Limmy!

Limerick, Joey and McMurphy (R-L)

I feel like I haven't posted enough about Limerick lately. After all, I started this blog because of her--she's the main focus here!

She has been doing really well. I changed her supplements around a little bit; previously she was on Smartpak's SmartHoof and SmartFlex Senior. The latter has probiotics, but in my quest to improve her digestive health even further, I decided that more/a wider variety of probiotics would be better. So after some comparison, I decided to switch her to SmartCombo Pellets. These pellets have SmartHoof, SmartFlex II Support (a decidedly better joint supplement than SmartFlex Senior), SmartShine and SmartDigest--is that a mouthful?!

Furthermore I had noticed that Lim was starting to leave more and more of her old supplements behind in her pan. I think this is likely because of the fact that the barn help dumps the supplements in the pan first, then adds the grain (versus top-dressing the grain with the supplements), so having everything in pellet form ensures she eats it all. And she does.

So far she is doing well on the new stuff, but it will take a couple months to see maximum benefits. The probiotics work quickly, however--there are already three piles of manure in her stall in the evening on a regular basis, versus two.

I've been slacking on the rides for the month of June, partly due to Lim having a stone bruise on her LF sole and partly due to being so busy with Dara (Oil Money's Dream) and our trip to Kentucky.

But I did ride her last night...and she was rather bratty. She challenged my riding skills in ways that they haven't been challenged in years. For one, she had two speeds--warm-up and "go, go, go!". I need to start doing transitions regularly again so she can settle and not feel compelled to move at 100mph all the time, or try to (after my ride, I was told by an observer that Limerick's canter seemed so light and smooth, and I said "Yeah but she's a lot stronger than she looks!").

For two, if I had any doubts about her reluctance to rejoin the pasture herd before, I certainly don't now. Towards the end of the ride, during the cool-down walk, the pasture herd made their way up from the lower pasture to the water trough. They then stood at the fence line, watching the going-ons in the outdoor arena. Once Limerick realized they were hanging around, she balked at going into the corner of the arena closest to these horses. If that girl knew what rearing was (I swear she doesn't know how--I've never seen her do even a baby rear, in turnout or under-saddle) then she would have been rearing aplenty. I may as well have been asking her to walk through a pond full of crocodiles.

I had a brief moment of "Oh crap, what do I do now? I can't end the ride on this note!" but then I remembered--just be patient. And patient I was. Within 20 minutes I had her walking quietly through that corner of the arena. After a lot of praise, I finally dismounted for the night.

So yeah, I think putting her back in the pasture herd is definitely out, even though the horse that had been chasing her (as well as others) has been kicked off the property. Oh well, what can you do?