The hormones are a little out of control but at least today they are in a good place. Today... I'm so grateful. I'm grateful and thankful that God has answered my prayers with Dan in so many ways. I prayed so hard that he "would just be happy and if all I could do was hack him around, that I would be thrilled". And... I can. I can just hack him around... bareback... in a saddle... ponying Lyric or Funny.... with my other friends... How amazing is that?! And while some days... I'm sad that his athletic career is cut short... that my goals of getting my bronze medal or doing the T3D on him seem to be dwindling... today, I'm still sad about that, but I'm more grateful that I can do what we are doing. He's happy walking, trotting, cantering, and popping over jumps. I bet that once we can gallop, he'll be happy galloping. We're having FUN. He's such a FUN horse. And for all of his "D-Rex" tendencies... he really is an amazing horse. I ponied Lyric off him today... with Marvin and Kelli tagging along. And Dan was lovely. We then split off and trotted around the cross country field and he was such a good babysitter. He has a sense of humor. He loves doing things. He's game for anything. I can probably go chase cows on him... do working equitation, do western dressage, or just beach ride. He's happy to do all of the things. He really is a good egg. And I love him so. And am so glad I can still enjoy his antics.
Today was the first ride back after his shoulder girdle injections. I can't say if there was any improvement vs before as it's hard to assess when I'm ponying Lyric off him and trying to ride one handed. But also, Lyric's injections didn't seem to kick in immediately either. But he wasn't worse! I hauled them both to Ashland and had to groom them. They were wet before the temps dropped and then still kind of damp as it rained for 36 straight hours! And then Dan rolled in the red clay today. Luckily before I pulled his blanket so he wasn't quite as nasty as he could have been. Then I tacked him up and Lyric up and Kelli came to help me. We put her saddle on Lyric and I rode her to see how she felt. I knew Dan and her would not cooperate so Kelli walked Dan to the arena for me and hung out. He was a pest. She was trying to video for me but Dan kept chewing on the lead rope, dragging her away, trying to get in front of the camera, and playing tug of war on the lead rope. Ha ha. Sounds about right. Good news though... Lyric felt pretty darn sound!!
So then we went back to the trailers and untacked Lyric and I got on Dan and Kelli got on Marvin and we headed for the trails. We stopped at the lake and my two splashed around a bit. Then we made the loop around the lake. There were a couple of extra "creeks" we had to cross from all the rain. And the one by the beaver dam Dan jumped and really cracked his back over again. Again, I was not prepared. Ha ha. Poor Lyric didn't have a choice and had to follow. When we got to the XC field I asked Kelli if I could peel off and do a trot lap or two to feel Dan out. She agreed, so we trotted around. At first they were silly and cantered. Nope! Not doing that. Too easy to get kicky! They settled and we trotted around. We also walked down the bank, over the middle ditch, and into the water and up the bank out. Then we trotted a few logs... and accidentally cantered one! Whoops! I wanted to keep playing but they were being silly. Lyric kept trying to chomp on Dan's face and neck and Dan swung his hind end into her once. And I knew Kelli was waiting. She was going to have Lucy drive her over to get her dog and I offered to stay and make sure Marvin was okay in the trailer sitting and waiting. So I headed back in. It was still a fun ride even if it was shorter than I had wanted.
While they went to get Rylie, I let Dan and Lyric graze since they had been good. It was a nice little breather. When they got back and Lucy was dropping Kelli off I was trying to put my trailer camera back in the trailer and Dan turned just hard enough that I ran out of lead rope. He started to trot off! Of course.... Lucy shows up and despite him being perfect ALL day... she saw him get loose! Doh! Luckily he didn't go very far and then turned back when I started to walk Lyric away.
Oh, and on the way to Ashland Brooke was behind me and sent me a photo of their butts. And then when we left Ashland, Caroline was behind me and Kelli and sent us a photo. Ha ha. Kelli said Dan was messing with Lyric. I know! I've got the camera now! When we were almost home Dan was really getting into it. He had his whole head and neck practically upside down trying to chew on her jugular! And then he even double barrelled out! NO sir!! We do NOT do that in the trailer sir! At least he kept his halter on!
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