Blackies Back...

Well he will be tonight anyways! Here's the issue: Edgar is still lame. I rode Edgar on Tuesday in the rain, while Derek had a lesson with Luanne, the 3 of us rode around the track and I could definately feel Edgar limping. Although the next day I lunged him and he was not limping; however, he still is not 100% at tight turns. So he's still on vacation at the Monroe pasture I have. :) BTW ~ if any of my horsey friends need FREEEEEE pasture, there is plenty of pasture for another couple horses and the owners of the property are VERY nice! There are 5 seperate pastures that horses can be put in.

Well, back to the change of plans. The plan was to pick up Oakley from training (yesterday) and then I picked up Bandit (the big appy), I was going to ride Bandit until Edgar was good to go. We hauled both those boys to Lords Hill yesterday for what was supposed to be a nice ride and for the most part it was, but when we came to a very small water crossing (literally less than 2 feet wide of slow moving water) Oakley balked and refused to cross with Derek. He tried rearing a little, kinda ran off into the bushes. Derek was doing everything right and staying very calm, but Oakley was being a SHIT. So Derek got off and walked him over the water, inwhich Oakley jumped it and then he held onto Bandit while I got on Oakley and spent atleast 15 minutes working on that water crossing.

It was a battle! He would walk up to it (sometimes) but did not want to cross, he would sidepass into the bushes ignoring my leg commands, I was spanking him to get him to listen, I was calm, he just wanted to be an ass and when he did cross it, he jumped it. I got him over that water atleast 10-12 times, but he jumped it every time and it was a battle, he never once just walked up to it and jumped over, he fought me to get up to it, then jumped. So he needs some water work.. Derek got back on him and finished the ride with no other issues.

But it made us realize that there could be other issues that we dont know about just yet since Oakley is pretty green on trail riding, so Bandit is going back to Molly's house, Blackie Smalls is coming back to our house for Derek to ride and I'll be riding Oakley for now. I hate to put so much weight on Oakley, but he is in great shape and he's going to have to deal with it until I am convinced he is ready for Derek.

So I'll ride Oakley until Edgar is ready to ride, but if Derek & I feel that Oakley is not ready for Derek or needs more experience/time on the trail, then I'll continue to ride Oakley and either give Edgar the summer off or let someone else take him for the summer. Tomorrow we are riding in Arlington at the Morgan Club Trails, should be a good 3-4 hours worth of riding and it will give me a chance to see how well Oakley handles me on long rides and if he gets sore at all.

Plans are just all up in the air, it is very frustrating not knowing exactly what is going on. I love Oakley and he's a good horse, but he is still young and that is why I was worried about putting a green rider on a green horse, you just never know when an issue will arise. The trainer was pretty upset that Oakley had the issue, she worked him over the creek at her place and he crossed it many times with no problems, so if he continues to balk at creeks, she's going to come over and work with him on it and see what the problem is. She worked him to get him "bomb proof" for Derek so she didnt like hearing we had problems and I'm glad she's willing to help me work with him if it remains a problem.