The Highs And The Lows

Awww geez...If it's not one freaking thing...it's another...

Let me just start with the last couple of days. On Thursday, Moon gave me quite a workout. He was ON FIRE! Man, oh man...he felt good. I'm starting to notice that the day after he gets his Adequan shot that he is just as frisky as a colt. I figured he would be quieter the next day. Nope...Friday he was rearing to go. I took him to the desert for his hill work and he was just powering up and down the hills. I was pretty excited. I figured if he felt this good, two days in a row...things must be back on track. I mulled it over for a bit and decided to take him to the barrel race with me the next day (It was still Friday afternoon when I decided this).

I was in a pretty chirpy mood right up until I watched Moon try to double barrel Spooks through the panel fence and got his hind legs hung up. He wheeled to kick Spooks (which he has NEVER done before) and BOTH hind legs went through the bars of the panel. If the pins that held the panel hadn't bent, he probably would have broken both hind legs.

I don't want to relive the gory details...but I will tell you...I thought I would be calling the vet to come put my broken-legged horse down. It was B.A.D!!!

Moon scraped a significant amount of hair and hide off...from stifle to fetlock on both of his hind legs, but mostly his left. He did strain the ligament that runs on the front-side of the hock, on the left side and worst of all, strained his left stifle.

It's going to be a while before he runs barrels now. Again. :( Maybe ever. As I was doctoring him tonight, I can hear his stifle popping. It's never done that before.

Christ...I was (and still am) just sick to my stomach.

I did not sleep well last night. I was so angry with myself. Angry with Moon. And pissed off in general that every damn time I get this horse right...something happens. I'm about whipped. Mentally...Emotionally...I just don't know how much more I have to give...for the sake of Moon.

Needless to say, when I got up Saturday morning...I wasn't really excited about going to the barrel race. I was physically sick to my stomach and emotionally drained.

If it hadn't been for Frosty, I probably would not have went. Bless Spooks' heart...he is such a good horse and he gives me his all. Sadly...'his all' is never going to make him a top-end horse. Believe me, I sure do appreciate the horse for how well he has done. But, I'm in it to win it. I want a 1D and a rodeo horse.

I have the feeling that Frosty is going to be that. Eventually. But he needs hauled and seasoned. Soooo...

I got everything ready and checked Moon's legs...thought they would be massively swelled, but was pleasantly surprised that there was no swelling and only one hot spot...right in front of the hock. He was not lame and I did not hear his stifle popping. I thought maybe we escaped better than I could have ever dreamed (this was in the morning...it was the evening, after I got home that I heard the popping in the stifle). That kind of lightened my mood a bit...I loaded Spooks and Frosty and away we went.

It looked to be a very small barrel race...so after getting the boys ready, I decided it was a small enough crowd that Frosty could handle it without having to be ponied first.

He did wonderfully. So hard to believe that all of last year I was taking my life in my hands to even attempt to ride him in an arena with other horses.

I exhibitioned him twice. He did not do quite as well as he did last weekend. He is still struggling to change his lead going from 1st to 2nd barrel. He doesn't always get it switched, which of course, makes it difficult for him to complete his 2nd turn. After the exhibitions I asked L what she thought and she said that she would like to see me push him a little harder. He's looking around too much and not really focusing on what he is supposed to be doing. I figured she was probably right. I have pushed Frosty much harder in practice and he can handle more speed.

I ran Spooks first and he did awesome. He took a full second off of his time from last weekend. He's back to where he was last year. He ran a 20.2.

I ran Frosty 2nd and due to some timer glitches and a stake being pulled...I kinda lost track of where they were. I was standing there yacking with another gal and she says, "I think they called your name." Oh crap. LOL...Yep...Everyone was staring at me. (blush) I gathered Frosty up and headed for the gate. One of my goals with Frosty is to get him running straight to 1st without circling...if he picks up the correct lead...we go. If not, I regather him, start a circle, get his lead and then go. He almost picked up his lead...I could feel him wanting to...but he didn't quite get it. So we circled. I waited until he was lined up and then asked him for some speed. He gave it to me. :-o His first barrel was so spot on and he came out of it really good. About 1/2 way across the arena, he started to feel a little lost. He switched his lead and then switched it out again. Kinda got bogged down behind the barrel until he got his inside lead picked up and then he left reasonably well. I think I must have stopped pushing him at that point because when we were approaching 3rd barrel, he was switching leads and ducking back and forth. Not quite sure where that pocket needs to be. It's kind of hard for me to lock onto a spot when he's doing that. I find myself looking down at his shoulder. :-/

He did take the 3rd barrel correctly, but didn't have any momentum and kind of wanted to keep turning it. I got his head straightened out and asked him to 'run' for home. Frosty isn't too sure about this 'running' thing though. Whenever I ask him to r.u.n., he lifts his head up, cocks it to the left and rolls that eye back to look at me...'Are you sure mom? I dunno...we are going kind of fast already.' LOL...He is a trip, this big, yellow dummy of mine. I reached down and slapped him in the shoulder with my hand a couple of times and that seemed to help get him focused on running again. I contemplated carrying a bat with me for this run, but decided at the last minute that might be too much. But I think he is going to need a little encouragement soon. It's a lot of work to keep him motivating.

Anyway, with all of that...Frosty took over 6 seconds off of his time from 2 weeks ago. He went from a 29 second pattern to a 23 second pattern. It's the same arena, so it's comparable-pattern size, ground conditions and all that. I was hoping he would at least be a 25, so for him to take those 2 extra seconds off made me very happy.

Obviously, Frosty was still way to slow to place, but Spooks picked up his 2nd check for the year. LMAO...That darned black horse has the luck of the Irish. Yea, I didn't realize Spooks had placed last weekend. Drove off without my $$.

This got long...but I've got a few thoughts on all of the boys...