A very fuzzy Lola with a friend. I do like that she gets along so well with other horses.
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And… dammit. Lola had some heat and swelling in her RH cannon on Tuesday. Vet saw her today, she was a bit lame on it, did ultrasound, and she has strained a tendon. It’s not terribly bad. She will get handwalking or tack walking and daily cold hosing for a month. Barn does not have any stalls available (they are down by 2 stalls because they took down stall walls to make big foaling stalls for the 2 preggo mares) but they’re moving her to a round pen with a shelter (smaller, flatter, and drier than her current paddock) and will stall her in the daytime - if she tolerates it. Vet said if she’s calmer in the round pen, just keep her out there. Vet will do shockwave treatments. Luckily Lola is insured.
But argh! Meanwhile I’ve been DMing with a woman whose family owned Lola’s most famous ancestor, Waseekas Nocturne. She’ll be worried.
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Sorry, Ann. Horses: Two steps forward, one step back.
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Sorry to hear that. Horses are way too good at hurting themselves. Here’s to a speedy recovery.
Sorry to hear! She is young and healthy so she will heal well. Shockwave is great. Plus, this gives you something to worry about 
I am not sure where I would spend my mental or emotional energy but not for horses and worrying about them constantly. Not that it ever helps.
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100% agree.
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some history since many of us are holed up due to weather
looking at the photos from the 1940s/50s those look just like our current stock
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I think the situation here is that the OP may be over horsed for long time, which won’t be pleasant and maybe somewhat unsafe.
Considering that even with time horse may still always be a bit of a handful when the chips are down and waiting for her to settle from her young ways may take long.
That will take time the OP doesn’t have left to enjoy horses safely.
I think the OP’s words have reflected that in plenty of posts.
To decide if to continue or not with Lola is a decision yet to be made.
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Yes. Everything right now is on hold until she heals. If all I wanted to do was toodle around the arena, I’d keep her. Trail testing waits for the spring and a better chance for company.
Most of the time I’m fine with this. The rest of it, I’m wishing that my older mare was rideable. But here’s how she looks these days! 
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Living the good life!
I don’t think you meant to quote me here? At least, I can’t see a connection between my post and yours. I agree with your assessment and, OP, I think it’s very reasonable to rehab the mare and then see how you feel in the spring.
I was simply agreeing with the post I quoted. There’s no way in Hades I’m swinging a leg over a horse I don’t feel safe simply leading from point A to point B, that’s all.
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Yes - just odd quoting.
I do want to see where we are in the spring. Lola’s a nice little horse.
I still feel like an utter beginner at groundwork, but my skills have greatly improved since I bought Feronia. And there were many times when I was trail riding her where if she was hesitant about crossing a bridge or going through something, I’d hop off and ask her to follow me. I guess she thought that if whatever it was didn’t kill me, it wouldn’t kill her.
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Someone may have already suggested this (or maybe you know about it already), but if you’re interested in good ideas for groundwork, Jec Ballou’s book “55 Corrective Exercises for Horses” is great. (Even if your horse doesn’t need “corrective” work).
It gives you a lot of ideas of how to do different kinds of work with your horse on the ground. It’s excellent for those times when you can’t ride but you want to be able to work with the horse.
I’m pretty sure I have that one!
I can do tack walking if I want. I’m going to put her back in Feronia’s Little S hackamore and see if “relaxed walk on the buckle” is in her vocabulary.
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Yes, was quoting so my answer made sense by adding to what both of you had already mentioned.
Sorry that I was not clear.
I too have been there a few times with a nice horse that due to circumstances was not what I needed to be involved with, was hoping the horse would change, as here.
Some times it worked, others not too well.
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I have done a lot of work with the horses I handle to be able to lead them safely and for hopping off being a default if they are genuinely upset about anything. But it takes time and work. And I would not take a horse I didn’t trust on a long walk. Where I live we have to hand walk away from the barn to get to attended turnout space so folks often have to figure out how to get their spicy horses down the path to burn off steam.
I also always use rope halters and they have a lot of bite in an emergency.
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We didn’t have rope halters with knots like they do today.
Later, at the track, you were supposed to always walk a horse anywhere with a chain shank on a leather halter, that was rarely used to get a horse’s attention, horses respected it just being there.
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Both Feronia and Lola know the difference between a rope halter and a leather halter! A rope halter means business! A leather halter is for tying or cross-tying, leading from one place to another at the barn etc. And yes in a perfect world there wouldn’t be a difference, but…
From a few days before she got hurt, and me up for once. This was the best lesson we’ve had; her canter is sooooo much better now. Yes, the pink thing is her rope halter. Sorry it’s so blurry; it’s a video still.
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Advice for a tack-eating pony, anyone? I rode Lola in a Little S hackamore this evening. Just tack walking. She really liked it - definitely more than she likes a bit - but somewhere along the way, before I rode her, she grabbed one of the reins and destroyed a keeper. The rein itself has a little damage but I think that happened after I rode her. I had to get the rein out of her mouth at least twice. What should I do? She has a busy mouth to go with her busy brain.
