The plan was for some of the gals from my old riding lesson to come out and go for a ride. Lisa ended up being the only one that was available on Sunday. I had to walk down the hill to get the boys since they finally found the grass in the back pasture. I thought to avoid extra trips I'd get both Cody and Axel at the same time. It was a little confusing trying to lead them both but we made it. Cody prefers to walk up the hill a lot faster than me, though, and by the time we got to the top I was out of breath. Guess I better walk up the hill a few more times. Axel was walking a little funny but it didn't seem too bad and I thought it was just from climing the hill. I groomed both the horses in the paddock while Kiko and family hung out watching. Everything was great. There wasn't even wind for once. It was going to be a good ride.
Lisa hadn't arrived yet and I didn't want to tack up until I knew what kind of saddle she wanted to ride in, or what horse she wanted to ride so I shut the paddock gate and untied the boys so they could wander. Kiko and the rest got bored so they left back down the hill. Cody proceeded to throw a fit, and Axel limped around even more. Just to happens that Cody has positioned himself in a way that he can hang out with Kiko and not get beat up by Corey for doing it. And to make matters worse, Kiko is in season. Cody was quite pissed that I wouldn't let him go play with his girlfriend. When Lisa arrived I decided not to risk it and turn Axel back out and go get Corey. So back down the hill I went. Atleast this time they weren't at the bottom. So now both Corey and Cody were having a fit in the paddock because we took them away from their woman. Corey was a lot calmer than Cody. I had to saddle Cody while he paced. He was already drenched in sweat at this point.
We finally managed to get them tacked and mounted up and headed for the hills. Of course we had to pass through the herd on the way which resulted in some fighting and kicking. Corey was an angel and walked on ahead while I fought it out with Cody. After much longer than usual we made it to the bridge. And we weren't alone. Everyone else had followed and wanted to cross the bridge with us. So the good news is, I don't think they are scared of the bridge, or atleast the thought of going to the other side. The bad news is that Kiko was leaning on the stretchy gate, so now she knows it's not electrified. But even with the temptation of Cody and Corey being on the other side, the other horses did stay on the side they belonged. So after a lot more fighting we remounted and headed up the hill. Both horses were doing better at this point. We trotted a bit and went around the edge of the cliff and then headed into the woods. That whole portion of the ride was nice. Both horses were listening pretty well. Cody slid down the steep hill on the far side of the woods little faster than I would have liked. I think he figured the faster he went the sooner he'd get back to his woman. Back out of the woods I had another fight with Cody. He wanted to head back to the barn, I wanted to go back through the clearing. I won. We had a little canter in the clearing before heading back down the hill.
Here's where the real hilarity ensued. We dismounted, I was going to go open the gate but I was waiting for Lisa first. Corey decided to cross the bridge by himself and was stopped abruptly when he got to the stretchy gate. With no where to go at this point he decided to get off the bridge. So now Corey's between the fence and the creek. Luckily he only went a few steps before stopping. I brought Cody across the bridge and opened the gate and tried to coax Corey out. He made a run for it, passed me and Cody, and took off for the rest of the herd, stepping on his reins in the process. Thank goodness for clip on reins. He stopped 10 feet or so behind me where Kiko was grazing. So I went to grab for his reins and Cody took off. I handed Corey off to Lisa and grabbed Cody. Once again we remounted and rode on. Since the herd was hanging out with us Cody was calm as can be. I guess next time maybe we try and pony Kiko along and see what happens. :>
We made it back up to the barn with only one more fight from Cody and untacked and turned both the horses out. They ran back down the hill without so much as looking for any after ride treats from us. After Lisa left I went back and grabbed Axel so I could take a look at his leg closer. I soaked it in some cold water for a while but he doesn't like standing in a bucket very much. I turned him back out thinking he'd be fine. Then I second guessed myself and gave Tricia a call to see what she thought. She ended up coming out and helping me out. She tried to shave his ankles but her clippers didn't have a blade and the little hand shaver only worked for a few strokes before it was too dull. She doused him in Betadine and wrapped both his back legs up. We came to the conclusion that his mud fever is still not gone and it's probably infected now. So hopefully we can kill the infection before it spreads to his legs or gives him a fever. He wasn't quite sure what to think of the leg wraps when we let him go. He wasn't completely lame when we started but since he's never been wrapped before he thought he was lame after that, and hopped along holding his one foot up really high. Goofy horse. Tom said at supper last night his wraps were still on but he was still limping a little on that left rear. Hopefully he'll keep them wrapped until we get out for our lesson tomorrow. I think we'll still be able to ride since it's not an injury type lameless, but just sore from infection. We'll have to see how he is.
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