Draining Rico's Abscess

Well, on Friday, the vet came out for Rico's abscess and we were able to drain it! My vet was WAY faster than I was (I live 45 minutes away from the ranch + post Thanksgiving traffic) so by the time I got there, it had been drained already. That was actually great, because it was described as "like a geyser" and to be honest, I am not interested in watching something like that. 

The vet thinks that it was about the size of a tangerine on the inside, which is truly disgusting and enormous. I can't believe my poor boy was dealing with that for so long! He got his inoculations in October, so it was brewing for a while. Luckily, this explains any weirdness that he seemed to be exhibiting this fall, so as much as this was terrible for him to go through, I'm glad it was this and not him deteriorating. 

He and TC are so cute together, before
this he was nickering at TC but then after
this he bit TC, then whirled around and
threatened to kick at us (???)

Right away, Rico seemed to feel MUCH better, I actually caught him cantering around in his pasture riling TC up in the afternoon. He's very itchy still, and he kept inching the gross opening toward me as I scratched him. The protocol is antibiotics to keep it from getting infected, rinsing it out with antiseptic twice a day, and washing the skin under it. If it gets scabbed over, we'll have to soak the scab off, since we want it to heal from the inside. 

By the weekend, the swelling had gone WAY down and he was feeling more and more normal. He's actually really good about rinsing it out and getting all the nastiness washed out of his neck below it. He has been pretty nervous in the barn and wash rack though, so I've been relying on bribery. I think he's gotten more cookies in the past few weeks than he has got in the last year or two. 

We're expecting it to take about 1-2 weeks to become more normal and close up. I'm so glad that it's just cold and that there's no rain in the forecast for at least a week since it'd just be so much grosser to deal with if everything was wet. 

Two days before we drained it? I
won't post pictures of it now, it's gross

All in all, I'm happy that he's feeling MUCH better, and mostly happy that this was all that it was. Hopefully he has a very uneventful winter/year ahead since this is all the stress I can really take as we get closer and closer to his 30th birthday in February!

Rico's Tough Weekend

Rico had quite the weekend! He's fine by the way, just had a tough time. 

Clipped part of his neck is an abscess

Last week I had to call the vet for Rico because he had a lump on the right side of his neck and was struggling to put his head down low enough to eat his food. The vet thought it was scar tissue from his vaccines and advised me to give him bute for 3-4 days to help with the pain as he worked through it. It worked, and then he went back on his normal equioxx. We thought his body would kind of break up that knot of scar tissue over time, but then on Friday morning it was ENORMOUS. 

The vet came back again. We clipped it and ultrasounded it, turns out it's a HUGE abscess. It was 2.5cm in from his skin, so we couldn't drain it yet. So I was advised to put him back on bute, keep his food higher off the ground, and then just wait. She told me what to look out for and so every day I've been squishing it lightly, waiting for there to be a softer part of it so that we can drain it. She thought it'd take 1-2 weeks. Hopefully it won't be too long. 

It was definitely caused by the flu/rhino vaccine that we gave him a while back, and this is only the second time in her whole career she's seen a vaccine do this. Of course it had to happen to my horse who is almost 30 years old, and who needs all the calories he can get so can't be not able to eat. 

Speaking of calories

Then on Saturday morning, I get a text saying to come down ASAP because Rico is fully losing his mind about something in the hills. 

Apparently he refused to eat or drink all night long and hadn't eaten his breakfast (although he'd gotten some water into him). By the time I got down there, we were debating taking him to the vet clinic to get him away from whatever was scaring him and maybe put him on an IV. Again he can't just NOT eat with this abscess and with the vet wanting him to gain a smidge of weight before winter. 

I pulled his haynet out of his stall and took it down to the part of the pasture he seemed to be happiest in. Then also brought out a bucket of water to hang for him. We were able to get him to eat soaked grain (so that he got some water into him) and eventually he did start to nibble at his hay and drink some water. 

TC says WHAT ABOUT ME, also yes he's muddy

Jealous

Throughout the day, we'd bring him more hay, grain, and water and he slowly started to calm down more and more. And probably felt better because he wasn't so hungry. 

TC stayed nearby, although it was because he thought that we were just having a super cool picnic in the pasture and he was mad that he wasn't invited to eat any of the food. I did end up bringing his lunch down for him to eat by Rico, as well as a bucket of water for him so that he'd be encouraged to stay with Rico. 

TC thought that was SUPER fun, even when Rico stole his hay.

