Oh little barb! What have you been up to? Well, for starters, she was turned out with a herd again — do you hear that sigh of relief? Finally, she said. Back in her old stomping grounds, living with other mares 24/7. Getting into trouble, of course. We have to watch Barb a little closer than some. We hear some squealing coming from the direction of the park and prick our ears, waiting for the thunk of a kick landing. But she did well out there, avoided major accidents, made some friends.
Then, a semi-tragedy struck: it looked as though her old injury was flaring up again. If you recall, she crawled under a fence last year and twisted up her hind end something pretty gnarly. One afternoon, we noticed that Barb was looking a lot like she had that first day after her injury — lethargic, kind of humped-up in the back, almost colicky. We called and had the vet out to check her out, and he felt that she had somehow tweaked her back again, and that the best course of action would be to restrict movement. So Barb was plucked from her group once again for a period of stall rest, followed by a restricted turnout space. Bwa bwaaaaa.
But for such a young horse, Barb does surprisingly well on stall rest. She has, unfortunately, had some experience with it, but it means she doesn’t protest very much at all when she has to stay inside. And even in her rehab paddock, separated from her friends once again, she doesn’t have many complaints. Some, yes, especially in the early days. But she has been doing very well being quiet, physically at least.
The good news is, whatever she did this time was nowhere near as bad or injurious as last time. She popped right back out of it, and has begun her rehab process back into regular work.
Let’s rewind a little bit. Before her injury, Barb was going well under saddle, walk trot lope. Casey A has been working with her, and getting some nice changes under saddle. Despite this, Barb is certainly not a beginner horse. She has some ‘zip’ that might intimidate a more cautious rider, so her ideal riding partner will be someone with the confidence needed to redirect her life. But despite her energy, she is not spooky — she just has a sensitive gas pedal. Right before she hurt herself, Barb had gone out on a ride around the property (and with a new rider, too!) and did very well. Likely with a few more miles under her cinch, she’ll make a great little trail horse.
On the ground Casey has been getting good changes with her as well. She can certainly be opinionated and rather pushy, but she has been doing a lot better being respectful at the end of a line when being led.
She will need a little bit of time to get her restart into full swing, but Barb will hopefully be off to her forever home soon — where we will keep our fingers crossed she will keep herself out of trouble!
