| Subject: Horses |
Author:
Saddle
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Date Posted: 10:58:48 01/05/03 Sun
Saddle goes to the barn and turns out Stormy. the pretty gray mare had been bred to Silky and the vet had just confirmed that she was in foal and the foal seemed to be devoloping normally. Then she turns out Lady and goes to tack up French Silk Pie. the big stallion was in a spirited mood and danced gracefully in the crossties. Saddle warms him up carefully in the hunter ring, then pops him over some 2'-3' fences to warm him up. After he is warmed up, she takes him down to the cross country course and schools him over the 4' course. The big stallion does very well, only refusing one jump. Saddle works on the trouble jump until he quietly clears it each time, then finishes the course. By the end, the big stallion is damp and tired. Saddle lets him relax and walk back to the barn, then sponges him off with warm water, puts his cooler on and puts him back in his stall while she rides Man O Heart. The colt is in a much more laid back mood than Silky and patiently waits for Saddle to groom him and tack him up. Saddle does some training level dressage with him, then takes him down to the trails and works him at an easy canter along the shortest trail. She lets him walk on a long rein back to the barn, praising him, then takes care of him, blankets him and turns him out. He canters around the paddock excitedly, bucking and prancing for a few minutes, then settles down to graze. Next Saddle rides Fire N Ice. Kelsey had been excersing the colt and he had grown attached to her. He danced nervously while Saddle groomed and tacked him up, then fought her through most of the ride. By the end, he decides to calm down and gives Saddle a beautiful canter. Then she takes care of him and turns him out. Next she rides TC. The thoroughbred stallion took longer than usual to warm up and didnt seem to be himself so Saddle only worked him lightly for 15 minutes, then cooled him out and checked him over. he seemed to be ok, but Saddle decides not to turn him out anyway. Next she rides Sweet October. She warms him up carefully, then jumps a 6' course with him. The holsteiner flies over all the fences bravely and behaves perfectly. Finally, she grooms and tacks up Honor. The stallion felt unusually feisty and constantly nipped and kicked at Saddle while she groomed him. She takes a lounge line to the riding ring and first lounges the stallion for 20 minutes, letting him get his bucks out. then she mounts him. From the minute she gets on his back, she can feel his explosive energy. After a half hour of trotting him, trying to tire him out a little he seems to relax, she slides her leg back and asks him to canter and the stallion explodes into several huge bucks. Saddle sits back and puts her hands in the air and Honor continues to yank and buck. he smoothes out for a second and Saddle regains her balance and sits up, pushing him into an extended canter. Honor snatches the bit and bolts, then starts bucking and spinning. Saddle is caught off balance and sails over his head. She lands lightly, her arms and legs tucked, then springs back to her feet and grabs honor's bridle before he can gallop off. She walks him around a few times, then mounts again and pushes him into a trot and makes him do leg yeilds, shoulder-ins, haunches-ins and other difficult lateral movements for 15 minutes until he is tired and asks to stop. Then she makes him trot around the ring for another 5 minutes before letting him walk. "Next time you'll think twice about bucking me off, wont you" She tells the stallion as she dismounts. he snorts and blows in her face, like he is apologizing. She untacks him and gives him a warm bath, then rubs him dry and turns him out. She walks back up to the barn to get Silky to turn out and she leads him down to the paddock just in time so see Honor galloping wildly towards the 6' double paddock fence. She quickly turns Silky into his paddock and unclips the lead and rushes over to Honor's paddock. "Honor NO!" she yells at the stallion, waving Silky's lead and trying to scare him into stopping. He ignores her and she sees him gather his muscles to jump. The inexperienced horse leaps into the air and clears the first part of the fence, but hits the second fence with his front legs and crashes to the ground. Saddle rushes over to see Honor struggling to get up in the mess of broken boards. He finally manages to get up, but holds his left foreleg off the ground Saddle clips a lead to his halter and Starts to try to lead the stallion up to the barn. She only manages to lead him a few steps before Travis comes down to get Lady. He takes one look at Honor and the broken boards. "What happened? Is Honor OK?" He asks nervously. "I'm not sure exactly what happened, i came down here to turn Silky out and Honor here was galloping around like an idiot and he tired to hop the fence, but didnt make it. I'm not sure that hes OK, hes not putting weight on his leg and hes looks pretty beat up." Saddle replies. "Can i do anything?" Travis asks. "Yeah, go get Kelsey and tell her to drive the two horse trailer down here and you call the vet and tell her its an emergency" Saddle tells him. She holds Honor tightly as she waits for Kelsey. In a few minutes, Kelsey has the trailer down at the paddocks. They slowly load Honor and drive up to the barn. carefully. Soon the vet arrives and looks over Honor. "Well, theres good news and bad news. The good news is i dont think he needs to be put to sleep, the bad news is that hes broken his left shoulder and has bad break of the left front cannon bone. Other than that, he has several cuts that will need stitches and some nasty scrapes and bruises." The vet tells them. "Will he ever be sound again?" Saddle asks. "I'm not sure yet, its too soon to tell, but i doubt that he's ever going to jump again, and riding may be out of the question too" The vet tells them. "Would it be kinder to just put him to sleep?" Saddle asks. "Well, i think we can get him breeding sound again and i think he can have a comfortable life of just being turned out in a pasture. Its up to you, though." The vet tells them. "Well, lets give it a try then" Saddle tells the vet. "Ok, first i'm going to give him a shot of bute and we're going to leave him crosstied. I'd like to put him in a sling so he can't lie down and do more damage to his shoulder. I'm also going to put his leg in a cast from just below his knee down to his hoof. I'll leave you a supply of tranquillizers and bute to keep him calm and comfortable while he recovers. I cant see him being out of the sling for at least 8 weeks." The vet tells them. "Ok, lets get a sling installed and start him on that bute" Saddle tells them. Saddle, Kelsey, Travis and the vet put a sling up in the end stall. Then they give Honor some of the tranquillizer and wait until he is calm before the vet puts a cast on his lower leg and they all carefully let him hobble into the stall. Then they put him in the sling and adjust it so that he is hanging with his feet barely touching the ground. The vet leaves her phone number and goes off to her next call. "Its going to be a tough 8 weeks, Honor is the most impatient horse in the barn" Kelsey says. Saddle and Travis nod and Kelsey goes to make Honor a haynet and hangs it where he can reach it, then they go do the rest of the barn work.....
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