Ouch!

Pictures of Blaze's wound from rolling down a hill onto a rock on Tuesday morning! He loves to roll on steep ground and slide down headfirst while wriggling and flipping back and forth! It's quite a sight that I've meant to video. Maybe this wound will cure him of that fun activity though!

I feel fortunate that I saw the injury a very short time after he did it and got him to a good vet. Dr. Richardson in Colville sedated Blaze and pulled the flap back to reveal a deep puncture wound! After flushing and suturing the inner part, he laid the flap back and sewed it all up. He said it should heal up just fine. Blaze is happy and enjoying his stall and the accompanying attention. It's been two days since the injury and the site looks as good as in the "after" picture.

Extreme Trail, Roping, "Real" Trail...

I went back to Shannon's for another Extreme Trail practice. The emphasis was on swinging a rope, roping a dummy or bale, and dragging a log. Tammy went this time and her son and his girlfriend met us there so we brought a full trailer load. It was more productive than the last time because this time, everyone's horses were pretty well schooled, not necessarily on trail obstacles, but on general handling. Cayenne and I finally conquered the teeter totter bridge to the point where she'd just stand on it after it "tottered." It was shorter one than others we've worked on and not as scary.

I practiced roping quite a bit. Cayenne was pretty content to stand and let me rope the bale over and over. I also drug the log and a blue barrel. She was fine with everything. Since everyone got done working the obstacles so soon, we went for a nice trail ride up in the hills. There was a lot of climbing so it was a great workout. The prancy dancy horses weren't prancing anymore! I made Cayenne follow most of the time so she doesn't get locked in the mindset that she's the leader all the time. She was a little antsy at times, especially after she got her second wind, but did fine.

It was fun taking just one horse but I get lots more accomplished when I take a few. The Cowgirl Co-Op should be opening back up in a few weeks so the practice will be held there.

Brief Update on Cayenne & Blaze

My dad put new shoes on Little Cayenne yesterday. I had him put the small sliders on her to see how she works in them. She slides pretty well in regular shoes so I think mini sliders will be fun! I'd like to find out whether I can avoid super sliders. I want to show her in reining but my main focus is extreme trail. I don't want her footing to be in question while training for or competing in trail. From experience, I know regular shoes are not the best on some of the large rock outcroppings in the hills. The little sliders were worse, of course. I avoid the large, flat rocks when I can but I don't want to hinder my riding too much just so I can get a big slide in the arena! We'll see how it goes!

I've been riding Blaze sporadically. I took him for one ride alone up the hill from Dad's. Walk, trot and canter, down the hill under the powerline, through the brush, etc was all fine with him. He got a little humpy with me a couple times yesterday but I hadn't worked him in over a week. The "humpy" was more in his neck and pinched ears, so it was more of a thought than an action. I just pulled his head around to discourage him and squeezed him back out into a trot. He was feeling pretty spicy yesterday, from the time I brought him in, so I knew I was in for more of a challenge. I'm hoping to get shoes on him in a couple weeks and get him worked enough to take to the Pat Wyse clinic at the end of April. I have outside horses starting to come in so we'll see how much time I end up with for my own.

** Update on Blaze: I figured out why he was humpy the next day when I was brushing him. His hair was roughed up on either side of his withers. I double checked the fit of his saddle and he has grown too wide, making it perch up too high and hurt him. Simple fix! I had an excellent ride on him with the correct fitting saddle!