Month: August 2008

Hap

I didn’t completely manage to forget that Hap had injured himself during the convention, but I did manage not to worry about it too much. I suppose that is a tribute both to R, my horse sitter, and D, my trainer. Nevertheless, I was feeling a little tense this afternoon. Part of it was just typical Worldcon overload, but part of it was worry about Hap.

Continue reading Hap

It’s Always Something

I arrived in Denver about 5:00 pm last night. The Convention Center is very large, and has very hard floors. I was able to pick up my registration, and relax and unpack in our room before heading to dinner.

I received a call from my critter sitter on the way to the restaurant. She had a question about dosage on one of Lody’s medications. We were almost through dinner when I got another call: she had taken Hap away from the other horses, he had a melt-down, and scraped one leg pretty badly. (My sitter used to lease Hap, and I had told her she could ride him if she had someone with her. She was just checking to see what he would be like in the round pen, a perfectly reasonable thing to do. I would have expected worry, but not total hysteria.)

After some conferring back and forth with my trainer, we agreed I did not need to make the 75 minute drive. My trainer drove to our place, helped my sitter clean up the leg, wrap it, and give Hap bute. We decided we would see how sore he was in the morning before deciding whether to call the vet. According to my trainer, she wouldn’t call the vet if it were her horse.

My sitter says Hap is doing well this morning, and my trainer will be going back over to change the wrap later today. It is pretty clear that my trainer is a wonderful person, and that I am going to owe her big time after this weekend.

August Lesson

It has been sufficiently hot that I went to the barn to ride Lily in a lesson at 9:00 am this morning. Lily was okay with being taken away from her breakfast after only half an hour. Even at 9:00 am, it was hot.

I’ve become stronger and riding in a lesson is no longer quite so arduous as it was two months ago. This is a good thing for me, but probably not so good for my trainer, since I now have enough energy to ride and whine at the same time. Before, I barely had enough breath to ride, let alone whine. I spent an embarrassing amount of time collapsed over Lily’s withers gasping. Now I loudly announce “I’m dieing here!” and I still have to keep trotting around the arena for another lap or two.

The past few lessons have included lots of rapid-fire transitions and turns. This is to keep Lily alert and me from over-thinking what I am doing. Lily loves it: she would have made one hell of a cutting horse if she had been a hand or so shorter. (I love watching lots of different types of equine athletics, but for pure enjoyment, watching a good cutting horse is at the top of the list.) I’m working hard to keep up with my horse: though sometimes it feels as though I am being asked to do calculus when I haven’t even done algebra recently.

After the ride we did the customary cool Lily out, let Lily roll in the arena, spray Elaine down, give Lily the extra meal she gets when she works, then spray Lily down. By the time we got to the “spray Lily down” segment I was dry from the heat and lack of humidity.

The “at least it’s a dry heat” doesn’t always work as well as one hopes.