That Other Horse

I’ve been yapping on about Mathilda a good bit lately. How has the other party been faring? When last we saw Rodney, he had just acquired two front shoes to recover from an abscess.

He recovered immediately. He felt terrific. He immediately felt really, really terrific. As in what-hath-I-wrought terrific. Seriously, he bounced around the field with such enthusiasm and perkiness that I wondered how I would ever cope under saddle, should such a day arrive. No particular evilness, just ALERT! As in the old joke, Be alert. The world need more lerts. I’m happy to say he has calmed down to a tolerable level of Up Ears, Hello World!

Generally.

Just now incoming weather had him a little jumpy. He spooked and ran off when I went to catch him for his heating session. I was not amused. Sometimes, I am Zen itself. I am calm. I stop what I’m doing, move slowly, even backing off to give him space. Other times, I continue at my normal speed and tell him to deal with it. It depends on the legitimacy of his spook, the time since his last spook, and how ornery I’m feeling on the subject. Once the rain came thru, he longer had his knickers in a twist.

Whatever happens, no one will ever accuse Rodney of being boring.

His back continues to loosen up. The adhesion has shrunk to an area about the size of a fingertip. I want to be happy about this but it looks SO close to being all gone. However, when you progress in microns, a even tiny patch can take a frustratingly long time. Plus the softer area creates even more skin wrinkles when it butts up against the fixed part. How will that feel under a saddle?

Finally, I saw him cantering over the weekend. He was on an unknown, important horse mission that involved zipping from the water trough back to the barn. Gorgeous horse. Say what you will about the power and presence of a warmblood. For floating across the ground, there is nothing like a Thoroughbred.

You know how hard-working amateurs hate it when unemployed doctor’s wives spend their husband’s hard-earned money to buy over-qualified horses so that they can steal ribbons at the lower levels? I can’t wait.

[Illustration by Sara Light-Waller, Flying Pony Studios]
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Gratuitous Kitten Pic