Storms and Showers

Last Wednesday night I went to the barn to see Buckshot. He and Lucky were eating their afterdinner hay. So I stood and gently brushed Buckshot, quietly. It was a peaceful time, listening to the munching of the two horses, and adding in my gentle strokes along Buckshot’s sides and back. Nothing much happened, other than the lovely sense of happy horses, and touching their lovely coats. And swatting away the flies LOL!

By Saturday, the weather had changed. Now we are victim to the large low pressure system that is stationery across this half of the country, giving threats of showers or thunderstorms at a moment’s notice. Saturday was therefore gray, cloudy and gloomy. I found Buckshot in the stall with Lucky. After chatting with him, I checked him for bug bites. Some of them have been quite big and I have treated them with a dab of Tricare. Do you do this also- unconsciously running your hands down their legs and on their bodies to check for booboos or injuries? I do. I can’t help it; I want to catch any bites, or wounds, as soon as I can. Poor Buckshot, having to undergo my “manual inspection” each time!

I walked him over to the barn, detouring to walk partway down the farm road. He followed easily. As we walked around one of the barns, he stopped. He could see three horses in their pasture. What was he thinking? I told him the horses’ names and that they are good horses. He wanted to walk into their barn and see what’s what. I love his curiosity so in we went. He seemed to know exactly where their store of hay was, and that he needed to taste test it. I let him have one bite, then I led him out of the barn, and down the road. After a short walk, I turned him around and led him to the main barn, and the stall we use for grooming and tacking up.

Out in the arena, the sun came out! Darn, I thought, it wasn’t supposed to be sunny (I hadn’t put my sunblock on), so after a few minutes I dismounted and went into the barn to get the sunblock and his fly mask. Then back to riding. The class included some folks who trailered their horses in. We went on the trail, with Buckshot and I bringing up the rear. As we ascended a hill in the woods, the horse in front of me balked, then started bucking. I gave a call to the BO who was at the front of the line. I moved Buckshot back a good distance, since I didn’t know what might happen with the bucking horse, but I knew it might happen fast! The owner dismounted and the BO rode the horse.

We continued on, with me keeping a sharp eye on that horse, who proceeded to give some bucking several more times. Thankfully, Buckshot doesn’t ever feed off of other horse’s excitement or agitation. Perhaps that is from his work at the race track as a track pony. But I was ever so thankful and appreciative of how calm he stayed during the other horse’s antics. We all got back to the main barn safely.

Driving home Saturday night, I got caught in one of the severe thunderstorms! It was tough going, and a little scary. I resolved that Sunday I wouldn’t get caught in another storm like that.

Sunday dawned greyer, gloomier and cloudier than Saturday. It looked like the skies would open up any minute with a deluge. At the barn, I decided not to try to ride. Instead, I took my plastic cones and lots of treats up to Buckshot’s pasture and we did a lot of groundwork. He did very well. Later that day, it turned sunny! Crazy weather! I got Buckshot and we did hand grazing for a while. I left the barn early just in case more storms were coming.

Today I learned he then suffered a mild colic Sunday night. The BO gave him some Banamine and he then stood up, and stayed up. Today, she said he was eating and loafing as normal! Poor guy- I feel bad about it. But the BO is very watchful and I really appreciate her ministrations to him. I look forward to seeing him again, hopefully on Wednesday.

Hope you had a nice weekend with your horse!