TC's version of sneering is so wholesome

That night, we fed them both out there and filled the water buckets too. Rico slowly got more and more comfortable over the course of the weekend, he hasn't yet gotten into the stall except to eat a little bit of grain, but TC has kept him company in his picnic area with them both continuing to be fed and watered out there. He at least seems calmer now and TC is being a good companion for him, sticking close. I'm still not sure what he saw up the hill or what happened when he was last in his stall, we checked the cameras and there's nothing that makes it seem like anything serious happened.

Hopefully Rico continues to feel better and hopefully his abscess is getting ready to be drained soon. Poor guy deserves to feel his best! I'm at least glad that we don't have a lot of rain in the forecast, luckily he can hang out in the pasture for a while longer. 

Rico the Escape Artist

Rico is 29 this year, almost 30 (in February) and is doing pretty well! This year is the first one where he's shown a little weight loss, so we're dealing with that. And because of his cushings, he's SUPER hairy and I'm having to give him a trace clip all the time. But outside of that, for a 29 year old horse, he's great!

Look at those dapples!!

Happy boy on a walk down the road
this spring

I did get on him this spring, he was 
totally happy about it and felt pretty
stable, but I cried the entire time and
on and off for the rest of the day lol
so I think it's best if we don't

The funniest thing he does on a regular basis is escape his stall. Now, TC has escaped his stall twice during his time at the ranch, and I regularly leave it open while I'm cleaning his paddock. Once, TC got out overnight when no one was around and he just ate his breakfast hay and then walked to his paddock gate (on the side of the barn) and stood there all night waiting to be let back in. Like, there were bales and bales of alfalfa on the other side of the barn but he ignored them. He could have also gone and ate the lawn, but no, he wanted back in (his stall door was wide open?). 

The other time he got loose was while we were feeding, he walked out into the aisle and then just froze and looked over at where we were working on the hay/grain and just waited patiently for me to come get him and put him back. TC is too pure and too sweet for this world (and okay I'll admit it, too dumb). 

He's hard to get pictures of because
he wants to be in my face all the time

Like he follows me around like this
when I try to step back to get a picture,
it's so sweet!

Rico on the other hand, is totally rude about escaping. But at this age, I kind of secretly let him escape. He likes to sneak out and eat some of the hay on the barn, but once he reaches a certain threshold, he zips out of the barn and out to the front of the barn to eat weeds. However, if you start to follow him, he trots off down to the lawn where he snatches at grass until you catch up to him, then he trots off again toward the gate. 

I think if the gate were open, either the gate to the tracks or the gate out the front of the property, he'd be long gone! 

He likes to stare at himself in the
sliding glass door

So feral

When I take him for walks down the road, he's equally as feral. He likes to go first... like in front of me. Which is fine I guess? And all he wants to do is trot down the road to the neighbor's pastures and stare at the horses and cows there. Then he wants to trot all the way back, diving aggressively for the weeds on the side of the road. This is maybe why he wants to go first because he has leverage against me. 

Oh and he (playfully) nips at me if I try to dissuade him from doing this. So obnoxious! He also likes to lick the dog and bother her too. 

Literally WHY Rico

Being so silly

She actually comes over and asks for
this attention

Anyway, he is completely feral, I'm not sure how much more feral he can get but I don't want him to think that's a challenge. 

WW: Old Photos of Rico and I

As you can probably tell, I'm going through a lot of old photos these days. During this time, I ran across a bunch of old, kind of candid photos of Rico and I! I figured I'd put them here. Realizing what years these were all from was bad for my mental health (hahaha). 

Braiding Rico while chatting with a friend on
my flip phone in 2005 I think?

Wrestling Rico away from grass in 2005 or 2006

Chatting with my trainer while Rico was like "so
are you going to tell her to stop pulling or what?"
I think 2006

Winning things probably 2005

Spooking at a tiny little whirlwind
thingy in 2006

In a clinic with Jeremy Steinberg in 2009

My dad and I walking at Woodside I think 2005?

WW: Rico's First Show (Video)

Way back in March 2005, Rico and I did our first ever show together and I have found video of it! This is a bit of the 2003 Training Level Test 3 test. 

It was a cool test, you came up centerline, turned left, and then the video picks up from there - you turned left at E, then at X did a figure 8. Then you picked up canter in the corner, rode a circle at A, then rode a half circle and trotted after crossing centerline at E. I assume after that there was some walk work and then cantering the other way. I don't think you did all that much more trotting. 

