Yup, the dreaded "c" word. Thursday evening I went back up to the barn to give UK his dose of doxy. After dosing him I he kept acting funny, and looking a bit glassy eyed. Concerned, as he'd been fairly normal during the morning, I inspected him closely. If I didn't know him so well I would not have noticed how tight his midsection was. He wasn't in distress, but he wasn't normal either.
I lunged him, and managed to get one poop out of him, but his mid section was still blown up tight as a drum. He was angry that I took away his dinner, which was reassuring. We went for a hand walk down the road, got lunged again, but was still blown up with no gut sounds at all. I gave him some banamine, and waited.
Hours passed and he still wasn't better, no worse, but no better. I ran home and changed into more appropriate barn wear and ate something. I got back to the barn and settled in for the long haul. Mineral oil was my weapon of choice, and UK didn't enjoy getting a whole syringe of it forced down his throat. In the end though it did the trick. I didn't get to bed till 3am, but my horse was much happier after farting up a storm and pooping some more.
Friday dawned with me feeling very sleep deprived but needing to start packing up my stuff for UK's move to the new barn. Cleaning out my trunk always proves emotional as I there are always some items that have fallen to the bottom that used to be Jake's.
Leaving Betsy's was very bittersweet. I loved being there, but I was also looking forward to going to a barn with trails and lots of people to ride with.
Anyways... before I make myself all teary.
UK has been settling into his new home fairly well. He's been very excitable, and it took him a whole day to stop looking for Dacharia. I rode him bareback last night, and it was rather nice. The doxy is really starting to effect the Lyme as he moved forward easily for the first time in weeks.
Today was supposed to be relaxing and fun. Sally, who owns the barn, offered for UK and I to join her and some others on a nice relaxing trail ride. I figured since he's settled in well and was so good last night that we'd be ok as long as we didn't have to lead. Silly me.
I got on him and he started worrying on the bit and overreacting to everything. We started to walk down the driveway, in the middle of the group, and he starts jigging. The farther down the driveway we got, the worse he behaved. Then he reared. I stayed with him and tried to get him to move forward. Then he went up a second time and my right stirrup started to come off my saddle. My thoughts focused on the phrase "Oh shit". I was falling off the back of him. I'm not sure how, but I managed to almost step off him and ended up on my own two feet still holding the reins in my left hand. He proceeded to freak out more and spin around me as some brush had gotten stuck in his tail.
I got him to chill long enough for me to remove the offending branch and pick up my stirrup from the ground. I then decided that we're going on this damn trail ride hell or high water. So I hand walked him the whole bleeding way. UK was lather from head to hoof from nervousness and excitement. It was a miserable experience for me, but a good one for UK. I ended up sun-burnt, exhausted and dehydrated. UK never ran out of energy, despite sometimes trotting sideways while I walked. I think he has the stamina for eventing after all. Ha ha.
Depending on the weather, I think we'll do some ring work and maybe even jump a bit in order to get his brain back and give him some confidence.
I'm going to sleep now... I wish I didn't have to be up so early!
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