Something Just Doesn’t Feel Right

Last night we had drill practice so we loaded up Max and I decided to take LLL along to ride before practice started and during the breaks. When we got to the arena I asked MIL if she would pony Max around to warm him up while I rode LLL.

I had to ride LLL in the English saddle because it’s one of the only saddles (beside my western that was on Max) that I reach the stirrups on. We walked and trotted around the arena. Her trot was much more tolerable with the English saddle. She was in a pretty good mood but she wanted to get over by Max and Sis. We rode next to a few other horses and she tried to show them her “bad” side but they didn’t care.

I looked over at MIL and noticed that Max was carrying his head really low. This isn’t typical for him. Then he started moving slower and slower and slower. Something just didn’t feel right and the next thing I know he’s gone down and is just laying there flat on his side (saddled none the less). I “ran” over to him on Lucy while MIL jumped off of Sis and we got him up.

Once he got up he didn’t act like he was feeling too bad but he didn’t look like himself either. I told Terry that if I didn’t think he felt well I wasn’t running him. Before our first run I took him in and loped a few circles on him and he acted fine so I decided to try a run on him. BIG mistake! He was coughing and lethargic and just flat out had no energy. Our captain kept telling me to keep up and I pretty much told her no – I wasn’t pushing him. After we completed the run I refused to ride him again. I told the captain and co-captain if they had any desire to have him healthy and ready to run by next Thursday then I wasn’t running him again. I know some people who would have no problems with that by my horses are more important to me than one drill performance.

The bad thing was we needed to run again. So, I unsaddled Max and threw my western saddle on Lucy. I told Terry not to expect straight lines or speed. When we “ran” in for the entrance Lucy was loping so slow that she bottle necked the rest of the horses behind her (they are used to Max and were ready to go). Needless to say I cut the corners so I didn’t have to lope as far. She did great on the X’s and then she didn’t do too badly on the pinwheel. She started figuring out what was going on and kept up where she could. We actually managed to get through the run fairly smoothly. She was tired though! I don’t think running with the team was what she signed on for.

After the “run” we walked her out in the arena. She started to lose that “bad ass” attitude around the other horses. Then again she was tired too.

I think Max has the cold Sis had a week or so ago. Cat has been coughing a bit too. The vet said it was allergies but I’m guessing it’s a bit more. He has nasal discharge and feels down right miserable. I won’t be taking him to practice until I know he’s feeling 100%. This could mean I’ll need to find an alternate to run during the bull-o-rama next week (not Lucy).