Getting On With It

Sierra's been home a few days and luckily, has begun to settle into her paddock. While she still stares longingly at her friends in the pasture, she's no longer running the fence line like a lunatic.  I pre-emptively decided to put her on a round of Omeprazole because I happened to have some kicking around, and I'm using AFX and Comfort Gut again as well.  She's giving me some minor ulcery signs as she has in the past when she had them, so I decided to take advantage of her being easily accessible in a paddock where she doesn't have to compete for food as some of it's in her mash.

Upon palpation she doesn't have much of an adverse reaction, however when girthing up she's taking to chewing the fence, is a little flinchy under a brush, and is completely mentally spun - though I suspect that last point isn't necessarily ulcer related.  Regardless, there's no harm in it any of it so it's worth trying, even if all the negative reactions are just related to having her brain melted and pouring out her ears. * insert passive aggressive smiley face *

On the weekend I was unable to ride due to hubby being busy and yanno, having a baby who I can't leave unattended, however the door cracked open unveiling a glimmer of possibility on Sunday.  We had a family supper at the in laws that afternoon and were asked to come early to help with the horses.  Unfortunately hubby was busy in the morning and the timing didn't align well with naps and feeding, since Eowynn has recently decided she's anti-bottle and will angrily hold out for the real deal, which added an additional hurdle to the flexibility of my schedule.. so instead, I took Ray up on his offer to ride Sierra for me.  It was a beautiful day and he decided to just take her for a bareback ride in the field.

He said for the most part she was pretty good, but she tried to take advantage of him while cantering and he lost his balance a bit as he slipped around in snow pants but luckily didn't succeed.  She was a bit jiggy and tried to turn around, then when that didn't work tried to be spooky, but he took her bushwhacking through some willows to occupy her brain.  She worked up a bit of a sweat, so upon returning back to the yard he cooled her out in the arena before putting her away.  

The following day Ray finished work a bit early and texted me saying he was on his way, and that I should go for a ride when he got home if it worked with Eowynn's schedule - which luckily, it did!  The sun was going down so I knew I was limited for time, the wind was blowing fiercely and it was a warm, wintery day so the snow wasn't optimal for riding a shod horse.  Unfortunately as a result, it cut my ride short because Sierra began to stumble as the snow balled up in her hooves which just made matters worse as she pranced and jigged around.  Between her anxiety and not paying attention to where she was putting her feet, the snow balling up in them caused her to stumble several times, deeming it relatively unsafe to ride at more than a walk a short distance into the field.  As she bounced between slamming on the brakes, jigging sideways, or trying to trot there was not a lot of relaxation, but I took the rushed walk steps when I got them with plenty of reward and treats.

Gimme treat plz

Our first ride when she returned home we only accomplished some small circles about 20 feet from her paddock, so this was quite a lot of improvement, even if she was still silly. It's also worth nothing that even though she's being goofy, I'm doing all this in a sidepull so if she really wanted to do something she certainly could.  As we jigged and danced through the snow, I sat quietly and reassured her. At one point I found myself telling her she doesn't scare me, but that I appreciated her effort.  I know she doesn't genuinely mean to be bad, she's just very spun right now - compounded with being in a paddock on full feed I'm sure she's itching for a good run.  I'd love to do it with her, but for the time being would rather focus on slowing her brain down and re-establishing some sense of relaxation.

Contrary to the belief of many - she doesn't scare me in the least.  I would say I'm a cautious rider for sure, but not scared.  Even though dealing with this tension is completely and utterly frustrating, I'm truly enjoying our quiet time together - perhaps even more so now that I have a baby. As I walked back to the house, I could hear Eowynn giving daddy a tough time, and I filled my lungs with my last breath of freedom for the day, then resumed my motherly duties; grateful for my hour of freedom with my horse.