I finally got to go out and see Simon last night for the first time since my Birthday, and got there to find him really, really lame.  I noticed in the cross ties he was resting his right hind waaaaaaaay more than the left, and when he would start to rest the left he immediately switched back to the right.  This horse is tough, so I was concerned.  I didn’t feel anything on the bottom of his right hind, but when I felt the hock it was slightly puffy and hot.  Great.

Ended up giving him bute, cold hosing him in the trainer’s driveway (by myself, in the dark.. thank you for standing still like a good pony!) because they turned the water off at the barn since it’s near freezing.  I put some vetrolin on the hock, and left him in last night.  One of the teenagers at the barn is going to cold hose his leg for me this morning and at lunch time, and I’ll check him again tonight.  I hope he just got kicked, but this is the same hock that had the original birth defect (rotated joint in the hock that has fused since) so I’m a little concerned.  Anyway, on to the 30 day challenge.

Recently I became aware of the fact that my parents thought I would grow out of the desire to horse show.  They had come to realize that horses were always going to be part of my life in some way, but they thought the desire to pay money to have people judge me while I jump over small piles of poles would just be some passing fancy of my youth.  Sorry parents, I wish it was.

That being said, my parents have always been supportive of my riding.  I was blessed with growing up in a family that could afford riding lessons and the eventual horse purchase.  I wasn’t the kid with the 5 figure show horse by any means, but I couldn’t have been happier or prouder when my Dad bought me my first horse – a $1400 old Thoroughbred mare that was burned out from a lesson program.  She took me to my first big horse show… even though we got disqualified out of almost every class we entered but that’s a different blog posts.

My non-horse friends have never really got it, but the good ones that I still keep in touch with accept my madness.  I’ve also gotten better about not talking about horses quite as much as I used to in grade school, where some of the meaner boys would simply refer to me as “horse girl.”  None of the people I was friends with at school rode, and my obsession hobby could be kind of alienating. Still looking back, I wouldn’t change it.

The person who both understands, helps financially, and more than anyone else supports my horse love is my husband… and thank god for that.  If it weren’t for Tim, I wouldn’t have Simon or any horse to call my own.  He listens patiently to my stories of how things went at the barn and will come video or take photos when asked.  He’s learned so much about horses for me, and can tell if the horse is on the correct lead or not and when someone takes a bad jump.  Tim even took some riding lessons and for a brief time we had visions of adopting Thoroughbreds together and showing together (in separate divisions of course) – but that ended when Tim concluded that riding was too hard and too expensive.  Tell me something I don’t know!

I know at the end of the day he wishes I didn’t spend so much money on horses and didn’t spend so many nights riding after work.  He sacrifices a lot for my passion, both financially and else, but at the end of the day he knows how important horses are to me and how I’m just not quite myself without them.  That’s about the best I could ask for.

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