The Return of the Brains

The fiancé made it back from Boise last night. The filly, CD, didn't run nearly as well as I had hoped, but that's how horse racing goes. She was pretty good in the paddock and the post parade (Boise gets HUGE crowds at the races and I was a little nervous how she would handle it). She broke extremely well from the gates. Dennis, the jockey, said that when she saw the stands turning for home she got distracted and backed out a bit, then she got a little tired. She was plenty fit enough, but maybe the trip and the heat knocked her out some. CD is the type that has to experience something once and then she's good to go, so I'm not discouraged with her first race at all. It's not like she didn't show any talent. She made it through, didn't make any mistakes, and came out of the race in good shape. She's two and still a little butt high, big for her age. There will be more races.

Colinda Dawn and her owner. 

With life and the weather returning back to normal, I was able to ride Beefs again today. Honestly, the idea of riding him today wasn't that appealing. He had six days off (between the weather, the extra workload, throwing my back out AGAIN, and Beefs needing shod pretty bad, I didn't ride him) and had been acting like a psycho for four of them due to the arrival of a goat at the barn behind ours. The little heathen decided to get loose from the walker and take himself for a nice run out where I ride him. I was up watching a horse go, but my groom said she looked up, the halter was still hanging on the walker, and Beefs was trotting away. Apparently, he was an ass to catch, but she managed to get it done before he killed himself. After that little escapade, he was so stressed that he started acting just a bit colicky. I gave him a couple of ace pills and put him on the walker until they kicked in. He was fine after that, but he's still been a nutcase in his stall since. So yeah, I figured the ride was going to be interesting.

My shoer came and put new kicks on Beefs this morning. His feet looked great after and I always find it interesting to feel how they go after they've just been shod, which gave me a little more incentive to be happy about climbing on. He was really relaxed while I tacked him up and things were looking up by the minute. I was really insistent that he stayed focused from the second I got on and the ride went really well. I guess I should say that Beefs went well, I rode like a proverbial sack of shit. Anyway, I did notice a difference in how he traveled after being shod. He was hitting the ground much better. Beefs was a little tight through his back and slightly stiff in the right hind, but that is normal for him when he has had a few days off. I was really tight in my back today too, which probably didn't help. Beefs still felt better, especially in the front end (good job shoer). So, the ride ended with me being really happy with Beefs and pissed at myself.

On another note, yesterday marked the one year mark for my blog! I was hoping to get to 100 posts within a year, but didn't quite make it. I was a little slow getting rolling with it. Anyway, I've loved discovering your blogs and learning about all of you and your horses. You are all amazing! Thank you so much for everything over this last year!