20/05/2023
Yesterday, I hauled Credo to the public arena an hour away, so that I could ride him in a group lesson. This is with both my own long-time mentor and a handful of like-minded people. These folks love their horses and they also love learning and improving. I always feel fortunate to be riding among them.
This was obviously new territory for Credo, however. He was not feeling all my happy feels.
The minute I’d tied him to the side of the trailer, two cattle liners rumbled in to the parking lot. With their throaty straight pipes barking on all the gear changes, they passed right by us and backed up to a nearby chute to unload. Oh, the clangings and bangings of the doors and ramps! Oh, the scrambling feet of the cattle anxious to leave the liner!
Credo stood, wide-eyed and worried, but he kept his head and he didn’t paw or dance around.
Nevertheless, I began to wonder if the last-minute decision to ride my new horse wasn’t ill-conceived? While I’ve owned the little Morgan since last fall, between a long hard winter and his traumatic head injury, I haven’t spent much time actually riding him. Throwing hay and giving needles is about as far as we’ve gone…
Let me just give thanks that the gaping forehead wound has healed without so much as a tiny scar. Thank you God, thank you Credo, thank you to the staff at Highview Animal Clinic!
Anyway, we saddled up and headed past the liners to the big arena. Credo was a little bug-eyed but within ten minutes, he was walking, jogging and loping around like he’d been doing it all his life. His ‘startin', stoppin' and steerin’ may be a little delayed, but he focused well and we went on to have a great lesson.
We even did some work on the flag, which—once the gelding had got over his shock and awe of the flapping thing, running back and forth on its wire—was as important to show him how to trot forward smartly, as it was to stop softly. I was so proud of him yesterday!
When we were done, we moseyed out to the now-quiet parking lot. We unsaddled, had a spray-down of apple cider vinegar and salt on all the hot and sweaty places, then went for a little hand-grazing in a nearby shady corner. I wanted Credo to have one last pleasant memory of this bustling, demanding place… and not solely of loping exercises in a jostling crowd of horses.
I think we were both feeling pretty good about a job well done. Trust me, not all my first public rides with new, green horses are as easy.
This headstall Credo is wearing is a lovely vintage one, purchased a year or so ago in an online fundraising auction put on by Bear Valley Rescue. I think I ended up with the winning bid at only $15, which wasn’t much help in supporting the work of this good organization, but I was thrilled with the opportunity to give the 1960s rolled-leather and nickel-ferruled bridle a home.
A little dab of Skidmore's leather dressing and she’s literally good as new!
***
Since everyone is asking…
This mixture I use is simply Bragg's ACV and regular table salt. It gets sprayed on all the places that have been under pressure, or that might be of questionable soundness, even.
In a regular household spray bottle, put an inch or so of regular table salt and fill to top with natural ACV with the ‘mother’. Shake before use. Gently work in with fingers, for just a moment, to ensure the skin is also wet and not just the hair.
Magic stuff, it draws heat and puffiness out and you can quickly feel if the horse has a hot spot. Even in sunshine, if the horse is fine, it will be cool to the touch. A bang on a leg or a pressure point under a saddle that's not quite right, the place will feel hot enough to boil an egg.
It's a regular thing I use after every ride... in the arena or a long day working on the ranch.