Anyway, enjoy! While resting assured that my riding got INFINITELY BETTER once I learned how to have any amount of stability in my body without resorting to rigidity. It'd take a while but now I have new problems. 

Stories About Rico Pt 2

I decided to write another post about Rico! All of these I think I've shared on the blog before, but they're still fun 

Very early 2000s moment: my mom accidentally
turning the camera to sepia tone LOL

Rico the Combined Driving Horse

I bought Rico in 2005 when he was just turning 9 years old. He'd been at the dressage barn for training/sale for a couple of months and had probably 60 days of actual dressage training on him. Before that, he *was* ridden, but not as his primary career, because he was a Combined Driving horse! 

His previous owners imported him from Germany as I think a 4 year old alongside his partner, Limbo. He was apparently the calm lazy one, while Limbo was the hot, less brave one. Limbo would jazz Rico up and Rico would be like "dude, slowing down would take more effort" whenever Limbo would get nervous. 

The driving training was definitely interesting, I feel like it made dressage a little challenging for him since he'd been taught to pull. But I also think it set us up super well for him being a good boy in the show ring because despite being green to dressage, he wasn't green to crowds or warm up arenas or travelling. 

Literally one of two photos I have of him driving,
he is on the left of the cart, right of the photo

Rico Hated Trail Rides

He was green to trail rides alone on narrow trails with me riding him bareback though! I was kind of an idiot and thought this was a great way to relax with my horse. Early on, he would frequently spin and head back home. 

He did get over it and was eventually probably my best trail horse aside from TC at this point. And actually, honestly, the only thing TC has over Rico is that TC walks faster and is not afraid of pigs.  

I even got to ride him on my childhood trails, somewhere where I am going to take TC this year. Rico and I rode all over those trails in the late 2000s and they were so much fun! 

Cantering up a trail in 2006 I think?

Rico at Pebble Beach 2005

So this show sucked because I was an overconfident teenager. I basically didn't memorize my tests enough so my trainer had to read one right at the last minute. Rico then tried to murder me in the warmup arena by bucking SUPER big and I landed on the saddle and cracked my back pretty good. I then insisted on riding in my next test and got a 59 because my trainer read me off course (given that she wasn't prepared to read at all, I don't blame her). Then I ended up scratching and my trainer rode him in the show and scored way better. 

I'm still bad at scratching but this is definitely a show I think about frequently when I think about scratching for the good of myself/my horse. Just ridiculous! Glad I grew out of being an idiot, well, kind of. 

I also think of that show when I remember that for the most part, my worst injuries have happened when I cling onto my horse like a spider monkey rather than falling off like a normal person. Sometimes hitting the dirt is better. 

This was pre launching buck

Ended up hurting myself at that show so I had to take
some time off of riding, very dumb

I love reminiscing about this wonderful horse! He is the best.

What is Wrong with Rico?

Nothing is wrong with Rico, except that I keep disturbing his naps. 

Sorry Rico!

It all started when I saw Rico napping in pasture. TC doesn't seem to lay flat out and nap, and if he's on one end of the spectrum (he's never really wanted to lay down and nap, he seems to prefer standing), Rico is on the other. Rico is the nap KING. That horse will sleep like the dead for hours, and that's just the way he fucking looked when I saw him out there that one day. 

I took some deep breaths and told myself it was okay. Rico is coming up on his 27th birthday. I feel like 27 is getting to the point of non-horse people being like "oh wow, didn't realize horses lived that long" and so my brain has decided that he's officially a rather old horse. When my brain decides this, then I start to prepare for the inevitable and honestly, I've handled it okay when we've lost horses after 27 years old.

But I draw the line at seeing my horse laying dead in the field. I know that on his end, dying peacefully in his field is probably best, but I WOULD FREAK THE FUCK OUT IF I WAS THE ONE TO FIND HIM. 

TELL ME HE DOESN'T LOOK A
BIT... STILL... I am aware that this
is a photograph 

So backing up, I saw Rico napping in the pasture and he was like FLAT OUT. Again, this is not out of the ordinary for him. But for some reason, that looming age of him officially being a "rather old horse" and my brain being like "he's lived a great life, everything I get beyond this is just icing on the cake," I was pretty certain that this very normal behavior was abnormal. 

I walked out there and I saw him breathing and took a deep breath. But omg what if he wasn't going to be able to get up?! What if he was actively dying and I was just going to be there to witness it. I quietly said "hey buddy, hey Rico" and he was like "ugh what the fuck" and got up. He's not the world's most steady horse getting up anymore, but he was still perfectly healthy and mostly just annoyed that I woke him up from his nap. I apologized and gave him a hug. 

