A Sudden Change in Plans

We have another hot, humid day on tap.  Brett and I both wanted to ride but didn't feel like saddling up.  Jackson was also supposed to take it easy in case the larger nails our farrier used yesterday made him sore.  Jackson has sensitive feet so Sage has been using small nails.  This keeps Jackson comfortable but those little nails were not going to hold on shoes and leather pads.  Fortunately, Jackson's feet were much improved (yay!!) - the soles were hard and only slightly sensitive to the hoof testers.  And he's obviously comfortable in his new shoes.

Brett and I decided to just mosey around the arena bareback.  I turned the sprinklers on to keep the dust down while we rode (even at walk, with two horses it can get dusty).

Passage was patrolling the barn rafters.

I hopped on Jackson and we posed for pictures.  It was hard to find a picture of Jackson with his ears forward.  That horse has his ears on me all the time; he listens to me even when we're just relaxing.  Silly boy.

Then Brett gave me the camera and hopped on Flash.  He had a couple false starts -- the mounting stump kept slipping out from underneath him.  Flash was unconcerned even when the stump rolled underneath him.

But then, the game plan changed.  One minute Jackson and I were walking along calmly and the next minute Flash was spinning and Jackson jumped sideways.  I watched Brett land in the sand on his hip and back, hard.  This is why we ALWAYS wear helmets.  We couldn't see any reason for the spook.  But there it was.  One spinning shying horse, one grounded rider.

Brett was able to get up, slowly.  He put Flash away and made his way to the house.  I smeared some of this stuff on his back -- it's great for pain, equine or human.

I'm making a lemon meringue pie since wine is counter-indicated with pain pills.

Wear your helmet -- ALWAYS!