Horse Life

SUCCESS!

KC Scott

Two posts in a row with the title all in caps. Obnoxious, maybe, but also totes necessary. Because P went outside and didn’t die!

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I got to the barn at 1, gave P a generous dose of Ace, then grabbed the bottle of wine BO had thoughtfully gifted me and headed down to the arena to distract myself while the drugs kicked in.

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This is why I love boarding at an adults-only barn

Thanks to a few awesome friends + the most hilarious group text ever, the 45 minutes of waiting for the Ace to take effect passed by in a flash. Michele, Sara, and Bette– you guys absolutely rock.

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Like this gem. They had me in stitches for several hours

Then IT WAS TIME. Since August 30th, every time P has stepped outside his stall, I’ve been tethered to him in some way. Either I’m ON him or hanging on to him. So unclipping that lead rope and backing away was really hard. It was harder to exit the round pen than it was to drop my kid off on his first day of school. Maybe that makes me a terrible mom or too attached to my horse, but hey, just being honest here.

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Hay stretcher + alfalfa cubes = horse crack

P was too obsessed with the mash BO had made him to do anything but stand there and gulp it down. Once he finished, I fully expected fireworks to start then…

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He swung the feed pan around for a little while, then once he realized it was actually gone and started walking around, I tensed up, because surely this was it….

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And that’s really the whole shebang. He got to stay out for a total of 4 hours, which was more than I expected. The vet had said a few hours, depending on how he acted. But even though the Ace surely didn’t last that long, he still kept his brain, even when horses around him started running. He did have a mini-spook when he was right next to the barn dog and she started barking. But it was 4 steps then he got distracted by hay.

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And when I went down to the arena to set cross-rails for a couple of people riding, he just stared at me like the stalker he’s always been.

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I figured once he got away from me, he’d be in heaven. For 5 months now, my presence has meant a prick of the needle, monotonous walking/trotting around the arena, then being locked back in his stall. So this moment was gold for me:

He’ll hang in the round pen for awhile until the pastures dry out more, but between horses surrounding him, the never-ending hay BO supplies, the grass around the edges of the round pen, and the general outside-ness of it all, I think P’s going to enjoy this next phase of rehab.

Plus he’s now going to canter for TWO minutes every other day.

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Published by KC Scott

33 thoughts on “SUCCESS!”

    1. Gah, hit send on accident. I’m so glad that this worked out for you guys. I bet P is gonna love being outside again. Hopefully he keeps being sane so you guys can get back to being awesome at everything together.

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