Riding Into The... Rain?

Last Sunday Mercy and I went for our first real ride in over 2 months! First, we stretched and loosened up our muscles by doing our normal walk and trot routine up and down the road. This time, however, we didn't do that for a half hour like normal. We just did about 15 minutes. On our last pass by the house we spotted three deer in the front yard ruminating! They were curiously watching as we walked up and down the street and eventually made our way back to the house to saddle up! I took my time saddling Mercy up. I knew she wouldn't forget what it was all about, but I also wanted to make sure she hadn't developed any new "sensitive" spots. I slowly cinched her up and walked her around. She could have cared less. She knew what we were up to and she was excited! In fact, she was trying to walk into the house in order to grab the bit out of my hands! LOL! She had her mouth as far open as it could go to grab the bit!


I finished tightening her cinch, walked her around one last time, and then asked her to side up to the wall of our driveway so i could get on easier. Once again, I didn't even have to ask, really! She just moved her hindquarters towards me so I could just throw a leg over!

Our ride up and down the flat, even road was short, but sweet. Mercy rode like we had not missed a day of riding ever! When I asked her to stop, she planted her butt into the ground. When I asked her to move out, she lengthened her stride. When I used my seat and legs to change direction or speed, she responded without me having to pick up the reins. When I did pick up my reins, she guided easily.

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Those 5 minutes were the shortest 5 minutes of my life. We made one pass down the road and the ride was over. :'(
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Our rides will progressively get longer from this point on. Right now i am to ride only 5 minutes a day for a week, and then slowly increase the time. And this is at a walk only. After a month or so, I can slowly add in some trot work. At that point I will get her re-evaluated by Dr. Schneider and hopefully return to trail riding and reining! *sigh* ;)

(Excuse us! We would like our granola bars now!!!)

Wordless Wednesday

Up Above The Ground Once More!

The New Year started out cold and bright at our place. The ground was super frozen and we had a decent dusting of snow that seemed to have no problem sticking around for a while.

Mercy was doing a good job handling the frozen ground with her barefeet for a while, but after a day or two I could tell she was really hurting. She wouldn't leave her stall or the covered, matted aisle way if she could help it. And if she did venture out, it was super slow and she gimped around the whole way to and from where ever it was that she was going. So she got to try on Starlett's old Easyboot Epics:

They fit quite nicely actually! It took a while for her to get use to the gaitors holding onto her pasterns, but it made getting around much easier for her once she figured it out! They were working so well for her, in fact, that we used them for our daily hand walks. She was striding out like I haven't seen her do in such a long time.

Yup, it's time to put her shoes back on. The farrier is coming out on Tuesday, so she will have front shoes back on in no time. That will make riding much easier now that I have the all clear to start riding her again! I can start at 5 minutes a day, just walking, and gradually increase to 30 minutes a day. At that point I can start to add a little jogging, but that is still a ways off.

Before I got this good news from the vet, my mom and I snuck in a quick bareback ride New Year's Day. It was a super short ride and the horses really enjoyed the freedom to move out faster than we wanted to walk when we had them in-hand.

Star took the lead for a while, at least until Mercy was done gawking...

Once Mercy had the horizon in sight, she tried multiple times to break into a jog. It was so hard not to let her go, but she needs to stay slow for now.

It was so much fun for everyone to get out and move out. I missed the view from above! Luckily, I don't have to stay down much longer.

If the rain and snow can hold off today, we have a real saddled-up ride planned. 20 minutes hand walking and 5 minutes in the saddle. Should be fun!

Looking Forward

Just a quick update! Mercy is still on stall and paddock rest, however, I have introduced trotting into our semi-daily walks! She enjoys getting out and moving out, lol! Her barefoot hooves have finally started to harden up and she is striding out much more fluidly now. She will still land wrong on a rock or soft spot in the gravel road and act ouchy, but it doesn't slow her down any.

A few days ago, before the recent snow hit the ground, I was driving home and saw my mom riding Starlett and ponying Mercy for their daily walks. I just couldn't resist not joining in! I quickly parked my car and jumped on Mercy bareback! ARGH! Am I crazy or what!? It was super windy, Mercy only had a halter and lead rope on, and I haven't ridden her for over two months! And I jumped on without a saddle!

Well, she was excited to be free of Starlett! She was walking out so fast; it was quite exciting to really let her go. I was just along for the ride. This was her walk.

Today will be 4 months since the accident that caused her lameness and injury. I will be able to start riding her soon and hopefully before spring I will be able to hit the trails once again!

