I'm an idiot, and praise to two fillies.

Devil chewing at the track

Yesterday, Devilofanargument placed 2nd in a field of 8 at Penn National.  If you haven't been following long, Devil is a gorgeous little filly that I had the pleasure of working with for two weeks (too short of a time for too nice of a filly!) when she was coming back from a layup at our farm.  Bekka rode her to prep her for the race, but when the filly failed to factor at all, her owner moved them to another, more racehorse-central farm.  I don't think it was the best thing for Devil, but whatever, that's racehorses.  Anyway, a Penn 5k is a drop in class from her last two at Philly (7.5k), but whatever, I'm proud of her for running well and losing by just a length and a half.



Mi Precisoa on her way to a 2nd place finish in December.



Another filly that we met when Devil ran was a gorgeous gray named Mi Preciosa.  Her owner (or trainer) walked her back with us and seemed very happy of the game effort she put in.  That filly lost by a nose today after not being able to quite get up in a 7.5k at Philly.  Yay for the ladies!

Now - in regards to my magnificent horse:  I had to apologize to him today.  Yeah, he's been a dick lately.  Yesterday he bolted with me towards the gate and was being very agrumentative.  All week he's been arguing with me, really, and I was convinced it was him (and finally not me!).  Well - it's never the horse, is it?  Today we walked, trotted and cantered in both directions in the same ring he was bolting in, and he was fantastic, but a bit lame.  His ringbone has flared up again very sublty, and I was too busy arguing back at him to notice.  I'm sure now that with the warm weather and then the cold snap, his joints were achy.  Despite being a little short at the trot, he really wanted to canter, and so at one point I got into a half seat and let him get his runs out without asking for any real work.



Gali and his new BFF, Jack.

 

He moved easily into a slow hand gallop, with his ears and his back up, and I really enjoyed his ground eating stride.  I also almost ate ground!  I can't help but lean on his neck sometime - it's huge, and inviting, and helps me feel more secure when my hands are resting there, so I know he can't take off unless he takes off against himself, and I can easily bridge my reins.  Anyway, today he got a bit caught up in some loose ground and tripped from a good canter, and because I was more over his neck than I should have been, I fell forward.  He caught himself up, and instead of stopping because of the break in stride, he used his lurch up to also continue forward into the canter, plopping me back over my heels.  Bekka couldn't stop laughing at how he totally saved my ass.

 

I do have a dilemma now.  Do I keep riding him, or wait out the flare up?  Obviously I'm putting the dressage work on hold, but cantering around the track, hacking in the ring and on the trails - light work?  I don't think I'm going to cut that out if his lameness stays as it is and doesn't get worse.  He isn't head bobbing, and he really just feels stiff and short strided.  I think that the move moving about he does, the better his joints will feel.  Any opinions? 

I've texted my vet and sent an e-mail to Gali's trimmer, just to ask their opinions as well.

And in an astouding update, Mr. I Hate Other Horses was being a lovebug today.

Gali and Katie - and neither of them squealed!

Gali then moved on to Jack... with Katie's jealous ears.