Falling in the Round Pen

Well, it wasn't the evening I'd hoped for. Not by a long shot.

I was looking forward to riding. We had a good bit of rain last night, it was cooler, and I had time to ride. A rare concurrance of events.

Here's the new saddle.




I'm testing a system to keep it from sliding, using a sticky thin layer like the material on the bottom of the tacky too pads. I'd have to cut the excess, as you can see.

Anyway we went to the round pen. Sara was there, a young girl (15 maybe?) with her Alpha Arab, Regalo. Regalo is a Beauty/Beast. A gorgeous bay, he has a rep of being a pill. He's not worked with enough, and he pins his ears at feeding, chews on lower ranked horses, and has the ground manners of a bouncer at a strip club.

The BO called Sara and let her know that he needs more work.

Maybe that's why she was out there.

So she and Regalo go in the round pen first. Regalo was nuts, bucking, snorting, coming to the middle when he wasn't called. Cibolo watched this with interest. I started to wonder if he was going to get the wrong idea from Regalo's bad example. I already had a sense that I didn't have the same connection with Cibolo as I'd had yesterday, so was planning to work a bit in the round pen when she was done. She did a good job, Regalo latched on and while he seems more in charge, she seems to maintain control relatively well. Still it wasn't the most disciplined round penning session, even with my more relaxed view of things.

I don't think what happened next was Regalo's bad example, but who knows. He is the alpha in the herd across the fence from Cibolo. Also, there seemed to be some people on the property next door talking and rustling about. It may have been why Regalo was going nuts, running like crazy. And Cibolo was there with the encore.

He was a jumpy as Canyon used to be, he tossed a few bucks right at the start, and seemed upset. I brought my energy down, tried to find a rhythm, to no avail. Then it happened. He would periodically break into a run and I had been focusing on turning him gently as I could to gather back his attention. But at one point he dug in for a run and slipped, falling in the sand, kicking his legs into the round pen, which is when he got this:




He got up and trotted off, seeming to be a little surprised by his fall. Still jumpy, but almost like he'd learned that the freak out was not a good idea. Then he gave over leadership to me. I got him changing directions and gaits with no problem. But he was still jittery and nervous. Not a good day.

I don't push a horse on a bad day. I know other people disagree, because horses have to work, period. Still, I've read enough from trainers to get that when your horse is off, he's off. At the end, just end on the best note possible. I think of it as pushing through a grumpy day with the kids. There's no point in trying to get them to be creative or appreciative when they are cranky. Cranky is too high a hurdle, it's best to get through and realize the next day will be better. Let the clock reset to zero, no hard feelings - tomorrow.

So I rode just a little in the round pen, simple things, low energy, then out around the barn, hosed him down and put an antibacterial salve on this cut and a smaller one on the other rear leg. I didn't wrap it, because I don't know how, but I'll be out there in the morning to see how he's doing.

Any doctoring advice? Do I need to wrap it -- and if so, what do I pick up something at the feed store? It looks bad, but from doctoring kids, I'm pretty sure it's just skinned. A heck of a pole burn.


I wish I knew what that round pen behavior was about. Theories?

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Here's Lily's wound yesterday.

Here it is today. I think it's better. There's no swelling anymore. It looks awful though.



I'm ready for a little break from the woundings - aren't you?