I really can't wait!

;)

Wordless Wednesday

Lasers all Around Us!!!!

Just a quick update on Miss Cedes. She is actually doing quite well on her stall and paddock rest. She happy enough being fed plenty of high fiber local hay to keep her busy and she is really enjoying her walks around the neighborhood, by hand, for some exercise and mental stimulation. We are walking 30 minutes a day MAX. and only when I get home from work and it's not raining/snowing/blowing sideways, or when my mom is working from home and can help me out a bit so I don't have to walk the girls in the dark. Of course on the weekend she is walked both days too!

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On days when I can't get her out for a walk, I make sure to spend a little extra time with her out at the barn before dinner. I might take some extra time on her feet and apply some Keratex Hoof Hardener to her toes and sole (We pulled Mercy's shoes November 17th and she's a little ouchie- obviously) or ask her to move a hoof here or there in order to maintain our light feel and accuracy skills. Anything to make her think or feel challenged. It really does keep her happy!

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In this picture you can see her shoeless hooves and if you look at the top of her legs you can see where she was shaved down for the ultrasound, lol!

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Starlett enjoys our walks too. I think that she feels like she has a purpose: She is watching out for Mercy. Star takes her job seriously, but she also really likes the exercise too. Her arthritic knees seem less painful and more fluid in motion since we started these more routine walks.

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Mercy, on the other hand, mainly sees these walks as an excuse to eat grass... it's pretty much a battle from start to finish to just 'keep walkin.'

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Here she is eyeing a delicious fern... ewww.

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back when we had all of that snow, our walks became even more non-existent because of all of the ice underneath the snow. the last thing I needed to happen to Mercy was to have her fall down after hitting a slick spot. Most of the snow did eventually melt off, except for some stubborn patches, which immediately froze again each night. We did venture forth on our walks again once most of it was gone, but Mercy was still able to not only find some slick, slushy spot, but also made sure to walk on them and freak me out!

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Yesterday Dr. Bob stopped out to start laser therapy on Mercy's leg. It's an exciting new procedure in which we run a medical laser up and down the injured leg, right above and below her knee, for three days straight and then twice a week for two weeks. This should expedite the healing process by exciting the cells of the tendon, which will speed up repair of the tendon fibers! today was day two and Mercy seems to really enjoy the therapeutic heat the laser gives off! I am REALLY excited to see how she feels after the final laser treatment. Anything I can do to help her heal more quickly will help us both be able to fly again sooner!

Snow Day!!!!

It snowed hard enough earlier this week that after making it in for only a few hours on Monday, I was told not to come into work for the rest of the week. YAY! I drive a 1995 Ford Mustang... not the best snow vehicle, but we managed for 4 years in Pullman, so we know how to handle it well enough if we have too.

With so much time on my hands, I really didn't know what to do first! I decided that Mercy really needed to get out for a walk. It was really icy on the road, so I didn't want to walk her there. And, I can't take her on the trails, which would have been too icy too. So, I led both of the girls over to my neighbor's pasture for a little walk-about.

I let Starlett loose so she could dink around on her own, but Mercy needs to be kept under control. A controlled walk. Period.

Here's how it went.... :

"OMG! What is that!?!?!?" *snort*
"Can I stare it down?! Maybe? No, no I don't think it's working! What is it?!"

"Maybe I could just get close enough to touch it!?"

"Oh.... ok.... it's just nommy snow on a branch!"

"What?... It WAS going to get me! I have no doubt! Seriously!"

*Rolls Eyes*

After all of that craziness, she decided that tree snow wasn't that good after all. She decided that real grass was! Mercy actually had a lot of fun digging out the snow to get to the grass. She tunneled around for a while, looking for the longest, tastiest grass.

Soon Starlett wandered over and started digging for grass too. She didn't want to be left out of the fun!

Both girls rolled in the snow while we were wandering around. Mercy got concerned, because of the lead rope attached to her halter, and decided to get up rather quickly. Star, however, really dug in and enjoyed her roll!

