April 20 2008

Today Lara and I had planned a ride together up Cache Hollow Rd (our first one together of the year). I went out ahead of her to the barn to get Sinwaan ready. I was in the process of brushing him and went to his right side and noticed he seemed very touchy when the brush went near his shoulder. So I put the brush down and started feeling him. He was incredibly sensitive to any sort of touch on his side, from his elbow up to his wither, and I could feel he was soft in that section. Oh for crap's sake! I went to the house to try and call Lara to save her the gas of driving all the way out. Well Dale and Kittee weren't home so I fed Sinwaan his carrots and put him back in the pasture and drove to town to try and meet Lara on the way in. I found her on Main St and she pulled off and I explained the situation. She said the weather was worse at her barn and she had been looking forward to riding so she would come out and ride anyway. So I went back out with her and held Imaginn while she tacked her up and then I drove the truck up the road ahead of her and clocked the milage and got out at each mile and built a little stone marker for myself for the next time I get to ride up here, I will know for sure how far I have gone.

Imaginn did really well and Lara rode her up to the 3 mi marker (I had gone ahead and marked up to 5 miles) and then turned around and headed back. We saw a dead coyote. I was pretty upset that I didn't get to ride today and try out the new saddle I have on loan from Linda B. When we got back to the barn, Dale and Kittee were home and sitting outside watching the geldings. I asked them if Sinwaan had gotten kicked and they didn't think so but they did have a story to tell me about when they turned him out with the two Morgans from Arizona. They said Sinwaan got very aggressive and was chasing them down and biting at them and at one point slammed into the one Morgan and then went down to his knees with his mouth wide open trying to get in a damaging bite. They got it on video but I haven't seen it yet. So Lara and I suspect that he has a shoulder injury - pulled muscle or something of the sort, and then she came out with me again later to apply some liniment and blanket him to help him feel a little better.

So now he gets another week off and I get to fret about making up that mileage before the May ride. Lara didn't like how hard and rough the road was so next time she wants to trailer to the trails at her barn. I said fine by me, we always like a change of scenery to mix things up :)