Memories of last Halloween

Last year on Halloween I went for one of the best rides of my life on Limerick. It was a beautiful day--crisp, clear, the skies blue, the leaves falling and all shades of red, gold, and brown.

Two other boarders and I rode our horses across the street to the forest preserve. We were out there for hours and Limerick, normally a nervous nellie on the trails, was wonderful. Honestly, it is really one of the best memories of my life.

Among the trees, in the quiet woods, on my horse.

I wish I could do it again tomorrow. But while I won't be on a trail ride, I will be riding for the first time in a month! Yes, that's right, a month. I feel like a bad horse mom. I feed Lim every evening, as usual, groom her five days a week, and pick her feet every day.

But I just haven't been able to ride. Early in the month, the weather was very bad on the nights I wanted to ride. Then during the next two weeks, I was almost afraid to ride--not because Limerick was being misbehaving--but because I really didn't want to risk falling and injuring myself so soon before my ultra-marathon on October 17.

Then, thanks to running said ultra-marathon with a cold, I developed bronchitis and was just very run down and exhausted, and it took all my energy to just get out to the barn and groom Lim. Riding was out of the question, especially since I knew she wouldn't give me an easy time of it!

I've also been having problems with some sort of food sensitivity. I can't quite figure out what the culprit is, but when I eat it, it just wipes me out for the day. Then there's my stiff, knotty neck.

I had been planning to ride yesterday. I lunged Limerick on Tuesday with the ear puffs in, and she was soooo good, she relaxed her tail and stretched her neck out long and low. But during work yesterday my neck started to bother me. I happened to feel a tight tendon on the front of my neck and after looking at it the office bathroom mirror, I became queasy. I have a thing about abnormal-looking tendons in people...particularly if they happen to be on me, and painful!

I want conditions to be just right for my first ride in so long. So I tearfully decided not to ride. I groomed Limerick instead, and she was so sweet to me.

She has a routine vet exam tomorrow morning (eye exam, radiographs of her left fore, possibly discussing the arthritis in her left hock), then I plan on riding in the late afternoon. Hopefully everything falls into place this time!

The Art of the Equine Roll: A Photo Series

Gladstone Ridge, August 2009

Horse ear plugs.

I did it...I went ahead and bought sheepskin horse ear plugs for Limerick. Let's see if that $4.50 really pays off!

Oh yeah, I also got Sit-Tite for my saddle.

Can you tell I'm predicting another wild winter?