You want something? Don't wish for it.

You know how they say, if you want something bad enough, wish for it and it'll come true? Well it's ALL hogwash. You see, I've been wishing for wonderful riding weather. Wishing for it with all my might. What did I get instead? Rain. In fact, I have been able to work Dino since April 13! Which is why the blog has been so quiet. How was he prior to that? Doing pretty good, he was just starting to show signs of Losgelassenheit -- looseness in his back. I could visually see him swinging in his back, and let me tell you, it got me so excited! For a dressage horse, it is one of the hardest things to truly achieve. With this, Dino was also really starting to come over his back, engage his hindquarters while using them more effectively beneath him. A lot of racehorses, they, obviously, don't know how to properly use their body. So when they trot, they kind of just go up and down on their hind legs like a pogo stick. To make them more engaged, loosen their back and have a connection is really a step forward in the right direction.

But then it started raining...and it hasn't stopped!

So what else has Dino been up to? Remember a few posts back when I said Dino really doesn't have anyone in his corner? We can emphasis that now. On April 7, Dino managed to kick off Angel's stall door.

What happened was simple (and completely my fault). Angel, for whatever reason, has decided that she doesn't like the timothy grass anymore and was literally starving herself over it. So I went out and bought $4 alfalfa hay, but I'm still mixing it with the old hay. Doesn't really do me any good, Angel just shifts through it and scatters it in her stall. I don't want to waste it, so when I clean stalls I pull Angel out of hers, put Dino in there and I'll then clean Dino's stall while he finishes up her hay.

Angel's a smart girl, too smart. She knows how to open and close her stall door, open the grain barrel, the pasture gate, etc., among other things. This is were it becomes my fault. I've shown her how to do the first two things, after that she started to figure things out.

So I'm in Dino's stall, he's in Angel's stall and Angel's loose in the barn. My back is turned and out of the corner of my eye, I see Angel open her stall door and enter. Before I could even do anything, Dino started kicking. I don't know how Angel escaped unscathed, but poor Dino didn't. He actually kicked Angel's stall door off, and I'm talking the 4x6 that the door was hinged to split right down the middle and the door itself, landed 4' in front of the opening! How do I know the distance, because it cleared the 4x6 rubber mat in front of Angel's stall door.

At first, I didn't even see if Dino had any cuts on him. I thought he had injured his patella by the way he was holding his leg, and the fact he was hopping around on three legs. The patella is the knee cap and on a horse and is located at the stifle, the juncture where the hing leg meets the belly. When the patella has slipped out of place, it will move over the joint locking the leg. The best way to remedy this is to either a)back the horse up or b)pick up the hind leg, stretching it back until the horse pulls it forward. I opted for option (a) and backed Dino up to see if it popped back into place, if that was the problem. It wasn't. Then I discovered the bleeding right at his left hock. It was a good abrasion. I cleaned it up and managed not to get kicked. Yay me! Last year, while I was at WEG, I purchased a bottle of Well-Horse and I am so glad I did! It really came in handy and I'm happy to report, the product lived up to its claim. Dino's leg healed within two weeks with new hair growth. I should also mention, that Dino's entire left hind stocked up but a little DMSO cleared that up within a few days as well. I just swear by DMSO.

So without further adieu, and for your viewing pleasure, the pictures:

Angel's stall door (top), right where it landed, four feet in front of her stall. Dino's back left hock (bottom), the day after the incident.


In other good news, Dino has two projects in the works. Along the lines of National, and not just me writing here, publication. Stay tuned! ;)