Paid well for his trouble

A couple of days later, I got to the barn and saw TC and Rico on their porches, TC was standing quietly with Rico, who was again laying flat out. I was like OH MY GOD IT'S HAPPENING. But then I saw him twitch a leg and calmed down. Then freaked out again because I was certain he was caught in the fence. 

This horse has literally napped on the porch or in his pasture the entire time he's lived at the ranch. But still, I rushed into his stall and was like "hey Rico" and he sat up, very clearly not caught in the fence or in ANY kind of distress. I tried to leave when it was aparent that he was once again stuper annoyed at me for disrupting his nap, but it was too late. He got up and was like "okay bitch, I'm up, I'm FINE, give me a cookie for my troubles," and so I did. 

I'm seriously so sorry, buddy!

Anyway, nothing is wrong with Rico, but there IS something wrong with me. I'm hoping that I stop freaking out so much about him napping. I do want to get him (and TC) a pile of sand for his sacrifice pasture to give him a nice soft place to lay and hopefully some more traction getting up. I also am considering doing an adequan boost as we come into winter to hopefully help him out joint-wise as the weather gets cooler. He's given me so much, I can't empty my bank account making him the soundest unrideable 27 year old horse there ever was, but I can do little things here and there to continue giving back to him. 

Happy Birthday Rico!

Tomorrow, Rico is twenty-six years old! Every year I get to spend with him is so wonderful. He's still loving his retirement, as usual, even more now that he has TC, I think. He and TC spend a lot of time together walking in and out from the stalls to the pasture. TC watches over Rico when he lays down for his morning nap (have yet to figure out TC's nap schedule) and they both play together a ton. It's really adorable and I love seeing the two of them together. 

As per usual, some of my favorite Rico pictures from the past, this time I'm trying to find ones I might not use very often:

When we took Rico and Riot to the beach!

I just adore this horse

Taking a nap at Webb in 2010

Baby Rico and baby Megan back in 2005!

Mugging me for cookies I'm sure

So young and spry

This was so fun, I used to rope cones
off of him for fun

Shaking his head lol

Here's to many more years with this wonderful guy!

Riding Rico Down the Road

On Tuesday, I had to cut my trail ride on TC short because he was slipping on the trails, so I had some extra time in my day. I decided to take Rico out! 

Rico has been begging to go out for a little bit now. I try to take him out to groom him and do some belly lifts/carrot stretches every week or so, but I haven't ridden him in a while. He doesn't honestly love being ridden most of the time and I always feel bad having to thump on him to get him to do anything. 

So now I don't typically ride him, just spend time with him. But Tuesday I decided to just hop on him and see what he wanted to do. Turns out he was super enthusiastic to go out for a walk! So we went. 

He also dragged me into the pasture

He made it half way down the access road before he wanted to go home. I let him turn around and then he got really enthused and wanted to trot. He's not as steady on his feet as he once was, but once he stopped thinking about bucking (I thought he was like... neurological... but no he's just considering bucking and then stopping himself), he felt pretty damn good! Not the soundest he's ever been but not lame, just kinda old horse sound. 

He thought it was the perfect ride, he got to stop and stare at the neighbor's ponies a few times and he dove for little sprigs of grass too. 

Angry llamas, I tried to get a cute
picture of them touching noses but
they like playing bitey face

When we got back to the barn, TC was clearly beside himself that I'd ride Rico. I think I've ridden Rico just a few times since he got to the barn and probably not since we did the shuffle and put Rico next to TC. Rico is sensitive to heat so I don't tend to ride him in the summer at all (I did give him baths and brush him and shorten his mane though!). 

It was pretty funny to see them interact. And honestly, to see TC from that angle. He's not the most giant horse (16.2, or at least he was when I stopped measuring him), but from Rico's back (also 16.2), he looked like a chonky pony. 

Looking like an actual pony

Hopefully Rico will want to go out more this winter! He's very fluffy with his German winter coat but on the colder days, I think he'll have fun. 

TC Finally "Talks" About His Neck

So yesterday, three of the horses at the ranch got had acupuncture appointments! Poor Riot, he wasn't included. He was done last time though so no worries about how special he feels, he also gets fancy cookies when Rico and TC do because he nickers at me (Sunny has allergies so he gets a tiny bit of hay poor guy). 

