Summer is Here

This past weekend was a lovely summer weekend, full of sunshine, unpredictable weather forecasts (no rain? What is that wet stuff on my windshield?), humidity, lots of water drinking and standing in front of the barn’s fans. Thank goodness for the fans!

Buckshot’s rain rot is much improved. Several large patches of it are much better – no more raised bumps. But there are still a few places of raised bumps and we continue to treat it with Eqyss MicroTek spray and Betadine. On Saturday I sterilized his grooming tools with two buckets of warm water into which I put soap and bleach, let them sit for ten minutes, then rinsed thoroughly and set out to dry. I also washed down his saddle pad with water mixed with apple cider vinegar. I will stay vigilant on keeping his tools and pad clean to prevent a recurrence of this bacteria.

We had a good ride Saturday, and we even did some cantering. I am waiting to receive a Cashel Foam Tush Pad for my saddle, so on Saturday I used two sanitary napkins to cushion my behind! They didn’t work too well but I guess it was better than nothing. The BO had an older Cashel pad she let me borrow so I used it on Sunday and it works great. I am looking forward to getting mine in the mail any day now.

On Sunday, we took four horses and riders to the reining clinic. (And yes, we have had a lot of discussion at my barn about the reining controversy that erupted last week. I come in on the side of those that are upset to see rolkur or similar machinations used on a horse. Especially at a public event where “the best of the sport” are ostensibly competing. But I won’t get on my soapbox about it at this time.)

It was very humid on Sunday and Buckshot had low energy at the clinic. He started out strong in our walking phase, then was relunctant to trot more than a few strides. So I didn’t expect much, if any cantering, from him. There is a round pen close to the arena and as we walked around warming up, we watched an Arab mare in the round pen. She was running around that pen like a whirling dervish! I clocked her at 50 miles per hour! And she just kept on going! Her owner was standing placidly in the middle of the round pen, while the horse was working something terrible! As Buckshot and I walked by the round pen, and looked in, I don’t know what he was thinking, but I thought “I’m so glad to have Buckshot!!” LOL!

When our turn came to do one of the instructed exercises, Buckshot and I did better than expected with a canter. I tried to focus on two things: keeping my seat flowing with the saddle, and giving with my hands. With those things on my mind, I didn’t focus on steering much. So, while we were asked to do a circle, we did some kind of a non-circular shape, but at least it wasn’t terrible. LOL!

Later, we worked on rollbacks. Buckshot surprised all of us and did great! We started trotting down the rail, than got a canter, then stopped. I turned his head, he moved back on his haunches and when I tapped him, we went back along the rail in the opposite direction in a strong canter. I stopped him again, rolled him back and off we went again! The trainer gave us compliments! I was terribly proud of Buckshot! And I am glad to see such strength in his hind legs, to do this maneuver. Shortly after that, we ended the clinic. I would have liked to canter a bit more, but with such high humidity, I didn’t want to ask Buckshot to work any further. He did great overall, and in such challenging weather, I was very proud of him. I untacked him, rinsed him off, let him eat some grass, gave him his treats and we loaded up four very tired horses for the ride home.

While it may not have been a very exciting weekend with him, to me it was a great weekend- his rain rot is diminishing instead of spreading, he trailer loads well (something I really appreciate about him), he seems to like going to the clinics, as well as riding at our home barn, his poop is nice and solid these days, his appetite is good, his interest and alertness about life is good – he is a wonderful horse!! Good boy!! All those things rolled together are wonderful!!
Hope all is well with your horse friends as well!