We also had a bit of... fun the other day. Her bandage came of Sat, so her leg was up to balloon size on Sunday. So much so that I wanted to lunge her just to make sure everything was fine, and she wasn't sore/stiff/anything else. Her lunge work started off quite well, aside from three little canter strides she popped in before I could stop her. Everything was looking pretty good, so I decided to pop a few canter transitions in so I could watch her push off her leg. We started off to the left and things looked fine, so I turned her around to ask for the right so I could get an idea of 'normal' to compare it to. She was slightly wobbly off it, but I attribute that more to her lack of muscle/balance ATM as she had some good ones too, and her stride overall looked perfect.
So anywho, I popped her around to the right, asked for a trot, and got... insane. She bolted, doing her cow-hop canter (where they 'canter' but its really just a hop from the hind end to the front end... if that makes sense) for a few strides before bucking, squealing, and bolting. Full out nose to the ground all four legs up gallop... on a 20m circle. I tried to stop her by pulling her off balance, and she just kicked out and galloped faster. She honestly just flipped a switch, and went totally bat shit crazy. I tried speaking calmly and quietly, I tried shouting jumping up and down and waving my arms, I tried letting her 'go' (as a last resort) and I tried yanking her off balance. She practically dragged me around that arena, and I may be small but I have a decent set of muscles when I need them. She was so insane that she actually fall onto her LH hip 3 times, (once because I yanked her so hard in a wild attempt to get her to stop) which led to her hopping back up, squealing, kicking, and running harder.
I have no idea what finally made her stop. It felt like it went on for hours, but in reality her little trip to cukoo land probably only lasted about 5 minutes. Either way, I was even more convinced she'd be lame after that little escapade. She wasn't though, thank god, and everything looked good; not even any tenderness.
I've never seen a horse loose it like she did though... it was like all the excess energy she'd been holding inside her from her month and a bit of stall rest snapped- she just broke and had to let it all out. Just so long as she didn't hurt herself, I'd rather that happened with me there, in the arena, and while I wasn't on her back. Things could have turned out a lot worse.
Sounds like Nina after standing around too long. I have had geldings get too high after too many days off, but never like this mare. Sounds like you have a cousin.
ReplyDeleteOh Cadence!! Silly mare! :-p
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