So the smoke was making the light look weird but
the air was actually okay on Wednesday

TC

Obviously my clown of a horse had to go first because he was already getting annoyed that there was an additional human at the ranch and she had decided to organize her things and get ready for him rather than get him out. He is so spoiled, he is so used to me coming to pay attention to him the moment I get to the ranch that when I got called down to the house last week to come see the construction before riding, he was BESIDE himself shocked that I was not his priority. 

TC had some stuff going on so that was both good and bad news. I mean, bad because I feel bad for him! But good because this might totally explain some of what has been going on. 

The left side of his lower back was a little spasm-y and the right side of his neck was bugging him. Now, I'm SHOCKED that he was so communicative about his neck. It makes me SO excited for him to see my PT lady in a couple of weeks. She was the first person to tell me that he was hiding something in his neck but that it was going to take him a while to tell us about it, just working slowly with bodyworkers to have him start to trust them. Finally yesterday he told my acupuncturist all about it and got super into the cold laser. She was shocked too. 

I've never seen him so into the acupuncture session in general. He was yawning, taking deep breaths, blowing, licking, chewing, and so on. When PT lady comes out, we'll see what she thinks about him but I'm so excited to tell her about this day. Hopefully she will give us some answers as to what exactly is going on. But it's on the right side of his neck about half way up, that's more info than we have ever had! 

Weird light, but good air!

Rico

Rico hadn't been done in a while but he also hasn't been doing much! We talked about how tricky it is with an older horse to know how much to do with him. Like I could easily get on and put him on the bit and walk him in the equibands every day for an hour and he'd be much better off physically I'm sure... but is that fair to him? I doubt he'd want to do that from a mental perspective and I'm not about forcing him to do anything, even if it's good for him, at this point. But at the same time, if there's anything I can do to make his retirement a) more comfortable and/or b) last longer, I'd obviously love to do it! 

He had his normal stuff, his neck and his sacrum were both a bit iffy. Neck because of his neck arthritis I'm sure and his back because of his lordosis. He's also had some pitting edema on his belly so she did some points to help with that and recommended we get bloodwork, which I'll do when the vet is out for TC's teeth next week.

By the end, we'd agreed that I'd definitely do belly lifts every day I'm there. It's fast and easy and won't bother him, especially since there will be cookies involved. And I'm going to try to pony him in the equibands (on relatively loose) one day and see how much he hates it. If he doesn't mind and thinks it's fun, I might try to pony him down the road and back a few times a week with TC, putting him back before TC and I go to the arena. We'll see. Either way I'm glad that he's enjoying his retirement and that at the least, I can have him get acupuncture semi-regularly! 


Sunny

Sunny was last and she was pleased to see that he's much fitter now! He's now living on a hill and I've been riding him four times a week for about three weeks practicing our western dressage stuff (earlier in the day we did the circle of death with poles and he thought that was great!). 

We saved the best for last I guess, she said that Sunny had improved so much! The only issue he really had was in his mid neck, which makes sense with his silicosis. She thought that he might have arthritis in the facet joints of the neck, which I guess is somewhat common and hard to tell from typical neck x-rays. Sunny showed some demineralization in his x-rays when first diagnosed but has been getting better and better with his neck mobility and comfort over the years (when first diagnosed he literally couldn't put his head down to eat or drink! Now he even offers to come on the bit sometimes!). 

He had a really good session and she recommended doing lots of suppling exercises undersaddle (spiraling in and out, shoulder-in, leg yield) and riding him in a variety of frames (lots of stretching and then bringing him back up, only when he's comfortable though). Luckily we are already doing a lot of that so that's great! 

Cutest western dressage pony

I just love being able to do this for the horses! I'm so happy with the improvement in TC's attitude about bodywork in general this year. He's really starting to realize that we can help him if he stops dicking around and actually communicates with us. And finally after a long while doing this, he's letting us talk about his neck for the first time. I really think this is the root cause of his postural issues and he's finally talking to us about it! 

For Rico, I'm just loving that I can give him something that makes him feel better. Even if it doesn't do anything significant to extend his life or make him all that much more comfortable, I like being able to make him feel like a special horse. Because he is one! 

And Sunny, what a cool thing that the more I ride him, the better his body gets! She also said his weight seems better and that he seemed younger. So that's pretty cool. 

Fingers crossed that TC feels great to ride tomorrow morning (he gets today off!) and Sunny too. Then in the afternoon, I hop on a plane for the first time since January 2020! 

