Miles: 7.92
Avg Speed: 5.8mph
Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
The Friday before this ride, Hoss had a mild colic. We came home from our lesson, and he walked into his pasture, past his dinner, and flopped down in the dirt. I got my stethoscope out and listened to his stomach. He had gut sounds, though not great, and his gums still looked good. When he stood up and I was able to listen to his heart, his heart rate was slightly elevated. It was clear he was uncomfortable. He took a big drink of water and peed and farted, so I gave him a sloppy bran mash but took his hay away.
I didn't have any Banamine at home, so I contacted my trainer and drove all the way back to her ranch to get some. Cheaper than a vet call. By the time I got back, he'd pooped and was already looking better. I gave him a dose of Banamine anyway and a handful of hay.
All during the night I got up and checked on him. Every time he'd pooped, I gave him a little more hay. By morning he was clearly feeling much better. I gave him dribs and drabs of hay during the day, every time I saw he'd pooped. I was tired from being up all night and the insanely busy week I'd had that I slept in my chair between horse checks.
By the time evening feeding rolled around, it was clear Hoss was fully recovered. He was thoroughly ticked off by the limited food he'd had. I came into the pasture with the wheelbarrow with dinner, and when I wouldn't let him eat out of the wheelbarrow, he pitched a bucking fit.
Seeing as Hoss was clearly feeling just fine, I loaded him and the dogs up for an afternoon ride at Hollenbeck Canyon after church. The weather was nice and cool. Perfect conditions for a good, fast ride.
Because of the up-all-night with colic episode, I had left my stethoscope in the house, so I didn't have it to collect heart rate data with.
Hoss was definitely feeling his normal self. Once we hit the trails, he was ready to move out. I made him walk for a distance to warm up a bit, but once we crossed the dry stream, I gave him his head. Trotting, however, was not on the agenda as far as Hoss was concerned. He moved right into a nice, easy canter. Not super fast, but not slow, and easy and loose. We passed other trail users, some of whom seemed surprised to see a horse moving that fast. I am often amused by the reactions of non-horsey people. Hoss and I will be trotting or cantering along, and someone on foot will dash off the trail as if Hoss might, at any moment, head off the intended path and run them down.
For the most part we kept to a canter on the rolling, rocky trail up toward the top of the open space. There were spots we had to slow down to negotiate, but Hoss is developing much more confidence over these familiar trails. Once we reached the single track, we had to slow down, but I kept him up to a trot. In some places, especially where the going is steep uphill, he wants to slow down so he doesn't have to work so hard. I pushed him to keep his pace up. He needs to build those muscles he's been avoiding using.
Back on the wider trail, we picked up the canter again and cantered up the whole way to the top. The dogs were staying close behind Hoss, keeping up well with the nice temperature of the afternoon. We dropped down to a trot for most of the top section, as it rolls up and down frequently. We turned at the olive grove and headed on back down.
Much of the downward side is steep, so mostly walking, but we trotted on the flat and not too steep downhills. Once we reached the long flat, we opened back up to a canter. I sneaked a peek at the GPS. Hoss was topping out at a blistering 11.4mph. Hahaha! He's not fast, at least compared to his predecessor.
We made it all the way around cantering. Hoss finally wanted to slow down, but I got him to get a few more strides in before we slowed to a walk for a little recovery period. We walked through the narrower trail here, letting Hoss's heart rate come back down.
When we got to the open meadow area, a group of horses was coming down from a different trail. We would not intersect, but Hoss was terribly interested in them. He willingly took up the trot again, I suspect thinking he'd get to come into contact with those other horses. I kept him going down the slight slope, and it didn't seem to dawn on Hoss that he wouldn't converge with the other group. If it did occur to him, he decided it wasn't important and kept working.
Once we turned the corner at the water tank, we took up the canter again until we reached the crossing at the dry stream bed. We walked on back to the trailer. Hoss seemed in fine spirits and his heart rate seemed to come down nicely. Without the stethoscope, I can't be sure where his heart rate was. Once it drops below a certain point, I'm not terribly successful at feeling it with my hands and I've never been good at taking pulse. Still, I was pretty happy with how he looked. And the dogs had been well worn down, too, which was part of the point!
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