Wizard Rides 460, 461, & 462: Joyride

Saturday, 4/6/13

Wizard gained 50 pounds- hooray!! He’s getting about 4 pounds of feed per meal, and upon my vet’s suggestion, about a pound of it is Purina Ultium. Ultium has 1,900 calories per pound, which is more than Triple Crown Senior and also more than Pennfield Senior.

He also got his third loading dose of Pentosan- I’m getting more comfortable doing the IM injections.

Before our trail ride, we rode in the outdoor arena with Kris and Sunny. Wizard was in the mood to travel loosely, with an open throatlatch and a longer frame, so I went with it. His mouth was VERY quiet in the Micklem bridle. He only chomped when he was “thinking” or if he momentarily tensed up. At the end of the ride, I experimented by asking him to canter up the center line, mostly just to see how it felt. He picked up the right lead (unusual for him- he usually picks up the left lead if it’s his choice). Away from the gate on the firmer footing, he was soft and wonderfully springy. Toward the gate in the soft footing, he was bouncy and sort of hopped around, not quite bucking, but fussing with his feet and position. I was really pleased with the canter he gave me on the firmer long side of the arena. Hopefully the canter will slowly improve with gradual increases in work.

After our workout, we rode on the trails for about an hour. It’s time to enjoy the warm weather before the bugs get here!

Sunday, 4/7/13

Before work, I met up for a ride with Kris, her mare Sunny, and Melissa and her gelding, Chance. Chance is a Camelot graduate, and he’s Wizard’s new pasturemate. They get along very well. We all rode in the outdoor arena for a little while before we went out on the trails. Wizard got an easy day of loose-reined walk and trot work, and played lead pony while Melissa worked on some schooling with Chance. We hand walked on a very quick loop around a field in the park for about 20-25 minutes.

Monday, 4/8/13

Before work, I saddled Wizard up for a ride out in the park. All the solo hand walks in the park must have helped Wizard get acclimated to the Assunpink, because he was AWESOME on our ride. We were out for about an hour, and rode around the trails by the hunt club, up and down some hills, around the perimeter of part of the Horse Park, and through several fields. All the time, money, blood, sweat, and tears are totally worth it when we have rides like this.

The weather was just warm enough to get away with a quick partial bath. I just barely used a bit of shampoo and get the worst of his winter grime off him. Ahhh, springtime.

On Tuesday, I took Wizard out for a hand walk on the trails with my friend Lia and her Shiba Inu, Yoshi (pictured above). We hiked for over an hour, and Wizard was REALLY good about walking with a dog (we’ve never done that before). It was almost dark when we got back to the barn, and he was fine with that as well. Good boy!