Riding on the Road

Axel's turn this time to go down the road. He trotted up to me in the pasture so I figured he was feeling better. He was really tender on the driveway but I gave him a little bute in case he was still off. Found another gross tick when I was grooming, yuck, I hate the big ones. I send Axel in a couple circles in the arena just to make sure and he seemed to be feeling fine so off we went. The barn owner, another border, and I. Axel had his work cut out for him because the other two horses were Tennessee Walking Horses. We had to do a bit of trotting to keep up, which wasn't a whole lot more than if we were riding with Oly. The way back we trotted nearly the whole way, the other horses had sped up a bit and Axel just wouldn't walk out so trot it was. He was trotting sound even on the hard dirt road and I don't think the 1g of Bute he got would cover up much pain so that was a good sign. No bucking or jumping or too much general crankiness at all. Would have been a really nice ride if he was able to keep up at a walk. So in the end I had a pretty sweaty horse but he seemed happy and he needs the exercise, he's getting kind of fat.

Might try and tag along and ride with them again tomorrow, probably Cody this time. Then we have the chiropractor on Friday. Then they want to go to Lebanon Hills on Sunday and asked if I wanted to go. We'll see how Cody is feeling after his adjustment. I'd rather take him since he'd keep up better, but I suppose Axel won't be too bad, I think it's a dirt trail and pretty easy terrain, if we have to trot it shouldn't be too bad. We'll see. I'm pretty sure they know I don't have a trailer so hopefully my guy can jump in with the barn owner. I'm glad to ride with other people finally again. It's a nice break from circling in the arena.