Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

About halfway down the canyon, I?m off leading with the reins looped over my elbow and my hands in my pockets.  I feel the slack slip through and hear a soft grunt behind me.  I turn around and Sinatra has laid down in the middle of the trail to roll.  He?s on his left side and wiggles around scratching.  I tell him, ?Get up!? and tug on the reins but he kicks and rolls all the way over instead!  Fully tacked!  At this point I yell at him to ?Get the F*#$ UP!? and he does but starts to stagger around to the right.  His eyes are rolling in his head all weird, I?m holding his halter right by his chin and have his head steady in my arms.  He staggers nearly a half circle to the right, legs crossing and uncrossing then just stands there looking down the trail a little weird.  Sarah and I are both very concerned at this point.  What is wrong with him?  Is he just dizzy?  A blood rush from going down, rolling completely over and then getting up so quickly, especially with his head pointing downhill the entire time?  Something more serious?  Did flipping over with the saddle injure his back?  I check is heart rate (62) and put my ear to his flanks and hear guts sounds.  I offer him a carrot which is quickly eats and looks for another.  At this point, we decide the only thing to do is continue walking him to the railroad tressel.  I keep a close eye on him and he seems fine.  Walking straight and true and willingly, I?m not having to pull or encourage him along.  His ears are perked forward and he appears just normal.  After about 15 minutes or so I decide to get back on and see how he feels.  I mount carefully, watching for any signs of back soreness but he doesn?t more, flinch or even flick an ear.  I discover that he popped the lid off one of my bottles and drained ½ of another, so parts of my saddle are wet.  I ask him to trot and it?s just like normal, soft and easy down the trail, ears perked forward or slightly back on occasion to check in with me.  He seems totally fine. 

 

Sarah continues to lead her mare the rest of the way to the tressel and we stop for some water and hay for the horses.  I take the last of my grain out and pour it on the leftover hay for two thankful mouths to devour.  Sarah calls her husband to let them know where we are and that we will be there shortly.  After a quick 5 minutes we pull the up and head towards the vet check.  Sarah gets back on and we alternate walking and trotting this section.  Sinatra is feeling just wonderful and is quite perky now that he is certain of where we are and where we are going.  I?m having to rate him back and slow him down more at this point than when we started the ride in the morning.  Sierra is happy to follow along behind at this point but seems to be doing well.  She is stiffening in the rear end so the goal is to keep her moving gently forward.  We come into the check and vet the horses through.  The Duck looks them over and pronounces them okay to go on.  We?re told that we can leave when we like, we don?t have to stay the entire 15 minutes but it works out that way since we let both horses eat.  I look for my crew bag(s) but they have already been packed, the check is ready to go as soon as we are.  Thankful for having put some items in Sarah?s husband?s care I feed Sinatra some more grain, let him eat hay and have a little something myself.  I get something more to drink from one of the volunteers and then Sarah is remounted and ready to go.  I mount up and we head out for the last 8 miles.