Hope

it's been an odd year. cute sereele has fallen to her knees and lost her balance 3 times under saddle. very concerning and distressing for me. Tim has done an amazing job getting her hoof angles correct, but still the stumbling. we have been to Stow and Lake dennison a few times with chris and socks and have had a great time, she is really really good on rides away from home, I know she will be a great horse if she can stay upright. I took her up to Lisa Terrell's for a training session in her arena and she looked like crap. short strided, on the forehand, stumbling. not good. so i've been pretty bummed out, wondering if she has neurological problems, some kind of pain, or is she just totally uncoordinated and will always be dangerous to ride. Dr Carmel is coming friday to do some testing and the chiropractor in novemember to see if we can get any answers.
In the mean time Chris and I went to Rene's ride in shirley on sunday. this was Indy's first ride as a 4 year old when judy rode gem and we were lost for almost 5 hours. it was a nightmare! then last year I rode KC with rebecca but Sonny wasn't feeling well so KC and I finished on our own. why would I want to go back with such a great track record there? well the people are super nice, it's close and really beautiful this time of year. oh and LOTS of food! I hoped to go out late so I wouldn't have to deal with too many horses in front or behind. well thanks to Socks, we were very late so no problem:). he was an ASS about loading. took about 40 minutes to get him in. he would either just shut down and not move or totally freak out if tapped with the whip. ug, I give chris credit for not beating the snot out of him. I took him at one point but gave him back before I regretted what my temper would make me do. finally he decided to go in on sereeles side. fine! whatever! meanwhile sereele was just free eating on the front lawn, we got her and she hopped right in. once at the ride we unloaded sereele and suddenly a horse was loose and racing around with it's bridle around his front legs. afraid socks would freak out we quickly got him off the trailer. he proceeded to eat grass in a nervous fit, tearing it out of the ground in a manic frenzy. what is going on with him? this is so unlike him. sereele was quiet and happy to eat in a normal lady like manner while I tacked up. chris bravely mounted up and I led sereele out to the street. socks appeared to be over his mental illness once chris got on and settled right in, thank God. sereele was her usual good but nervous and spooky self and I got on after about 1/4 mile. socks was power walking up the street, we had to trot to keep up. sereele felt great today. strong. we turned off the street into someones back yard with a huge puddle that I had to beat KC over last year. sereele just skimmed around the edge, no problem. we did some nice easy trotting, I told sereele to lift up her feet over the roots and as I said it socks picked up his feet very high. it was so funny, like when I mentioned the alligator before and he did a monster spook at a log. so we decided he was listening to me and I would tell him what to do. didn't work when I told him he could poop and walk at the same time though. we did some slow trotting and walked down the hills. came to the orchard and they were both pretty pumped in there. chris said socks was not behaving but we made it around and I commented that this was the first year I didn't get lost in the orchards thanks to her eagle eyes seeing the markers. spoke to soon. we nervously passed a howling dog as I yelled out for her to slow down and she said "i'm trying" and then the ribbons were gone. luckily I knew what direction to go from previous years so it worked out. we came to the photographer and sereele posed cutely like a little model. socks was having a hissy fit and wouldn't stand still. I can't wait to see the scowl on chris's face when we get her pictures. hahaha. then onward and lost again in the orchard but found some ribbons and continued on. down a steep muddy hill, I got off and let sereele slide down on her own. picked up an apple and had a bite then split the rest with S&S. kept leading her up and down the roller coaster hills. back on and we came to the decision point. we'd done 6 miles and could do 6 more or just go back. Sereele felt so strong and coordinated I wanted to push the envelope and do the 12. chris agreed so off we went! the next 6 miles were loopy and up and down, sereele went first most of the way. very brave. afraid of a mossy tree and a bright yellow tree but kept going. socks did have to get her past a few scary spots, but all in all she was fantastic. did one impressive sliding stop at a puddle that was apparently quite different than the other 100 puddles she had seen that day. instead of tiring she wanted to go faster, I think she just wanted to get home, but I am happy with her energy level. she did one bad stumble and let out a big grunt but other than that the tripping was minimal. we trotted over lots of down trees and went through some nasty stone wall areas. oh yeah, one stream was one of the ones that you have to go down into then back up. socks didn't like the looks of it so I brought sereele up to it, she had actually crossed a few previously ahead of him. he decided no way was she going first and smashed up the other side nearly taking off chris's knee cap, I think we both had our eyes closed. I missed a few markers but chris caught them and we made it back out to the street and back to the trailer. I was so proud and happy, new hope that she will be OK. she drank from puddles and ate leaves and even peed under saddle. good endurance qualities! and she even sweated alot- no anhidrosis! socks was very well behaved on the ride, but back at the trailer he reverted to retard. screaming for sereele when chris tried to take him to get a piece of pizza and not loading again. they had their yummy mash and grass for a while, we ate and loaded up. socks only took about 5 mintues and wanted the other side this time. sereele actually hesitated before loading as if to say "he is on MY side." but she set a good example for her older, supposedly wiser friend. :) so I had a great final ride of the season. I will remember it to help get through the long winter ahead :(. even though socks was in Chris's words "heinous" he really was a good boy overall and much appreciated to help sereele have a good calm experience on her new adventures.