Crazy Juice

Published on by Amanda C

This week has been a little bit awkward for me as far as riding time. The vet wanted Henry to have a few days off after his SI injection, so the earliest I could ride him was Tuesday. But I had an appointment on Wednesday and couldn’t come out, therefore I figured there was no harm in giving him a couple extra days. Instead of a “real” ride on Tuesday, I figured we’d go for a nice long bareback walk. (spoiler alert: BAD IDEA)

No idea what she’s talking about, I’m a perfect angel.

I should say, this is not unusual for us. I hop on bareback in his hackamore once every couple weeks and we amble around, trot a bit, and I’ll usually stop at the top of the field to let him graze a little. It’s relaxing for both of us. Um… usually, anyway.

I have to assume that someone is feeling mighty fantastic after his vet appointment, because I can’t blame anything else. It was almost 80 degrees on Tuesday, not particularly windy, and Henry isn’t typically the kind of horse to get wild after a few days off. I haven’t lunged him, aside from a few times to evaluate soundness, in years.

HIGH ALERT

Yet, on Tuesday, before we even made it out to the field, I’d already almost eaten dirt three times. He planted all 4 feet and snorted at the round bale, danced past the same arena drag that is always sitting there, and LEAPED sideways because a human moved his arm. The next 30 minutes contained a truly masterful combination of spook, spin, leap, stop, squeal, snort, bolt, and passage. Very athletic. 10’s across the board for artistic marks.

Granted, now he’s missing a pretty giant chunk of mane from one of his unannounced pirouettes where I came millimeters away from becoming a lawn dart. Fairly certain that Depo-Medrol should be relabeled as Crazy Juice, because oh my god. Today I’m climbing back on for a dressage school, and the temperature has dropped 20 degrees since yesterday, so this could potentially be very exciting. If you never hear from me again, it’s because dressage finally killed me.

Am I the only one with a crazy pony right now?

27 thoughts on “Crazy Juice”

  1. Oddly enough, the cold weather has made Roger laaaaaaaaaazy; that’s right, a 6-year old OTTB is super-duper quiet in winter temperatures. I don’t get it either. Jumping around is the BEST DAY OF HIS LIFE when it’s warm out, but right now, Roger feels very “meh” about life in general. Trainer says he takes naps in turnout flat on his side, and needs more than a few pony kicks to get him going under saddle.

    He’s a very strange boy.

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  4. Our weather has been ridiculous. +8*C on the weekend and its currently -16*C….Mine hasn’t been “crazy” but she sure forgot how to do anything but go in semi straight lines on Tuesday. Leg = WHATTTTTTT? It was interesting to say the least.

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  5. My guy has been stupid spooky lately and has dumped me twice in 2 weeks, though technically the first one I basically just fell off because I’m dumb sometimes. The second one was an all out double spook, drop shoulder, leap, scoot which is not-typical for my boy. Perhaps it has something to do with that cedar-fever I keep hearing about. I’m pretty sure I could use some of Henry’s crazy-juice, though I would prefer it in a pill form cause I still have nightmares about that needle!

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  7. Depo is AMAZING. We gave it to my old arthritic German Shepherd mix years ago and she became a PUPPY. She was flying all over the place! So, I think you got yourself a mustang now… YAY!

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  9. Perfect day to school dressage!!!!!! 😉

    Also, do you know the one-nostril breathing trick? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6O0-LZRkkE

    When Clay is stressed or being a hyper idiot, I do this with him and it actually works….I see his eyes soften, he licks and chews and his head will lower. It doesn’t really take 5 mins per nostril like the video says, in my experience…more like a minute or two. Thoroughbreds are extremely efficient breathers, so they are even more prone than other breeds to having higher oxygen levels than carbon-monoxide levels in the brain. This imbalance results in them being kind of “high” on oxygen and causes spooky/silly behavior. Supposedly the one-nostril breathing helps to bring the oxygen/CM balance back.

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  12. Ah, Arabian shenanigans. Tell him if he keeps acting like that he’s going to have to go out and do a 50 mile ride, it’s the best medicine for shenanigans. And if a 50 doesn’t work, time to level up to a 75 or a 100.

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  14. My baby has been pretty level headed but my older horse has been sassy pants on crack. Seriously, every ride has included some sort of acrobatic maneuver and a slew of swear words.

    Then there’s the fact that hes been staying in a bunch because of deep mud and pulling shoes. So I get to deal with sassy pants in the stall. He throws everything he can reached into the barn aisle (blankets, pitch forks, anything is fair game). Walking by his stall is like a furry game of hungry hungry hippos where I’m the little white ball.

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