A Summer of Bays

A month has come and gone. As promised, I am back and as hoped, the time off has done good things for both me and Quest. I am in a much better place mentally and emotionally right now. The latter improvement I can clearly attribute to a conscientious decision in stepping back from the expectations I demanded of myself this season. As events fell by the wayside, I occupied my time hanging out with friends, attending comic conventions, hiking, going on beach trips, and geocaching.

And of course I went riding as well, working any and all horses that were offered to me.

At KBTC, my friend A was kind enough to offer me rides on her BLM mustang, Mel. My first ride with him was almost half a year ago when A was debating whether or not she wanted him. I've hopped on Mel a handful of times since she has owned him but this was his first time out on the trail with a "guest" rider. I didn't expect him to do anything bad and he didn't.

I've been riding at the barn as well. After Quest got hurt, J generously offered to let me try out mustang pony named Lacey or a little Arab gelding named Dip in hopes that I liked one of them enough to take to a endurance ride later in the season. Despite the fact Dip tried to dump me less than 5 minutes into our very first ride together and could be spooky, he ended up being my first choice. It could have been the fact he reminded me a lot of Quest- both were failed show horses with reactive personalities and lots going on in their minds. With each trail ride we did, I liked the handsome little gelding more and more and was really looking forward to competing in our first ride together.

However about two weeks ago, Dip had to be put down. He got very sick suddenly and kept getting worse instead of better.  All the other horses were unaffected so Quest was fine. I was totally numb with shock when J told me the news. My heart still aches when I see all the pictures I took of him.

Handsome boy Dip

So as of late I have been riding Lacey. She's blazingly fast for a ponything and easily keeps up with the horses in the group. Her attitude isn't her best character trait but she is steady and rock solid as the day is long.

As for my mareface, Quest is looking better and better with each passing day. Because of the nature of the injury, I'm going to err on the side of extreme conservative caution and extend her pasture puff status by a few more weeks than what the vet recommended. We are in no rush at all, especially now that the summer heat wave is happening in full force.

I miss not being able to see/do more with her especially since my barn visits are mostly showing up to groom/stuff her with treats and then going off to ride another horse. I'm sure she's totally devastated by all the downtime. All in good time though, I can't wait until I have my girl back on the trails with me again.