After they had had some fun, I put them away and went for a walk out back. I can't ride Mercy, and we don't ride Star when it's icy because of her likeliness to fall, but that doesn't mean I can't go out an enjoy the snow scenery!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

;)

Wordless Wednesday

All Strung Out

Lame, lame, lame. Mercy is still lame. It is ever so slight, but she is lame.
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And I needed to know why.
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That's why she was trailered down to Emerald Downs to visit Dr. Schneider. She loaded like a pro and we were on the road extra early. I had been to Emerald Downs many times, but only for the races, not to get a horse looked at and I wanted to make sure I got there in plenty of time. The drive was uneventful and we pulled in a good 30-40 minutes before my appointment.
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I climbed out of the truck once we pulled into the parking area and I went into the building to check us in. Of course, I got lost. Kinda. I couldn't find any sort of 'check-in' room or desk, and of course who sees me all confused?! Dr. Schneider! He helped point me in the right direction and I soon got us checked in. They were running behind, so they asked me to keep Mercy in the trailer until the came out to get us. No problem.
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I started looking around this end of the property. I could still see the grandstands! Amazing! And the lines and lines of barns were spectacular amoungst the fall colors!
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Then I went to check in on Mercy. *sigh* Can you see what she did to her eye?
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She appearantly got a woody piece of hay jammed into her lower eye lid. It swelled up a little and was a little sensitive, but once I got the piece out and wiped the wound clean, it looked much better. Mare... We came for a lameness exam and ultrasound, not for an eye problem! >:(

It was a half hour over my appointment time, which I know happens when horses are involved, and we started hearing a loud noise approaching. Suddenly we could see what was coming. Hundreds, if not thousands, of geese flying over head!!!

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They made so many "V's" and lines that it looked like lace! I couldn't believe how long we sat there watching and listening to them pass.

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Then, we heard another noise approaching from the other direction- a train! Yay!... :/

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The tracks are literally across the street from where we were parked, so it was loud and the vibrations were crazy! Thank goodness Mercy really doesn't care. She could see the containers moving past, so it wasn't such a big deal for her.

We finally were called over shortly thereafter, so I unloaded Mercy and followed the assistant in through the side gate. After another short wait, Dr. Schneider came out to meet us and briefly go over Mercy's history. He had his assistant take Mercy through a whole range of lameness exams. They manipulated her tendons and joints, did a hoof test, flexion tests, trotted her up and down the road over and over while Dr. Schneider watched from the side and behind. He concluded that she was slightly off on the right front, just as I thought. He couldn't, however, tell where she was hurting. He had poked and prodded her tendons, ligaments, and joints and got no reaction what so ever.

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Here are the options he gave me:

1) Do nothing more but take her back home and continue stall rest for a few more months

2) Block her leg starting from the ground up

3) Ultrasound the leg to look for soft tissue damage

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I brought Mercy all that way knowing we were going to be doing an ultrasound, so that's what we did. Another assistant asked me to move Mercy closer to the building where Mercy got her legs shaved down along the back of the leg. She was quite uncooperative for that part. Another horse had just been taken out and she wanted to follow. It took a while to get her head back to what was going on here and what was expected of her. Then Dr. Schneider came over with a light sedative. She needed to be very still for the ultrasound to come out correctly.

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After she started to relax and droop her lower lip a little, his assistant had me maneuver Mercy into the building and onto a stall mat, where he applied gel to the back of her leg and called over Dr. Schneider. I was still holding Mercy while he looked at her tendons and had a quick look at things. I had one of his assistants come over and hold Mercy (like anyone needed to do that lol!) while I moved over to watch the ultrasound screen. As soon as I got a good view, Dr. Schneider exclaimed he knew what was going on!

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In the area that I had showed him during the lameness exam where the immediate swelling occur ed after the fall, behind and directly below the knee, had a massive tear. Her superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) had a spotting look to it, showing where the muscle fibers were no longer whole. He compared it to the deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT) which is located right next to it for me to get a visual. The DDFT was pure white, showing the solid and complete muscle fibers. It isn't a bow, but *simply* a tear.

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The image was amazing to see and became even more incredible as he slowly moved the ultrasound head further down the leg. As he slowly moved the head down the ligament, away from the knee, you could see the muscle fibers becoming more normal- indicating a high tear. he also took a quick look at her left front leg to compare too. I wish I had asked him for copies of those images. Maybe when I see him for a recheck in the future...

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Dr. Schneider gave Mercy a good prognosis: a 70% chance of healing and returning to work without further injury. Dr. DeWard, my regular equine vet, says this is pretty conservative. It's most likely more like 80-90%, but only time will tell.

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Mercy's rehabilitation began the day she was injured. She was on stall and paddock rest for weeks, iced and cold hosed daily (if not multiple times a day) for the first week, and slowly introduced back to walk/trot trail rides. But she was still lame- so she was on and off stall resting until we saw Dr. Schneider almost 2 months from the day of the injury.

