It took me a good five minutes to shake the bottle of omoprazole and draw it up the needle. The thick liquid had a mind of its own and didn’t like leaving the safety of its tiny bottle. The ulcer medication for Ocean to be injected into his neck seemed like an easy task in theory but apparently it wasn’t going to be today.
As I plunged the needle into his muscular neck he panicked and jumped on my right foot, still showing the yellowing signs of last week’s ankle/calf injury, but is now turning purple yet again.
With that brilliant start to the day I led him back to his yard wishing for just a single day without an ache or pain in my body and wanting to crawl back in to bed. I decided to settle for the next best therapy and take a trip to the forest.
Ruby had been tied up in the round yard for a while after having her pedicure and new set of shoes and was quite keen to get out and about. She didn’t want to stand still as I mounted so we worked through that by getting on and off til she settled and stood quietly.
Ruby and I set off down the road with the dogs to enjoy the forest. We have a mid week date each week while her owner is at school. Sometimes we do groundwork, sometimes we do flatwork and sometimes we go out and about. I like to keep her interested so she’s happy and alert for Alex’s lesson on the weekend.
Today Ruby was a little unsettled. It was quite windy and beginning to drizzle on and off. Mostly she held herself nicely in a frame as I walked along, I insisted that she keep herself nice and low in a frame rather than just a loose rein plod out.
Our ride through the diggings was hesitant and she wasn’t quite as calm as usual. After coming from 6 weeks of work 5 days a week, Ruby’s now settling into her 2-3 times a week rides, at times feeling a little keener than before. She’s such a gentle giant. Ruby wouldn’t hurt a fly, she’s happy to be patted, brushed and fussed over and always comes to say hi at the gate. She’s just a sweetheart to have around. I decided halfway through the diggings that coming back to the round pen might suit Ruby more today to get her focusing on me instead of her wild weather surroundings.
Coming back to the property I decided to enter via the rear gate, a task that involves getting off to open the lock and shut it again. All well and good when you’re on a small horse, but with this giant girl Ruby, I knew I needed to climb on something to get back on.
I led Ruby up to the fence line. There were a couple of broken panels and it was easy enough for me to climb up there to get the height I needed to get on the gentle giant.
Ruby was quite concerned at my antics and kept lifting her head like a giraffe and worrying about what I was doing and not standing still for me to mount. It was in this awkward moment that her oversized ear tip poked me in the eye. I sat there thinking “What the F&$k Kel you’re such a knob, only you could get stomped on by Ocean and then poked in the eye by the tip of a horse’s ear!!”
It was in this moment I realised that Ruby didn’t need to go back to the round yard to work off her steam today, but that my time could be better spent sitting here with her in the present and waiting for her to relax at our improvised mounting block. I sat still til she felt more comfortable about being dragged up to a fence for this crazy human to climb on to her back. It didn’t take too long and her head was resting in my lap. Ruby didn’t need me to dictate to her today, she needed me to wait and listen to her. To listen when she was telling me she just needed to stop and let things soak in.
Our ride home was much more relaxed than our ride out. By taking the time to listen to what Ruby needed, I was reminded that sometimes it’s not about what I need from the horse, but what they need from me that matters the most.