Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Max Trimumphant!!! Part I

Well, I've finally recovered from this last weekend and the trail riding competition. Overall, Max was excellent and everything went much better than expected! Max passed his vet checks with flying colors, even though we were penalized points in the second vet check because his pulse was higher than the first stop (I let him eat some grass which elevates the pulse- lesson learned!).

After a somewhat late start Friday, we finally made it out to the camp at about 1:00 PM- it's located at a ranch off of the 138, just past Gorman. I'd successfully loaded and unloaded Max and he pretty much arrived in one piece with only a little abrasions to the left hip. Naturally, Max was excited seeing all the other horses and the wind had begun to kick up and this didn't help- nevertheless, he stayed tied up at the trailer.

After the initial check-in and having undergone vet check, I proceeded to arrange everything. As it turned out later, I left the tack box too close to Max and got gigged points for it. Also, my presentation of Max for the vet check could use improvement- I need to be able to lunge him better.

Anyway, I got little sleep that night- Max was banging his bucket against the trailer and the noise kept me up almost all night. I was able to sleep in two-hour increments but it was tough. Also, Max kept pacing about and wouldn't settle down (although he did eat and drink). Somehow during the night, Max managed to undo the snap link and he proceeded to wander around- going to visit his girlfriend Molly, who naturally began to squeal like Mares do. My friends managed to catch Max and hook him back up by the time I'd pulled my boots on and got outside.

More to follow- the ride!

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