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Since we have already started the rehab program, Dr. Schneider recommended we customize his rehab program to fit what we have already done. He agreed that stall rest at this point was, well, pointless. She has a small stall and a 30'x45' paddock that she lives in, unless she is healthy and turned out to pasture for a few hours a day and being ridden. He thought the paddock was a little big, he would prefer a 30'x30' area, but I fear that making it smaller will actually make Mercy more hyper. Dr. DeWard agreed, as long as she doesn't get running around.

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Additionally, we are hand walking for up to 30 minutes a day. I try to get 20 minutes a day, but the weather is not cooperating, nor is my work schedule. I just do what I can. Dr. DeWard also asked me to gently stretch her leg out, as far as it would comfortably go, once a day. This is to apply a little stress to the leg so that as it heals it doesn't bind up. It should still be flexible and maintain a range of motion. I definitely have to be careful when I do that. She is much more sore and stiff on that leg than on her left front. In about another month or so, I should be able to start jogging her a few minutes a day, and slowly increase the time up to 20 minutes a day. That's the point at which I will be looking for some boarding. There is no where for me to safely trot her at my home. I need somewhere that is indoors, flat, and soft.

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After two or so months after we start jogging, we can then begin riding at a walk and trot. I still will not be able to trail ride what so ever... That's where that boarding facility is going to be most sweet! If she is sound at six months, I can begin riding her as usual, slowly building up to her previous athletic abilities. Dr. Schneider asked that I bring her back at six months out to perform another ultrasound to recheck the progress. I can't wait!

Now We Know

Mercy tore her superficial digital flexor tendon right below her right knee. That is the official verdict from Dr. Schneider, who performed an ultrasound on Mercy's leg at Emerald Downs this past Thursday. He performed a full lameness exam and then completed the ultrasound, which ultimately proved our suspicions. Mercy has had two months of on and off stall/paddock rest already, with some light riding, so we are to continue that, without the riding, for another 2-3 months. We can slowly introduce hand walking into the mix once that is done and then haul down for a recheck ultrasound to make sure things are healing up.

I should get the official report from Dr. Schneider soon, at which time I will write up a much more interesting and in depth post. Just needed to get something up.

A (Kinda) Lazy Ride Along the River

I have been babying Mercy along for a while now since her injury in August. Taking it slow when I ride at home and no sudden maneuvers or speed. Ever. A couple of weekends ago I just couldn't take it any more! It was pretty wet out, but there was a break in the system so my mom and I loaded up the girls and headed out for some trails less traveled- by us at least, lol! I drove us over to the Cedar River Trail System, a great public trail that is straight and flat. Perfect for us to slowly make our way back into riding shape!

When we arrived at the parking area there were only 2 or 3 other cars there, so we had plenty of room to park. We saddled up quickly and headed out into the heavy mist.

The trail was covered in fall leaves and the ditches were full of water. I only wanted to ride for about 45 minutes total, so we didn't meet many people along the way. The only couple we came across had a very scary umbrella, apparently... Mercy got over it quickly considering she hasn't been "out" for a long time and was pretty on edge.

She was also quite concerned with a house that is very close to the trail. She really wanted to go see it once we passed though, so it really couldn't have been that bad... silly horse.

Before we hit the first bridge we turned around. Once we did Mercy decided it was really time to head back, NOW, so she walked as fast as she could! LOL! It was hilarious, she was gliding along- I am pretty sure that is what they call the Indian shuffle, but I don't really know. Anyway, she was feeling good and I couldn't detect and lameness!

The rest of the trail ride was very pretty and very uneventful! Thank goodness! We were gone for about an hour and the weather held out for us. I couldn't wait to ride her in about another week in an indoor area where i could really judge how she was recovering. ;)

Injury Update

Well, I had Dr. Bob out again to recheck Mercy's lameness. It was dark by the time he got out to our place, so we were pretty limited on what we could ask Mercy to do. He started out by palpating her legs, where he couldn't really find anything- no heat or soreness. Then, he asked me to trot Mercy in large circles both directions, where we discovered that she is now favoring her left front leg ever so slightly... He watched her for quite a while trot in circles, then asked to see her move in a straight line. Even thought it was dark out, the barn light hitting her shiny white hooves was just enough for him to be able to evaluate her movement.

