gottawonder

Today I am grateful for:

Decent weather. The snow we had has melted, and it's back to being brown-y green.

Getting up and getting to the barn in reasonable time, without feeling rushed.

I needed to be there before 3:30 today, for River's appointment to get his teeth floated.

Tooth floating is pretty important in older horses. Their teeth never stop emerging, until they are old and pretty much just don't have teeth anymore. That means that surfaces that don't grind against another tooth perfectly don't get worn down, and form odd points and can interfere with the proper side to side movement of the jaw, can break off, and cause sores in the cheeks.

The worse they get, the less comfortable a horse is in their mouth, with eating, with having a bit in their mouth if you use one, and they can lose weight or maybe colic from not having properly chewed food in their gut.

I am always nervous about tooth floating, because it does mean sedation. River had some kind of issue with his sedation a few years ago, on the ONE time I wasn't there. So I am now vigilant about that too.

The vet that came today worked with him last time, understands that I have concerns, and she did review his chart from last year to use the same dosage and such, so I felt better knowing that she did that.

It went smoothly, though I feel like it took a long time for River to be fully awake.

His teeth aren't great, and there's nothing to be done for that except to keep up with the floating. He's just an older guy, and he's got older guy teeth now.

Since we knew that River wouldn't be up for our regular lesson that night, R suggested that I ride one her horses, and I figured that might be fun.

I worked with a big Saddlebred named Gunner. I wasn't sure what to expect, as her horses CAN be hot at times, but Gunner is also a lesson horse, and he understands that he has to behave for people when they need him to be calmer.

We had a great lesson. He is gaited, so that is a very different feel from riding River. Gunner is very soft and responsive while being fairly forward, so pretty much NOT like River (hahaha).

I got to experience a "slow gait" with him, and then I dismounted and we did some of his tricks. He is trained to lie down, which is pretty cool.

I think R was a little surprised at how well Gunner and I worked together, as he IS so different from River, and she was saying that Gunner isn't a horse "for anyone" kind of guy. I felt like he was so sensitive and well trained that the best thing I could do was use as light a cue as possible, manage my own body, and stay out of his way so he could move.

I swear that I am smiling, though it never looks like it in photographs. I always THINK that I am smiling, and then I see the picture and I look kind of grim.

After cleaning up and taking horses back to their pastures, I came home. I was earlier than usual, because R and I did our lesson after River's dental appointment, so that I didn't have to wait until 6 pm.

I would say that we also went past our "hour", since there was a gap of about two hours before the next rider, so that kind of makes me feel a little better about the bits here and there that were "run overs" from other riders.

I came home and my Sweetie came after he was done at the climbing gym. We ate and watched some more "Scooby Doo".