Flashback Friday: Rico's Worst PSG

Again, going through my tests has been amazing. I came by the test from this show  (so early in my blog that I just wrote about it with no pictures) where Rico and I were an absolute mess together. It was our last Prix St George and our lowest score at the level. 

One of my favorite pictures from one of our worst
shows at the FEI levels lol

 

Since the post is a miserable read due to no pictures, here are some choice quotes: 

Poor life choices were made yesterday when I insisted on hauling up to Starr Vaughn for our last show of the season when I was still getting over being sick. All week I've had what I thought was a bit of a cold but has ended up being a lot worse.

He was so tight in the mediums

Setting the stage. Basically I was sick the whole week leading up to a 2 day show in November of 2013. I'd planned on hauling in Friday and then showing Saturday and Sunday. I decided not to haul up until Saturday morning. Rico obviously had light work coming up to the show as I tried to get myself feeling good enough to ride. 

I woke up very sick again on Saturday but was adamant about just getting up there and then deciding what to do. Looking back on it, I should have just scratched and spent the weekend in bed (which is where I am right now and where I will be for the next 48 hours). But I didn't like the idea of not showing again until at least January or February (stupid) and I didn't like the idea of "wasting" all that money (stupid).

So off we went with me trying to nap in the truck but unable to because of the coughing fits. When we got to the barn, I set up Rico's stall and shoved him in there before sitting in line for 30 minutes (!!) to get my number. By the time I had it, I was so exhausted that I had to go lay down for a couple hours. I kept thinking man, if I had any other horse, I'd scratch, but Rico is so damn reliable.

Rico: having the best time
Megan: mildly panicking

Famous last words. Rico lost his SHIT in the warm up! I think he was mad about being shoved in a stall and ignored and he was also feeling really good (this was when I discovered that days off before a show = more energy for Rico). I ended up schooling all the Grand Prix canter work in warm up trying to chill him out while I was progressively getting sicker and sicker. 

He spooked at EVERYTHING on the way in, which I thought was fine because he's a silly horse and thinks that's fun. But then I got in there and he (yes he, I made few decisions in the first 8 minutes of the ride) picked up a trot. I say trot, but that's a loose term. He CHARGED around the arena in a big powerful medium trot squealing and shaking his head. I half halted and got a passage. Uhhhh. I kicked him out of it and got a threat to rear, then bronc bucks, then passage again. SHIT.

We proceeded like this for a while, I was just hoping he'd tire himself out but that wasn't happening. He felt like the kind of horse I'd consider taking into war. I tried a canter and holy shit that was a bad idea. He galloped sideways and when I stopped him, he threatened to rear, spooked at a dog, bronc bucked some more, passaged a bit, then cantered on the spot until I let him go forward into a working gallop again.

The only time the horse has ever dropped his back,
you do not want this horse to drop his back lol

I finally walked over to show. By walked over, I mean that the ring steward told me to get in the show ring, so I passaged my horse (who didn't have a passage) into the arena and picked up the canter, both of our eyes wide for different reasons. 

Into the show ring we went and at that point I was just hoping not to get bucked off. The first half of the test went surprisingly well and our scores reflected it. We got a handful of 7s and 7.5s on our trot work and even an 8 on our right walk pirouette! I was feeling really good by the time I shortened the reins after the extended walk and prepared for canter.

Note the tail in the first few strides of canter lol

And, well, here's the part of the test that went wrong: 

LOL I always tell my clients not to worry
if things go wrong in tests because it always
makes for a good story, this is a great one

Rereading this test and then rereading my blog post is EXACTLY why I have this blog. I laughed so much getting to this test and immediately looked up the post to relive it and it delivered. 

Our final score was a surprising 61% and change and I guess third place out of seven riders. The judge mostly had an issue with him kicking at my leg almost every time I used it and also I guess rearing in pirouettes isn't the best way to do them. I remember telling Tracey about the show and her telling me that she actually talked to the judge about my ride (they are friends, Tracey never coached me at shows, I don't like getting coaching at shows) and the judge remembered me and said that my horse was very naughty and kicked at me the whole time hahahaha

What a ridiculous creature

I now know that you can actually withdraw from tests if your horse is trying to murder you, and I've utilized that on a certain gray horse in a First level test that went similarly to this one. I mean, at least TC was eight at that time and not SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD. 

Still, any time Rico was naughty (it wasn't often), I was always happy about it. It's that cheekiness that got him to the Grand Prix at eighteen years old. And he's still cheeky to this day with our ponying adventures. He was definitely my horse of a lifetime in so many ways.