Venture a terre

Translation: belly to the ground (at very great speed).

Which is what I imagined the horse that caused this havoc did after jumping through the rail and running down the hill to plow through a chain link fence. Fortunately, and this is why I believe the escaped equine had his belly pretty damn close to the ground, he missed the strands of barbed wire stretched above the fence. 

It was an obsolutely crazy morning at the track. First I look over at the barn across the road from us and this girl's pony-horse goes to hogging it. I'm not even over-exaggerating when I say that I have seen very few horses buck that hard without a flank strap on. It could have cleared a four foot fence while bucking, if that makes sense. The girl actually stayed with him for a more than a respectable amount of time, but did eventually come off. In all honesty I wish I could have filmed it. Not because the girl came off or I find it funny, but so you guys could see exactly how hard this horse was gettin' at it. 

It kind of looked like this only his head was lower, between his legs, and his back was arched more. He was also higher off of the ground.

The girl wasn't seriously injured, but they called the ambulance to come and look at her. Now, this is the point where everything goes to shit. I guess I should explain that most places don't close the track as long as there is an ambulance on the grounds. If the ambulance leaves then people don't head to the track because they know it is going to be a long time before the track opens again. At the Downs at Hellbuquerque they close the track if the ambulance isn't literally parked on it. When the ambulance came for the girl, it was only parked about fifty yards from the racetrack and they closed it. So what happens? Everyone still heads up on their horses, figuring that the track will open soon because the ambulance is so close. This puts a lot of extremely high strung horses, that are not used to standing around waiting to train, all in the area that the ambulance has to drive through to get back on the track. Obviously, this is a wreck waiting to happen.

Not one minute after the ambulance left the barn and they announced the track back open, they announced the track was closed again. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but the guy got slammed hard into the pavement and was hurt really bad. The ambulance was there with him for at least forty-five minutes before they finally took him to the hospital. Apparently, the guy wasn't licensed and they were trying to avoid taking him to the hospital unless absolutely necessary. Yeah, that's just completely messed up if it's true. Things tend to get exaggerated around the track, but it was pretty obvious that he needed to go and they sure took there sweet ass time getting him loaded up and on his way.

A little later, I heard a lot of screaming, a loud crash, and horses scattering everywhere on the pavement. That resulted from the picture above. It was seriously a crazy day!

I need to get out of here venture a terre before this place kills me!

Anyway, quick (sane) horses update:

Indy

She just keeps getting better and better. I'm honestly shocked at the difference between two weeks ago and now. It's like night and day. I want to be realistic with my goals for her, but she is definitely making me want to aim higher every ride. Each time I saddle indy up she acts more mature, feels stronger, and works better. I know we will eventually hit that point where we plateau for awhile, so I'm going to enjoy every minute of this while it lasts.

Beefheart

I gave him a week off after the last show because he seemed like he needed a break. The first day back Beefs seemed sour and bored as hell with the dressage work. Okay, new game plan. I took him out and just walked and trotted him outside of the arena (it's a fairly large area). I went a couple of times around in each gait, not asking him for anything, just keeping my legs on and a steady contact. What he did with his body from there was up to him. He relaxed, started using his back, and giving me quality and it was all his own idea. We finished with that, Beefs seeming pretty happy. I did the same thing the next day, but added a few of laps of canter in two point each way. He freaking loved that! I'm not saying he can jump, but his canter is a jumper's dream. I had fun, he had fun. Honestly, I'd forgotten how nice it is to get off of a horses back and let them move *shame*. Tomorrow we will do that around the jumping arena and pop over a couple of cross rails just for the hell of it. I might even schedule a jumping lesson this week if JL is okay with it. I've been putting too much pressure on Beefs  with the dressage work and it's not fair to him. Just because we have shows coming up doesn't mean that I all of the sudden need to become a hard ass. I'd rather have him happy and get my ass kicked, than have him dread every time he gets ridden. Maybe it will hurt us in the show ring, but it's just as likely that changing things up will help. Either way, my horse's happiness comes first.

Gunner 

Mostly, I'm just having fun on him. I'm glad to have Gunner to ride because it's not the end of the world if he doesn't go perfect. I can really focus on improving my position and straightness. He is fun to ride, safe. Though, he did about go nuts over the foal in the pasture the other day. Gunner wasn't scared or anything, more like infatuated. I thought he was going to run over to the fence to get closer to it no matter how much I objected.

Barstow

I swear this mare thinks that I signed some contract with a 'you break it, you buy it' clause. First she banged up her right hind, then it was her left. Her feet got a little sore after she was shod. Now, some type of bug bit her and she is swollen up from it. This wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that the bite is right where the girth goes and Barstow literally looks like she has the biggest pinch from a girth ever. It covers the whole underside of her girth area. I love this mare, but it's a little hard to sell her if I can't ride her. The worst part is that she made it through her entire racing career without any scars or bumps. She was literally flawless. I guess I should be glad that none of the injuries were serious and she isn't lame. I'm seriously going to start wrapping her in styrofoam, bubble wrap, and anything else that can protect her. Not to mention bug repellant of every kind. Why horse? Why?!!!

*Sorry about the lack of pictures, the fiance hasn't been able to come out to the barn with me lately.