile and worked on lead changes at the canter, riding a huge figure 8 that was larger than I wanted it to be but his canter was also very large and I got tired of fighting with him and decided to let him get it out of his system. We did several successful flying lead changes without losing the canter or the rhythm…. and the moment I could feel him swap leads my smile was huge..which is unfortunate because there were a lot of little gnats out tonight and I think I got a few in my mouth. I know a lot of horses do flying lead changes in their sleep but it felt so nice to get him working and thinking, in the past he has been more than happy to plow on in a counter canter.

About an hour into my ride I was joined by the new trainer Alex whose company I have really come to enjoy….after I talked to her a bit I felt like the air had been cleared and I could get to know her and it turns out she is such a sweet person. She has offered to let me use her $3,000 dressage saddle which quite frankly scares me a little. At my hesitation to use it she then offered to let me use her wool seat cover after I complained of the saddle I was using being hard. Just a nice and generous person. She was attempting to mount Maggie the friesian and she started to rear and strike out and buck…and she was relentless. After a few minutes of Maggie being an idiot I offered to join her in the indoor arena since she seemed to be spooked or excited by something and Alex seemed grateful for that. However, as we were walking down to the indoor arena Maggie lost it and was rearing and refusing to walk in. Alex asked me if I could grab her halter and a lunge line which I was more than happy to do. Poor Titan, I quickly tied him in a tie and left him but I don’t think he minded too much.
When I was walking back out I saw Maggie rearing and running circles around poor Alex. I came up and tried calming her and it seemed to work….she settled and I was able to put her bridle on. However, the moment I stepped back she starting acting up and striking at Alex. I think Alex was at a loss of what to do and asked if I wouldn’t mind holding her since she seemed calmer with me, it must have taken a lot to admit that since Alex is now Maggie’s primary rider and handler and we all like to think that the horse has a special bond to us.

When I took Maggie’s lead she was a little goofy but basically she was being good. I led her down into the barn with minimal corrections…mostly she was just crowding into my space too much, perhaps looking for reassurance.

Alex was a little hesitant to ride, I don’t blame her after the show I witnessed, so instead she decided to lunge her and make her work hard. Maggie looked like a rodeo horse with the amount of bucking and refusing she did but Alex finally got her going good after awhile.

After Alex was done lunging I got back on and rode for awhile and then cooled him out before finally putting him up for the night. All in all a good night of riding.

And of course some video clips of riding from the last couple of weeks, in the indoor shots I am riding Chance the paint and in the outdoor shots I am riding Titan. 🙂

• November 22, 2013
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