So I got back from vacation at 3am yesterday morning, but I was already in a bad mood before I even left Colorado. I checked my e-mail at the airport waiting to go home and got an e-mail from the Young Rider about Gen, so I called to ask about Texas. And Texas is not sound still. So even before I got home I had already scratched from the show today. I didn’t post about this yesterday though because I am just really in a funk about this. Which was not helped by going to see him and finding a big scrape on his back leg and both of them looking like tree trunks. He was about as sound yesterday as he was last week when I left.
I rationally know that this is just a part of horses. They get hurt and it takes time to get better. And I think I would be dealing with this better if we were not going on to week 3. I was fine with a booboo week 1. Well, maybe not fine, but okay at least. Now I am worried about how long it is going to take to get him back to 100%. I had wanted to do a Hunter show on the 16th, and now I don’t think that will happen. We are still on hand walking duty. It is hot and humid where I live so hand walking is not very fun.
I think the reason I am so frustrated is because I already HAVE a horse that I can hand walk and that I can entertain from the ground. I also am not 100% sure that the check is what is wrong because we never called the vet. I know he is getting better, even though it is slowly. It is just frustrating because I pay a lot of money every month so I can RIDE. This pissy attitude is why I didn’t post yesterday. I could get on him and walk him around riding, but I don’t want my extra weight to add strain to the check ligament. I am just blah right now. Stupid horses. Why do we love them so much? Where is my violin playing me out? I am just in a funk. I will snap out of it, I always do.
On a better note…guess what?!?! I ran into Rebecca Hart (2 time national champion and ParaOlympian) waiting for the Young Rider’s scores at a show a few weeks ago. I was nervous talking to her because she is very famous in the dressage world and a total rock star in the therapeutic riding world. She was SO nice though and happily granted me an interview for this blog. You are all in for a real treat tomorrow when I post my interview with Rebecca Hart! I hope you enjoy it. If you do make sure to let me know because I can try and get some more interviews in the future if this goes over well.
Well that stinks, I hope he recovers quickly and he should because he is young. By the way, I think the best thing the owner could do is call a vet just to check it out. And it’s none of my business, but why don’t you ask for a refund for the weeks you couldn’t ride. You’re doing a lot of the work with this horse and hand walking etc… they should by rights give you a break on the lease money. I would if you were leasing one of my horses. Good luck.
I’m not sure of your lease arrangements for Texas but when we leased a horse if he was lame for more than 10 days we didn’t pay our lease rate OR we could ride another of the owners horses until he was better. At the time, seat time was our only goal so we usually opted to ride another horse but for you it might make more sense to get the refund or apply it to the next month.
It also sounds like you might have a new problem on top of the old. I’ve heard of this stocking up thing from so many barns around the country where all the sudden several horses are stocked up for no real reason. Only lasts a few days and then is gone. Maybe that’s Tex’s problem now? Are there other horses stocked up too?
LOL – just read GreyHorse’s comment and I think we are on the same wavelength!
Bummer. I hate not being able to ride. I leased three different horses in my life and once AJ came up with hives so bad we couldn’t put on a saddle. The owner refunded me money. It is worth a shot. Put on a good CD and dance…get yourself out of that funk:-)