Owies

Phantom is trying really hard to get out of lessons.

Last week, she came in with some pretty fresh scrapes on her side. Thankfully they were just below where the saddle sits, so although the saddle pad covered them, there was no risk of her deciding to eject me when I got on. She had no qualms about letting me know when I accidentally ran a brush over them that they were owie.

Last week's scrapes. One at the top, and a big one at the bottom.

I might have to be worried that she's self-harming, as she came in today with two more fresh scrapes. Further back from the saddle, but one of them was a bit deeper. I hosed the area off, rode, then sprayed it silver with Aluspray.

Today's scrapes.

Not sure if I should go out and look for something that may have caused the damage, as they happened in different paddocks. Fences are being replaced in Phantom's normal paddock, so they were moved for a few days. She also had a couple of small scrapes on the back of the hind leg on the opposite side. I'm wondering if there's been a girl-fight over the gelding that the two mares are both in love with.

All of the scrapes on her right side.

But too bad for her, the scrapes are a long way from her heart (and the saddle) so she got ridden in the middle of a very toasty afternoon.

The post-ride begging for cookie face. It worked. 

The good news for her was that because I was already super sweaty from riding Cisco, I wanted a short, easy, fun ride. So I jacked my stirrups up to jumping height, and we went around super up and forward. I did 2 point at a canter and did a hand gallop down the (very) long side and she came back beautifully. Don't know what I did, so I'll have to play with that. That's always been the problem when jumping her, and I have a yen to jump some tiny things these days, so I hope I can figure it out. (I think that squeezing with my knees might be the trick. It has to be something with my body, because if I use much hand she either curls up or tightens her back and swaps leads behind.)

With the current heat wave came the late summer flies. Little black flies are everywhere. When I went out to catch Cisco he had at least 30 of them on his head. I grabbed him and looked for blood as I figured that had to be why they were all over him.

Friday's forecast calls for standing in front of an open freezer. Or maybe in a freezer.

When I was getting Phantom ready, she was a bit antsier than normal (meaning she wasn't standing completely still). It was partly because she was in a bit of a snit thinking that she was missing dinnertime (she wasn't), but mostly because of those damn flies.

After putting the saddle on her I went back to my tack stall to put my boots and chaps on. I could hear her hooves doing a tap dance on the cement, and was wondering if she was really that pissed at being in. But then I heard a different sound. So I figured I should probably have a look and make sure she was okay. I popped back into the aisle - the empty aisle. She wasn't there. The different sound that I heard was either her whacking her feet on the ledge at the bottom of the people door that she left through or my saddle scraping the sides. Thankfully, there is grass outside the door, and she dropped her head to the ground as soon as she got outside.

I dragged her back in and clipped her to the trailer tie outside my tack stall that I never use. Not that she doesn't know how to get a panic snap to release! (I'll tell you that story one day.)