All the pretty horses

Good news on the Rio front!

 

The surgeon called me Friday afternoon and said the surgery to remove the broken portion of Rio’s distal right hind splint bone. He said the revision of the left hind wound (the non-healing one from almost a year ago) went well, but due to the location (near the coronet band and on the medial side of the leg) he said the sutures might not hold well.

 

Saturday morning he checked the suture sites before re-wrapping the legs, and sure enough, some of the LH sutures were already pulling apart. A bummer, but not the end of the world. Even if it opens up all the way, we think it will heal better after being debrided with fresh, good tissue.

Clarky the cutest

 

When it was time to leave, I walked Rio up to the trailer, fully expecting him to walk right on in like he always does. Nope. No way. He didn’t want to get on. Ok, no big deal. I pat him, let him sniff, gave him some carrots. Circled and came back to the ramp, still no go. Guy helping me tries to pat his butt some. Rio now says NO WAY. He was really starting to act pissed, and Iwas so confused. He is always a good loader. I think he must have been pretty pissed at me. After about 15 mins the guy gets a lunge whip, just to lightly tap him, and Rio started losing his freaking shit. Half-rearing, trying to body slam people, and tripping all over himself. I have never even lounged him, much less touched him with a long whip, so I have NO IDEA where that reaction came from. He is fine with dressage whips and crops. If his sutures weren’t open before, they sure are now. Every single thing about Rio’s look and demeanour was him basically giving me a GIANT middle finger. I have NEVER had him use his size against humans before, but he was absolutely not getting on that trailer. I was SOMADATHIM but also like “Ok dude, I get it, you are really pissed too.” Truce.

Scotti, the best 5 yr old ever

Long story short, they had me back the trailer up to this run thing, so Rio couldn’t get off the to the sides, and then he got in with basically no resistence. Le sigh. Wish we had started like that and skipped the struggle. Lesson learned.

 

He was very very happy to be back home though, and super happy to see his bro Scottie. He is on strict stall rest for the next 2 weeks, then after that he can start some hand walks. I’ll keep you guys updated  on his his suture sites are healing.

Clarkamous (like hippopatamous, get it?)

 

Good news is, I am very lucky to get to ride some amazing horses during Rio’s down time. You guys have already seen some videos of Trainer’s  incredible boy Cascai (the crazy good jumper!) so expect more of those. MM has graciously also been letting me ride her super cutie, Mr. Scotti himself. Scotti is so fun to ride guys. Also making his way into the line up is the dashing Clark Kent, a lovely hanoverian owned by one of my awesome barn mates. She is so incredible to let me do some rides on him as well. IAMSOLUCKY to be surrounded by such amazing people and horses.

Clark struts his stuff like he thinks he’s fancy or something

 

 

VIDEO  TIMEEEE:

 

 

Here is a video of me riding Clarky (jumping starts about 1/2 way in if you find flatwork boring LOL)

ClarkKelly8.18.17 from Kelly on Vimeo.

 

 

 

And here is a video of me flatting Scotti, sorry no jumping this time!

ScottiKelly8.18.17 from Kelly on Vimeo.

 

Here is a gymnastic clip from MM’s insta that she posted of Clarky & I. Y’all should follow her too.

You may also like

11 comments

  1. ugh poor Rio was like, ‘no way, i know this trap – last time you put me on this thing i ended up having surgery!!’ 🙁 hopefully he’ll feel more forgiving soon! awesome that you’ve got so many gorgeous ponies to play with while Rio recovers!

    1. Exactly! I can’t be for real mad at him, because I left him there and they knocked him out and operated on him. I think he’s forgiven me now though- he’s getting stuffed with carrots and treats LOL!

    1. Thanks! Me too, I’m actually excited about all the new rides, and feeling good about Rio’s recovery 🙂

    1. Me either, they are both super fun in different ways. It’s actually been a blast which feels weird to say with Rio out of commission, but he understands haha!

  2. So this was the blog post first and i was like wait. RIO Had surgery?? SO i had to go catch up! All caught up now. Oh poor Rio being a brat with the trailer. AND YAY all the pretty horses to ride make up for him being on stall rest (Well maybe not for Rio). I hope he heals fast fast fast. And i look forward to more adventures with him (Albeit not any more surgery, thanks! :))

  3. Just catching up on your blog and sorry to hear about the fractured splint and all the downtime. I’ll cross my fingers that it all heals well this time around!

  4. That’s awesome you’ll still get to ride! And such nice horses too!

    Poor guy. I’m sure he wasn’t excited about the possibility of going to another place at that point.

    1. Right? Like, I really can’t blame him, he was probably pretty traumatized. All is forgiven between us now!

Leave a Reply to Michele Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *