Selena Ride 50; Wizard Ride 120: Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut…
Tuesday, 11/17/09
On Monday night, I lightly longed Selena for about 10 minutes, mostly as a refresher for her. She tends to rush a little on the longe so I encouraged her to do a relaxed trot. She was great!
The weather was so spectacular today (Tuesday) that I took a vacation day and spent some quality time at the barn.
I rode Selena in the outdoor arena. The footing was still wet from the rain but the base was solid enough for some easy walk-trot work. We rode for about 30 minutes and my mom took pictures so I could track our progress and position. Selena was focused and very willing to work. We warmed up with about 10 minutes of walking, followed by walk-trot-walk-halt transitions. I threw in a few shoulder in exercises toward the end of the ride. Selena accepted contact willingly and we had a really nice ride.
Wizard and I rode for about 30 minutes on the trails and Mom hiked with us. He felt a little stiff throughout the ride and his right hind leg/hip was hitching just a bit. He also blew up for a minute on the final leg of the trail. He eventually relaxed, but my concerns are growing about his comfort. When we got back to the barn, a friend ran her fingers down his back and rump to check for soreness. He is not backsore at all but he is very tender all along his hip and croup on both sides. My hopes were that this trail walking regimen (1-2 days of walking on trails and light groundwork on other nights) would build muscle without too much wear and tear, but he is still not as comfortable as he should be. My friend has a therapeutic magnetic horse blanket and she put it on his back for a few hours. It will be interesting to see if it has any good results.
My mom was snacking on almonds while I tacked up. Selena seemed fascinated by the almonds so Mom gave her two. She loved them! She fed two to Wizard and he enjoyed them as well. Due to them not being part of a horse’s naturally digested food, we did not feed any more, but it was amusing to see them enjoying an unusual treat. Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t.
Rock and Racehorses: The Blog 
When I go on longer rides, I usually bring some fruit and nut trail mix for a snack. Both my horse AND my dog think I have provided snacks for them, and they get really testy if they don’t get an almond or a dried cranberry each. Both of them like apples, and neither of them care for pecans – it’s pretty cute!
I’m a little concerned about Wizard too. It sounds like you’re doing everything right for him – I hope the magnets help.
Thanks so much- I appreciate hearing your ideas. I’m playing it by ear with him and there are certainly a lot of highs and lows. My thought right now is to pull his shoes over the winter and work from the ground until we can do more trails again in the spring.
I’m a Twix and Snickers guy but I do remember that jingle.
The days of the (precisely) 30 second commercials.
I guess it won’t be long before you dig out the classic Coke commercial…
“I’d like to teach the world to sing….” 😉
What happened to selena? Do you still ride her?
Selena moved to another barn a while ago, and then unexpectedly had a really bad colic and had to be euthanized. She was a really sweet mare, and is missed.