Lazy Ride

Finally! I got out to ride Dollar today!! Sheesh, I mean, it's almost been 3 weeks since I last rode him. Sigh. I'm such a bad horse mom.

Anyways, got out to my parents place around 1:00 this afternoon to ride and play with Dollar. I went in the house for a bit and played around with my nephew and then bundled up and headed to the back. Seeing as Dollar didn't have a halter on, I just grabbed a lead rope to put around his neck to lead him to the barn.

When I got the holding pen, I called out his name like usual and noticed something a bit odd. Usually he comes right up to the gate when I call him, but today he was moving slowly and stiffly. Did not like the looks of that. I quickly ran into the pen and went to go look him over. He seemed OK, with a couple of patches of hair missing (thanks Mars and Reno), but he was indeed stiff. I think part of the reason for the stiffness is that part of their holding pen has frozen shit all over the place, especially where the feeding mangers are. Also I don't think he's been outside 24/7 in winter since I sold him in 2002. I loved him up a little and then put the lead rope around his neck and lead him to the barn.

While we were walking towards the barn, I kept looking over him to see where he was stiff and it seemed to be the back legs the most. The front were OK, but you could tell that the back legs were stiff. I got him to the barn and of course, had to take a lovely photo of him.

My trusty old man

Once we reached the barn, I tied him up and got my stuff ready to ride. Quickly warmed up my bridle, put that on him and grabbed my saddle. Had to lengthen the girth a bit seeing as he's put on some winter weight and it didn't fit at his usual spot anymore. Lol. And of course, with it being winter and me bundled like the abominable snowman, I had to use the fence to climb up on him. Never fails. Snow pants don't give you enough room to stretch up into the saddle.

Once I was mounted, we started our very light workout. And I could tell right away that he was not happy to be working and that he was indeed stiff. Very stiff. I just asked him to walk aruond the arena while I assessed how he was moving. On the front end, he seemed to be OK, but he kept pinning his ears back like last time and I knew something must be hurting him. Either that or he's ticked off that we're in the pen and not outside hacking. But his back end was indeed stiff.

After walking around for a while, I tried moving him into softer snow to see if that would help his situation. He seemed a bit better that he wasn't walking on rocky shit all the time, but his attitude was clearly saying more. Then I saw my Dad come outside and he said that he wanted to take a photo of me and Dollar. Now for those of you who know me, this probably is a shock. For those who don't, I'll explain.

See, everyone in my family rides Western, except for me. I'm the only one who rides English. And my Dad doesn't necissarily like it. So when he came and took a photo today, saw me in English and didn't say anything, that had me by complete surprise. Maybe he is coming around...

After Dad took a photo or two of me, he took my nephew home and me and Dollar continued our workout, only to cut it short a couple minutes later. I didn't like the way he was moving, so I hopped off and took him inside the barn to warm up and give him a good grooming.

Put him in one of the stalls, gave him an apple and some grain and went to loving him up. Also decided to try winterizing his tail again to see if it will grow. He's ripped quite a bit out, and I'm not impressed. Once he was finished his treats and all loved up, I put him back outside with promises to be back on Friday (hopefully with his Christmas present).