See... told you I've been saying that a lot. Only, this time.... it might be my fault a little bit. Doh! We technically were supposed to wait til tomorrow to ride but Dan is getting anxious. Okay, I'm getting anxious. Life has been a little stressful, and... Dan is getting restless too. I decided that since the swelling went down and stayed down... it was probably a wind puff thing and perhaps a nice walk hack today and then a more decent w/t/c tomorrow would be wise. That way if he poofed up again tomorrow, I could take it easy again. Or panic. Or both. Okay, maybe that's just an excuse. I don't know... I really really really really wanted to ride. So we did!
Unfortunately Ashland was hosting their dog search and rescue training day. And it was crazy busy with people riding and XC schooling. I was at least smart enough to put on my jump saddle and jump bridle. I got on and Dan jigged and bounced in the little warm up area right before XC. Like.. from the get go. I almost couldn't get him down from the trot to the walk in the jump bridle. But then he settled and we had a nice long 30 min walk with no distractions or shenanigans. And then... we got near the dog training. Dan heard them barking and was on edge. We got near them and unfortunately had to go a little farther to be able to go past them and carry on, or we had to turn around. Dan panicked and tried to spin and bolt. I got him settled and then he decided to be brave and go investigate. And then when we saw them... he panicked and tried to spin and bolt again. And then he got brave again. So we said hi and chatted and then turned and went the other way. And then he heard some bells... like a cowbell. And that made him panic again and he tried to bolt away. On the rock. So I kept him to a walk but then he jumped the creek and tried to bolt. And I held him, so instead he bolted up in the air. Repeatedly. Hee hee. Goober. I did let him trot a little bit and he felt amazing. Nice and sound. So then we walked some more...
And then more panic. Just after the bridge before the lake we came across a woman. She was just hiking I guess. Maybe she was with the dog group but she didn't have a dog. Unfortunately she had a bright yellow bag. So Dan saw that and panicked. His little heart was pounding this time. He tried to spin and bolt. Luckily when I spoke to her she replied and we kept talking. He held it together but was terrified. She froze and said she would just stand still. I told her that wouldn't work because unfortunately now we couldn't see her, but could only hear her. Which Dan HATES! So.. she started walking towards us and poor Dan ketp trying to spin and bolt... which means he kept backing into the woods. Sigh.. NOT good for your rehab Daniel. Not to mention I was afraid we were going to fall into a hole. So I finally jumped off. And almost lost him! Jeepers. She finally dropped the bag and got close enough that he started breathing. Bless her. She was so nice. She tried to pet him and then he saw her bag and almost backed over her. Jeesh! Seriously Dan!!! Sigh... So we managed to get past her and apologized profusely and then I was able to get him to the lake and to the mounting block there and I got back on. 
So then we decided to go back via the XC field rather than the woods. I thought that would be less scary. Sigh. NOPE! Our timing was awful and we were next to the prelim roll top, but off to the side, when Kerry and Kate came cantering up. She jumped it big and Dan used that as an excuse to spin and bolt and rear again. Good gravy! I got him down and then he managed to walk flat footed back up to the top of the hill. He took a breath then and was normal. So we trotted a bit more and he was still sound. Phew! I got off and hosed him off and checked his ankle. No poofyness! So I linimented it and home we went.
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