Have Crutches, Will Travel

Wed Jun 27, 2007

Went out to the barn tonight, and of course Quzqo was way the hell out in the field. I figured as much. Nobody was around, so I entertained myself by attaching my rein stops to the breeching of his harness. Pretty neat. Kind of sad, looking through my tack cupboards, because all the stuff from the show was dumped in there, including my lovely $100 Ariat, sliced in half! I wonder if the shoe repair place could fix it, LOL...I doubt that!

Then I thought to go try to find my cart, as I brought out the whip holder and trace clamps to install. I walked down the aisleway, admiring the new footing Bob had placed in the indoor arena FINALLY...he WAS going to do it last October...not like the man is a procrastinator or anything, HA!.

Coos was still way the hell out in the pasture, but he and his pals were back in the "Bad Boyz Pasture", not waaaaay out in "Cannonball Run" like they had been. Hmmm.... better footing in Bad Boyz...not as hilly...hmmm....I crutch-hopped down the slope, meaning to go into the lower part of the barn to see if my cart was there...but gol dang it, SOMEhow silly me ended up crutch-hopping my way out into Bad Boyz to see my horse! BWAHAHAHAAA!

This foolish lady somehow managed to crutch-hop the 1/4 to 3/10 of a mile UPhill out into a field (thankfully I could take the horse paths, which was pretty clear of weeds and firmly packed)...Coos was grazing happily, all his TAME pasture pals had already been brought in and were in their stalls, but he was out wild and free (I kept thinking of how he reportedly reared up at that girl last week).

Imagine my delight when he lifted his head, saw me...watched me a minute or two...then started ambling a good 50-60 feet over right to where I was!!! I had meant to sit down and just hang out, so I kept hopping a few more yards to an embankment, and he followed me right along, and got rewarded with SO many pats and rubs, and I was thrilled that he finally actually nickered at me, and rubbed his head against my hand for forehead scritches!!! I rubbed his forehead, inside his ears, gave him a good scratching on the chest and throat, which he leaned right into...I'd put my crutches down by now, so I was pretty much just standing on my own two feet, and doing a fine job of it (this cast can come off any time now, thank you!!)

He got a couple of peppermints, and I finally sat down & fed him clover flowers (lol...spoiled!!). When those ran out, he just grazed near where I sat. This went on for a few minutes, I managed to get up again, gave him the last peppermint and a pat, and told him I'd see him tomorrow! I started hopping back towards the barn...and he started following me!

That stinker followed, literally at my elbow, nearly the entire way back down towards the barn!! He did get ahead of me, but kept stopping and looking back, waiting for me to catch up!! Finally back by the gate, he went right to the gate and waited! He was a little hesitant to go out the gate, but with some urging, he did (I restrained the urge to wiggle a crutch at him...it works with dogs and chickens, but don't think I should try with a horse!). He went ahead to the outer gate and waited...I got that open, he ambled out, walked around a few seconds, didn't see any grass worth eating, and then walked right into the barn, down the aisleway, and right into his stall!

DAMN I've got a neat horse!! LOL! I'm just so chuffed he was FINALLY glad to see me! I think the fact we were out in the pasture helped...no distractions of Bob wheeling the grain cart around (luckily his grain was already in his bucket when he went into his stall tonight).

Anyway, my cart WAS where it was supposed to be, although the shafts are in my tack cupboard, and I can't find my ZipLoc bag with the bolts that hold them together (yet). I got the whip holder and the trace clamps attached, pretty classy lookin' rig!

I can hardly wait to get this damned cast off!!! 19 hours 'til my appointment!! I had NO pain whatsoever in the broken leg during tonight's adventure, though my left leg's sore, ha!

Damn, that was fun! I do love my guy, even if he did cost me $457 in ambulance fees!