Horse Did What?

Horse will be off until this fall due to messing up her sacrum in the great suicide attempt of 2010. She should have a full recovery.

After I came home, I started working with her again. I longed for several days, and she was very well behaved on the ground and on the line. After the third day, I got on for about fifteen minutes. I walked her around, working on suppling her.. Easy stuff. She was a little fussy, but I chalked it up to being off for several months.

Any horse is bound to be a little cranky after "early retirement".

The next day, I put her on the line. Still good. I climbed on.. And she did not feel like any Horse I'd been on earlier. She refused to go forward and, within fifteen minutes, resorted to rearing. Except, she didn't have the strength to hold both of us up in a rear, and before you could say "I think she's gonna.." and before I could bail off, we went sprawling on the grass.

I bounced up as my baby scrambled to her feet. We were both shaking, and she walked to me, quivering but quiet. She put her head on the full length of my body, blowing nervous air on my hip as I scratched her head and neck. She was terrified, and I felt sick.

Something was wrong.

Well, remember when people were telling me she was just being bad? They were wrong. I should have had her looked at sooner, but I'll admit, there was a part of me that thought maybe they had a point.

On the day the barn stood still last summer, Horse damaged her sacrum on her left side, which caused the flip in December. My biggest regret is not listening to her sooner and thinking her misbehavior was just bad manners.

How many "bad" horses would there be if we would slow down and listen? How many dangerous habits have we fostered because we didn't step back and see the signs?

Granted, there are some bad apples in the bunch.. Ponies too far gone or genetically wrong. But I can't help but think that Horse would have become one of those if we'd pushed her.

-- Girl