I Should Have Mentioned… Tuesday, April 28, 2020

I woke up this morning and realized that I told the story of Bates last night, but left out who she was. She was beautiful, with big ears and a kind eye. She was actually a sweet mare, not at all dominant, and never “mareish”. The only thing she did not like was being groomed, which suited me fine. Grooming has never been my passion. At the same time, she was incredibly brave and, of course, talented. She had a huge stride and a hard jump. I rode her in a clinic with George Morris, who loved her jump. He said “Ludger Beerbaum would be jumped loose by this horse!”, as I was jumped almost off the horse by the exercises George set.

I also rode Bates with Linda Allen. She had me gallop down to more triple bars on Bates than I have jumped on all the rest of the horses I have ever ridden, combined. Because it was easy for Bates, and fun. She was fearless and careful and sound and simple. She was accepting of changes of circumstances without fuss, perhaps from her upbringing as a racehorse, though I am inclined to believe such a temperament is innate. I was lucky to be her rider for a while. She made me look better than I am. But she really shone when she met up with Alexis. They were perfect for each other – the gutsy young girl wanting to jump big jumps, and the brave, seasoned mare who just needed the right jockey to hang on and go to the big sticks.

Anyway, this blogging daily is sort of stream of consciousness and might be better with some proper editing and perhaps not being done at the end of a hard day. But then, if I decided to try to write better blogs, I probably wouldn’t write at all, so here we go again.

This morning was sunny and beautiful, with perfect weeding conditions. Roscoe assisted in the garden, his favorite job.

• 

• 

• 

Today was PT day, and Dan gave Harry more exercises to do, while noting the improvement so far, which is significant. Never good enough, though. The therapists insist on good posture and proper walking technique. I expect it will pay off in the end. Next week, we will see Dr. Spitzfaden for another x ray. The femur is the least of Harry’s problems now. The bone has healed, but the inactivity for weeks has created a host of soft tissue problems. It’s just like stall rest for a horse!

Dan told us something interesting. There was an experiment done with top tier college football players. At the end of the season, they took a group of healthy young men, measured their fitness, and put them on bed rest for one week. Then they measured the decline in fitness, and put them back to work. It took a MONTH for these young guys in the prime of life to return to their initial level of fitness after just one week of bed rest – and that was without injury! So, Harry is doing remarkably well, considering.

Jane and I rode in the afternoon. It was hot! The horses were good, but we were uninspired.

• 

• 

Afterwards, I snapped some pictures of the cats…

• 

• 

• 

• 

And some flower pictures…

• 

• 

Weather moved in this evening – big storms, and the forecast is wet. Oisin and Bart came into the barn in the nick of time. Stone has his shed, which he probably won’t use.

• 

• 

Hoping everyone is safe and sound and dry. Stay well, and keep the faith and the distance as we muddle to the other side of this mess.