So the other day I get a message that Alina has come up bona fide lame.
This is very interesting.
Her regular rider has been out with tonsil surgery, and the other girl who rides her hasn't ridden in over a week, so my horse is standing in her paddock minding her P's and Q's and mysteriously becomes lame.
The general rule of horses is that if there is a way for them to hurt themselves, they will. And there is always a way. There also seems to be some unwritten rule about catastrophes happening more often to the un or underinsured horse vs. the fully covered one.
I get this news on a Friday, and I'm not overly worried. Once you've gone down the Fistulous Withers Route, a "little off" really is not a big cause for concern. I usually panic when the "c" word is mentioned (not THAT one) since neither of mine (knock on wood) have had their bowels in a tangle, I haven't gotten that call, or if there is blood, a puncture wound, or a lot of heat and swelling I panic.
I decide to head to the barn Saturday, and pray someone will be there to trot the mare out for me, since the days of me handling horses (any, even Monkey) are over until August.
Saturday morning I make it to my niece's first open show. Miss most of the classes, which are run out of order, but manage to see her take reserve champ in pleasure. That's lovely. She's come so far and I'm proud that I gave her the gift of horses. Keeps her out of trouble and keeps her self esteem up.
Within 30 minutes, I'm sweaty, bitchy, swollen and all done with the heat. It's 80 degrees out, I'm at a horse show surrounded by thin teenagers swapping horses and polishing boots and all I can think about is my cankles, the fact that I have a lame horse and I miss riding riding, officially, for the first time since I got pregnant.
I pack up my crap and head to my barn to see Lina.
Who is definitely lame.
With no heat, swelling, pulse or any other indicator of lameness besides the tell tale head bob in the ring.
What the?
3 of us are standing there looking at her (and she gave a magnificent spook when the chickens in the corner of the indoor engaged in some very boisterous chicken sex) and trying to figure it out.
I did notice that her right foreleg, the one I am suspect to pinpoint, has a very odd angle on the inside of the hoof. Her club foot.
It would appear to me (not that I'm a lameness expert or anything like that) that she had worn her hoof down at such a drastic angle that it torqued her pastern, knee, elbow and shoulder enough to be a pain at the trot.
This did not happen last time, when she was being ridden 4 times a week, or at the trainer's.
The only difference, aside from lack of work, was that the farrier trimmed her too short. Short enough to warrant a week off.
SONSABITCHES.
So I call the farrier and manage to get him out 10 days early. He hoof tests her feet, nothing. No abscess coming as we both thought in the back of our minds. He said everything looks good but that ANGLE.
I remind him to keep her a little long up front. Girl's got a clubby foot, man, don't cut her toes off.
Also she got a new pair of sneakers.
Somehow this entire process got me thinking about Lina's future. I'm not sure how these things all linked together, but I had an epiphany.
I decided that Lina will go to my niece next year.
They would get along great, and my niece will have more experience under her belt as a rider and horse person. Lina will get a full time job
(and also, part of me has reverted back to a teenager, thinking of how very awesome it would be to be a 14-15 year old girl and have, hands down, THE nicest horse in the barn)
I approached this with my mother, who looked completely horrified at the thought of my niece and Lina together. She referred to Lina as "the wild one". I assured her that this was a year off, Lina had been great for the trainer and would be worked a lot more in the coming months. I mentioned that my niece would have her very own horse, for less than what my mother is paying for a half lease, and could ride whenever she wanted and that she would have the nicest horse in the barn. And also, her generous aunt could come and ride the horse whenever she wanted and show if she wanted. So, technically, my niece would be a co-owner of one very fancy Oldenburg mare. (Which would be totally awesome, since the kid feels so slighted that all the other girls don't have after school jobs, but do have new saddles and bridles, some lease some own, and they ride more than her).
I am a goddamn genius.
Except methinks her instructor will take one look at Alina and say
"THAT is not a hunter."
(no shit).
Her instructor, whom I have seen ride just a couple of times, is said to be (but I have not witnessed) a very tough trainer (on the horses). I would not want her on my Lina.
I would also not want anyone else on Lina, and she would not be used in lessons for anyone EXCEPT my niece.
Lina would not survive as a lesson horse.
Actually, the students would not survive lessons on Lina.
She's a one rider kinda girl. She needs to form a relationship with her person, and be doted on and loved and brushed and grazed and told she's the most beautiful mare in the world.
PERFECT for a teenager.
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