My youngest child, daughter, and I own a horse, She is a 17 year old horse named Dinah. We have had her for five years. My daughter brings her to shows where she competes in game events. Dinah just loves to go fast but my daughter loves to do barrels, poles, keys and four in a line. When we first got this horse, she had been competed in Pleasure. That is riding where the horse goes slow and looks like it is fun. It also looks fun for the rider. There is a judge that decides which horse looks the best and which rider looks the best. After a couple of years of this, both my daughter, me (show mom), and the horse decided this was no fun. My daughter and I hated washing the horse and braiding it's mane and tail the night before when it is hot, humid out with a million bugs around you. The horse hated standing still instead of getting rid of the bugs and then having a sheet put over it's body to keep it pretty while feeling like it is in a sauna then all night. We would arrive to the stables at about six the next morning to find the horse won with getting itself dirty and everything undone. We tried to fix what we could do until it was time to load her in the trailer and drive up to the location the show was at. I, as show mom, would always forget something that my daughter needed for her clothes, and she would fight wearing those fancy clothes. At the end of each ride, if she didn't place, my daughter would cry. How do you explain to a pre-teen that the judge's decision is subjective. There is no comfort in that to them. All of the other girls had winning horses that had cost a lot of money, with high buck trainers and the girls taking lessons every week. My daughter needed to volunteer at the shows to win awards for this club and started studying the riders in the game shows. During the off-season she starting trying those patterns back at the stable with our horse. She loved it and so did the horse. The next season she decided to give it a try. They dd okay. There was no judge, no fancy clothes, no getting the horse ready the night before. We all were hooked. Since then that is what my daughter has been doing with the horse. I ride just regular type of things. My daughter does still do pleasure things, some trail riding, and has introduced her to cows. This show season has been nonexistent due to weather this year. Except for now, the horse pulled a muscle in her shoulder pretty deeply and is taking a long time to heal. It is so hard to see your horse in pain, not be able to walk or trot and not ride her. This has been hard on her since she loves to go. At times when there is no pain, Dinah starts to run and then oops, the pain is there. There is stall rest, then just walking, then hand trotting and hopefully riding. The connection you feel when you ride a horse or can ply with them is something you can't put into words.
Tomorrow is another day of letting Dinah be. Last year I had two surgeries in six months and couldn't ride her. That was a very long and difficult year for me. We just hope and pray that this injury will not require surgery or anything more. Since she is not our land and at a boarding stable, you go to bed each night putting your trust in the owner of that place and the people that work there. We do give her something for the pain, but like with humans you don't want to give it to them for an extended period of time. Well, time for me to try and fall asleep as my Dinah is in her stall trying to relax and sleep also. I pray that God puts her in his healing hands. Sleep my precious horse and heal your shoulder
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