Not a happy camper!

Last Sunday Axel was in fine form. I brought him into the barn and tacked him up, lunged him for a while. He was feeling pretty lazy and wasn't interested in running and bucking at all. I finally got on and walked him around for a while. It was so nice out I decided we should head down the road a little so we could keep moving but get some fresh air. We headed into the ditch and walked along until we got to the spot between the two fields. Axel stopped to look around and be the usual lazy Axel. I asked him to turn and head between the fields and before I knew it I was on the ground next to him and he was grazing. I have no idea what happened. He wasn't pissed as far as I could tell, there was no tell tale tail swishing or ear pinning. So I don't know what his problem was but he had all four feet off the ground and I flipped over his shoulder. I'm almost positive I landed on my feet and then stumbled backward and hit the ground. I wrenched my arm, side, and shoulder trying to rescue myself and keep hold of the reins. Though I had no need to worry since Axel was more interested in grass than going anywhere.

I grabbed him and tried to lead him over to the side of the ditch so I could mount easier. He decided (after weeks and weeks of standing knee deep and running through mud) that he was not going to step in the wet part of the ditch so he launched himself over the ditch and kicked my right leg in the process leaving me with a purple goose egg bigger than my hand. Needless to say Axel spent some quality time on the lunge line in the arena after that. He actually cantered both leads soundly until he was sweated up pretty good. Probably the most exercise he's gotten in a year. He even did some trotting that looked more on the side of sound than usual. Maybe a little stretching out is good for the ole boy. I was very unhappy with him so after he ran enough I put him back outside and went home.

My next trip to the barn on Tuesday was a little calmer. I just groomed both horses and scrubbed up their legs with some Chlorhexidine to try and fend off the mud fever. It just won't stop raining and they haven't had a chance to even dry out and now it's getting too cold to get the hose out so I'm left with mud, wet rags, and long hair. Ug. If they ever dry out I'll try and shave them both up a bit but who knows when that'll happen.