And replaced him with a calm, well behaved quarter
horse?
I took Alpine out for his Tuesday evening 3 mile trot around
the block, and decided quite quickly that I was riding someone’s old
quarter horse. And wondered what they did with my psycho, fast, drag mom
as fast as possible Paso Fino.
He was quiet, well behaved, listened to me, and even trotted
when I was asking for slow work. And he only spooked THREE times in three
miles. That’s a record. Normally he spooks every ten steps.
I would have worried that he was ill or hurt or something,
but I had my heartrate monitor on, and during a medium gait he was holding
around 130bpm, which is lower than it has been at that speed since before he
bowed his tendon. Not only that, but he was recovering from 170 at a fast
trot to 80 in less that three minutes, and once we got home, was down to 60 in
less than five minutes. That, and he ate everything in sight upon
returning home.
All I can figure, is that he’s on week three of steady
reconditioning. He’s figured out that mom is going to make him go
awhile, and he’d better go at the speed I say, or he’s going to be
pretty tired. Thankfully, he’s having no problems with his tendon,
or his back. If anything, he’s getting stronger every ride.
His back and rear are muscling in very nicely, and his weight is down to a
point where I won’t be embarrassed when the vet comes out!
Yay!
Juli and the Herd
Alpine (I’m a good boy, and mom let me have some of
Merlin’s T&A. Yummy!)
