May

5

Saturday at the barn

Filed Under Judy Wood 



I spent much of Saturday at the barn, starting my annual client photo shots by shooting the cross country clinic that was being held for the Pony Club kids. As expected, there were some moments of excitement since in addition to jumping (which they have been doing regularly indoors all winter) there was the added novelty for the horses of being ridden and jumped outdoors for the first time since last fall, plus the added excitement of a portion of the lesson being done in the big sand ring which is normally used only for shows. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but for horses that have had very limited horizons over the winter, the first outdoors sessions can be more stimulation than they can contain. Surprisingly, the younger greener horses handled themselves very well overall, with some of the blow-ups being horses who have done this for a few years. No lasting harm done, though, to horses or riders, and a lot of good lessons were learned on both sides.

I’m always impressed with the progress these kids and their horses make over the course of a winter’s schooling. Since my ride times in the indoor ring virtually never overlap with theirs, I don’t really get a chance to see their progress from September until they head outdoors again in May. This being the case, once I apply my photographer’s eye to their rides, I can see that they have made big strides in confidence and capability over the past months. The kids that ride at Ebon take their training pretty seriously, and work hard to improve their knowledge and horsemanship, and once summer show season starts (only a month now til the first one at Ebon) they will start to reap the benefits, all else being equal.

The real excitement of the day on Saturday was almost a tragic event, since it could have ended much worse than it did. One of the horses in Alpac’s big turnout somehow managed to nick his right foreleg in the fetlock area, and tore open an artery. One of the girls who was just finished with her clinic ride noticed something amiss with him (luckily he was near the gate where he could be seen) and quickly called for help. I happened to be close at hand as well, and it was a sickening sight to see the blood pumping out of the wound with every beat of his heart. If he hadn’t been seen in a timely fashion, he would have bled out and been dead right there in the paddock.

As it was, we got him into the barn and with padding and compression onto the area as fast as possible until the vets could get out to assess him. They worked on him for about an hour, then it was decided that he should be trailered into the vet college to see if there was any joint damage as well. Luckily this proved not to be the case and he was back in his stall in the barn the next day when I went out to ride, apparently none the worse for his experience. That’s the first time I’ve witnessed an arterial bleed, in any species, and I hope it will be the last. The amount of blood coming out of that wound was truly astonishing.

The first shot today is one I took before I went over to the riding rings. The lessons hadn’t started yet when I got to the barn, so I went and lurked around the turnouts to see what I could find. This is in the mare’s pen, generally not so much of a water zone, but still with quite a bit of this year’s snow melt in evidence. In real life it’s not nearly as picturesque as in the photo, but that’s one of the wonders of photography.

Shot number two is of one of the young teens participating in the clinic. This is her new boy, purchased last year, and an Ebon home-bred warmblood. He’s going to be one I will enjoy following as he progesses, and is one of those horses that the camera likes. He’s got a lot of style and grace, is easy on the eyes, and is pretty sensible too. It’s a good combination.

©Copyright 2008 by Judy Wood. See original post here.

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