A Tale of a Big, Bad Bean and Heatstroke

I have mentioned that Comrade has been not quite right for awhile now. After his adjustment by the chiropractor, he was improving, but still not normal. He did everything I asked of him and he actually did the work fairly well. There was just something about how he was moving that was off. I feared we were going backwards, because he was not picking up his right lead. We gave him rest, we worked him, but nothing seemed to fix him.

In addition to the riding issues, we also noticed he was standing parked out while he ate hay in the turn out. And not just once, I am talking every time we looked he was parked. What the heck could be wrong with him? One day Peggy said "Hmm, maybe I should clean his sheath." Comrade is a very greasy horse, who always gets ear wax and definitely build up in his sheath, so it was a sound idea. A look online showed that it could cause some of his weird actions. Peggy armed with KY jelly began the task. Soon Comrade was using his hind leg to gently push her hand away. Mom had to hold his front leg so that Peggy could tackle a big, bad bean. I guess having a bean that big would cause some issues.

With the removal of the bean, he was standing more square. Peggy wanted to see how he was under saddle, but that took me a day. When I finally rode him, he was so much better. And he found his right lead canter. Now I need to get him back in shape. Peggy did manage to get some pictures too.

Happy with the thought of Comrade feeling better, I set to work with my parents receiving a load of hay the next day. This was a bit of a challenge since half the loft was filled with the old pony candy hay. Mom and I went up there to work some hay stacking puzzles. 140 bales, some hay climbing and successful stacking later we made the best use of the space we had. As I finished, I kept seeing flashes of lights in my eyes. Weird. I drank some water and hosed off some of the hay. It was warm but nothing that worried me. Peggy had breakfast waiting, so we all headed in for the meal.

DaVinci was keeping count for us.

My head started to pound while I ate. I drank more water and back in the barn I took some medicine. I felt horrible watching Mom clean up the hay, but nausea kept me rooted. I feared I was getting sick. Both my Mom and sister had caught a nasty bug recently. Eventually I went into the tack room and rested with the ceiling fan blowing. An hour later, I knew it was most likely heatstroke. The loft had no air movement and since I did the top layers, the heat hit me hard. As I cooled, the nausea passed. I decided to go home with my Dad, knowing I had to be careful not to overheat again. Peggy laughed the next day and said that now I know what she deals with. I told her I could do without the personal demonstration.

Next time I will know to be more careful working in that loft. I can't afford to miss these great riding days. I will say I did manage a night ride on Comrade the next day.

Woo Hoo 20 degrees Cooler

I feel like it has been forever since I have written anything. The crazy heat wave made for really long days. We kept the horses in the barn during the day and then would turn them out when the sun started going down. Since sunset is now about 9pm, that meant a long day. By time I finished doing barn work after they went out and made the hour drive home, no writing was happening.

Saturday was so hot and humid. I think the high with the heat index was 108. I did not do much at all, except torture Roscoe by working on his bush.... otherwise known as his mane. He was wiggly, but eventually he stood still for longer periods. His neck at times was almost too relaxed making it hard use the blade. I worked down his mane evenly so one section did not end up shorter. After all the pushing up of his mane to get the long strands he looked like he touched a live socket. I still have more mane to take off and unfortunately, for me at least, it looks like Roscoe's light patch of fur will show once his mane is at the right length. Mom keeps telling me it is the "thumb print of God," but I am not thrilled.

Are you not done bothering me yet? It is time for my nap.

As the sun finally started to set, I decided to brave the temperature. It was only 98, ha ha. DaVinci and I headed out to the front field which has some nice small hills. I knew I would not work him long, so I made the most of the time using the hills to get pushing up and sitting going down. He was a bit distracted by the music coming from the high school down the road, but we managed. And that was the extent of my riding for the last week.

This week is starting much better even with all the fore casted rain. The temperature was only in the upper 70's and only a little humid. Even the horses were brighter without the oppressive heat. All of us, mom, my sister and I, decided we were going to ride. Once we chipped the horses out of the mud, we were off. I rode Rosemary bareback and worked on our bending. She still does not completely grasp the concept of moving off my inside leg, but she is getting better. Mostly we stayed at walk. She did well changing directions with cues from weight aids. Her motorcycle impression kicked in when she was paying more attention to where the other two horses were at instead of me. I found that if I lifted my hands up and over to the outside, keeping my hands even, she gave me the correct bend and took the weight off the inside shoulder. Once through a turn I lowered my hands and centered again. After a little while, I did not need to lift as high or move as far to the outside to get the bend. I really enjoy seeing how Rosemary learns. She makes me think about the movement and not just take it for granted.

Now let's hope the rest of the week will allow riding. Comrade has had way too long a vacation.