Sometimes all it takes is one moment to change your future. When you look back at it, it seems so small. You can spend hours analyzing everything leading up to it and how you would do things differently to change the outcome. We had one of those moments this summer. It took me a while to write this post because we didn’t know all the answers, some we still don’t. But I will start from the beginning…
It was the 13th of July, everything seemed normal, we were getting ready to leave for morning slack for a rodeo about an hour and a half away. The trailer was hooked up and ready to go, and we were just tying hay bags in the slants. Then we heard a crash from inside the barn and we went running. When we got in the stall, Diesel (my Aunt Sue’s horse) was distressed and trembling. When my Aunt Sue got a hold of him, we saw the cut. He had a big gash above his left hip. We brought him in the barn and kept him calm until the vet could get there.
We still aren’t sure what scared him, he caught his hip on a bolt that was holding a gate together, but we are thinking that he might have gotten stung by a hornet. When the vet finally arrived, after investigating his injury, she discovered that he actually chipped a piece of his hip. We thought that was it and he would have to be put down. After some research and discussion with other vets, one bone chip was removed, and he was stitched up with 17 stitches and had a drain put in. My Aunt Sue was up early every day before work hand walking him, sometimes in the dark, and flushing his drain and then doing it all over again. If you ever tried to hand walk a barrel horse, then you know that was not an easy task. So after a couple weeks of antibiotics, banamine, keeping the area clean, and hand walking, we think he will be okay. Surprisingly Diesel never once took a lame step. At one visit from the vet, she had him trot and he looked exactly as he did before the injury. He then got cleared for monitored turnout in the round pen and now (October) he is able to have full turnout, be lunged, and light riding. We are all really hopeful that he will come back to performance sound in the spring.
I had already decided not to run at the Slot race at the end of July, but because of this, both of us ended up not running. I still lucked out and made some money due to a deal with a friend to run in my slot (which basically covered my vet bills from this year). We stayed home for the rest of July with some riding at home. We didn’t want to take Diesel’s buddy away from him and cause any stress until he healed some. This also changed our plans for some rodeos that were coming up in July and August.
We also had a different plan of attack for the next time we took Stinger to a show, although we weren’t sure when that would be. We think that I may be making him nervous. I don’t always feel like it, but it shows when I freeze in the pattern and stop riding like I do at home. We set up the poles in our arena at home, they aren’t quite spaced correctly, but we are using what we have. Stinger seems to really like going through the poles. We also have been working on some barrel drills and will occasionally lope a pattern.
So, the first Sunday of August we went to a small show. Stinger hadn’t been to a show since the 4th of July rodeo (that didn’t go so well), so our plan was to run poles and straight barrels and keep calm. He actually did so good, no problems in the alley and we actually placed 5th in poles and 4th in straight barrels! I also got a new saddle. My old one was a little bit big and kept throwing me to the left, no matter which horse I rode in it. I don’t know for sure but I didn’t think it was best fit for Stinger and always left dry spots. My new saddle, although very squeaky, seems to fit better and he has perfect sweat marks every time.
The next weekend we kept the same idea, keep calm (me and him) and go in the pole exhibitions only. There were two shows, and he had no problems either day, so then it was time to experiment with barrels. We went early to a show so that I could run a barrel exhibition. I wasn’t nervous at all, I kept my headphones in with music playing, and he went right up the alley and loped a pretty pattern. I had a feeling when I was warming him up that he would go in.
Our next event was the county fair, so in between riding, work, and hauling for PEMF, we were also working on stall decorations and other fair preparations. Find out all about our fair week shenanigans in the next blog post!
The Barrel Racer's Journal 