Dr. Bob had suggested ultra sounding her leg when she was first injured, but he now thinks it is better if I take her over to Emerald Downs to be seen by Dr. Schneider. He has more high tech equipment that would more likely find the problem. She could have a bone bruise or a super small tear in her suspensery ligament, but either way I have got to get this figured out! It has been over a month of stall/paddock rest and even though she has improved, it is still not gone. And we don't know what "it" is!

I have been able to ride her bareback in the pasture a couple times during the week. She has really lost a lot of muscle along her back and shoulders. Dang. Oh well, it's almost winter anyway.

Looking for Improvement

It's been three weeks since Mercy got hurt after being chased down by Starlett. The swelling in her leg is most likely gone, but every now and then I think I can still feel some there. She has been trotting sound in straight lines, but ask her for any lateral maneuvers and she gets a slight head bob going. This past week I was directed to try riding her at a walk for up to 20 minutes. I got a few rides in, but we mostly just moved from grass patch to grass patch. I am going to have the vet out again this coming week to see if we can pinpoint the location that is causing the most problems for her and to discuss some possible rehab options.

Until then, we are trying to stay out of the rain and trying to stay positive.

Decision Time

August 15th had arrived. Actually, I had forgotten about this show until 2 or 3 days before it was scheduled! I missed the pre-registration deadline so I had to just show up a little early and register at the show. The show started at 7Am... they pushed the start time up because at their last show they had so many participants that it didn't end until 9PM!
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I actually almost decided not to go. The weather was suppose to be near 100* that day and the venue, Bridle Trails State Park, was located close to 2 hours north of us. This meant we needed to leave by 4:30AM at the latest to make it there in time to pre-register and have time for warm up. Plus, we had never been to this facility! We wanted extra time, just in case. I also hadn't practiced reining at all since our last reining show last May!!! Between work, injuries, truck issues, and the lack of a decent arena, we hadn't done much other than spins in the pasture.
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Anyway, I decided to go. This was the show that would decide if Mercy and I were going to continue reining. If she was absolutely not going to have any of it, and if it was no longer fun for me, then I would never ask her to do it again. I decided that this show was going to be the one to decided it all the day our vet came out and did the x-rays. Reining is hard on horses, both beautifully conformed and not, and if Mercy was ouchy or not having fun like I did, then I was not going to push it ever again. She could just trail ride.
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Luckily, Mercy loaded right up and we were on the road on time. We were worried about parking because it has always been said that that facility had little of it. In fact, the reining club had parking attendants there at 6AM to make sure every one's rig fit. We had no problem finding BT and there was plenty of parking, at least at that time in the morning.
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I jumped out and quickly unloaded Mercy while my mom headed over to the show office to turn in my papers and check. I didn't bathe Mercy the night before (again) because she sleeps in sawdust, which sticks to her no matter what. So why? I groomed her really good, tacked up, and headed over to the warm up pen to get a closer look at the grounds.
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After walking through the trail that leads from the parking area to the riding arenas, I saw that there were actually three arenas. There were two warm up arenas and the main arena. I climbed aboard Mercy and headed into the warm up arena attached to the main arena. I took my time asking her to bend and flex, maintaining a calm mind and attitude. After trotting a few circles of various sizes, I noticed that the main arena was open to the riders to warm up. Bonus!

We were able to carry that light feel into the arena even though giant umbrellas, banners, and announcers systems were all going up and causing lots of distraction. Mercy was easily able to pick up her leads and not once did she threaten to buck. That nice calm warm up really does prepare Mercy to lope off smooth and easy.

We loped to the left for a while and then switched to the right. We completed maybe 2 full circles and then all of a sudden there must have been 20+ riders in the arena! I am so glad to have a horses that can be loping circles in one direction and not even blink an eye when someone loping in the other direction basically rubs stirrups with us as we pass each other. We switched to the left one more time to check out our lead changes and then took a break in the center of that circle. I spun Mercy each way a few times once she aired up and then guided Mercy out of the arena. It was almost time to show and I need to change clothes still! Mercy was sporting her new red and tan zig-zag saddle pad:

They packed in the trailers like sardines, but no one had an issue with it. I just tied Mercy up to the end of the trailer so she had plenty of room to maneuver, if necessary.

The show started at 8AM sharp. And it was already almost 80*. We were draw 4 in our first class- Beginner A. I didn't practice much before the class. I wanted to take this class slow and just use it as a schooling class, taking it seriously but if she needed to spook at something or act up then it was fine to break pattern to fix it while it wasn't a real pattern. Here's how it the modified pattern went:

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Left spins : -1/2

Right spins: -1/2

Left circles: -1/2

Lead change: 0 and penalty: -1

Right circles: 0

Stop: -1/2

Back: -1/2

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Our score was a 67.5! She did great actually. We had no reason to break pattern so I made the effort to improve upon certain maneuvers throughout the run. I wanted to make our large, fast circles just that. Large and fast. Same with our small, slows. Mercy was actually pretty lazy and getting her to move out was a challenge. We got the penalty on the lead change because she didn't change. I had a hard time getting her to trot and try the lead again, so by the time we got the correct lead we were already almost all the way around the first circle...

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Anyway, we ended up tying for 3rd out of 7 exhibitors! What a great start! We headed back to the trailers to get some water and take a break. Our next class was more than an hour away. I tied Mercy up, gave her the last of her hay, and headed back to the arena to go watch the other exhibitors. On my way there I took some pictures of the grounds. Here's leaving the parking area to the arenas, the log you have to cross, and the trail:

Here's the first warm up arena looking out to the main arena, grand stand, and club house:

To the left is the other arena we used for warm up and some used for lunging:

Here's the seating area and club house:

After taking a few pictures of the other riders, I headed back to the trailer. The morning light was still low and glowing, so I snapped a pic or two of our saddle. It seems way to simple, but I love it:

Since our first class went to well, I made the mistake of not taking the time to warm Mercy up for our second class- Beginner B. I honestly thought we would just go into the arena and do our thing the best we could. Well, Mercy had other ideas. Those two or three lope laps around the warm up didn't do much for her. I will let our score speak for itself:
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Left spins: -1/2

Right spins: -1/2

Right circles: 0 and penalty: 2 1/2

Left circles: 0 and penalty: 4

Left rollback: -1

Right rollback: -1

Stop and back: -1

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With a total of 59.5. Ouch. I honestly don't know why I got so many penalty points on our circles, but we did. My mom recorded the whole run and I just don't know enough about the scoring to comment anymore on it. I do know what happened on our rollbacks though! Mercy forgot how to stop! LOL! It didn't help that we were pointed toward the arena gates when we needed to stop, but that's not a good enough excuse. Then, she refused to do a rollback. It was more of a walk in a large circle, then eventually trot into a trot. Argh! Mare! We ended up with 8th place out of 16, so we didn't come in dead last, but it sure felt like it.

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So, instead of going back to the trailer for another break, she got to work for her break. The warm up arena not attached to the main arena was empty so we headed over there and worked on our stops and rollbacks. First I just worked on getting her to stop without me having to rip her head off. once she could stop off my voice and seat pressure, we took a short rest in the arena. When I asked her once again to stop after our break, and she did, I added in the rollback. And guess what? She was right with me. We didn't have to work on that very long and she got the hint that we not here to goof around.

By the time we were done in the arena, it was almost time for us to go into our next class- Beg. horse/ Non-pro rider. We were draw 6 and had to quickly do a few practice spins because we were up next. Good thing I wasn't too worried about that maneuver. Here's how we did:

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Right spins: -1/2

Left spins: -1 and penalty: 1/2

Left circles: -1/2

Right circles: -1/2 and penalty -6

Right rollback: -1/2

Left rollback: -1/2

Stop and back: -1/2

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And another score of 59.5. I still don't know what happened on the right circles to rack up that many penalty points. Some day I will have to show the video to someone who understands this more than I do. Her stops and rollbacks felt amazing though! I was so pleased with her change! I even lost my hat during the run and she could have cared less. Thank goodness!

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After grabbing a hot dog for lunch, at 11 AM, we packed up and headed out. One hour south of BT it was over 95*! I am so glad I ride the morning classes! The rest of the riders and workers were real troopers!

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So, except for my first class, our scores were not very good compared to our May show. Well, at least there wasn't any improvement in our training. Oh well. I knew that already. Mercy never really acted out at the show, so unless I get absolutely zero riding time this winter and spring, I plan on reining in the future with Mercy. I will keep you updated on her injury progress and future fun!

Another Delay...

I honestly have no motivation to blog right now because Mercy got hurt two weekends ago, but I thought I would write a quick update. Basically Star attacked Mercy while they were in the pasture and in the process of her trying to get away, Mercy fell. When she got up she was lame on her front right leg. It swelled up pretty good and was obviously painful. It has now been 10 days and she is still on paddock rest, but she is no longer getting bute daily or having to be cold hosed. Those are great signs.

Anyway, I will get around to writing up about the reining show from last month and should have it up this weekend.

I'll keep you updated.

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend!