Dee stands for Delightful, make that, Devil

I have mentioned in this blog that Dee, in the past, has shown the schizophrenic ability to appear to be completely cheerful, then, without warning, perform the baddest of bad horse behavior.

Instead of Biltrite Smokin Dee, she should have been name False Sense of Security.

Wish I could ride a bucking paint horse this well.  Of course, this horse is dead and stuffed.  Hmm, don't give me any ideas.

Unfortunately, she reminded me of her changeable nature the other night.  I had just completed an excellent ride on Starlight, who took me quietly around our nine acre hay field south of the house, an area that she had never seen before.    I then groomed, saddled and bridled Dee and hand walked her around the property before getting on.  I did not ground drive her, as I have not the last couple of good rides with her.

She was good at the mounting block and walked off well.  After about 10 steps with no warning, she was suddenly…what do you call those things?  Oh yeah.  A bucking bronco.  She bucked hard, each buck raising that back end higher and higher.

To my credit, or perhaps to my stupidity (see my previous post mentioning recklessness and stupidity), I stayed on quite a while, long enough to break my tailbone on her saddle pommel from repeated pounding.  But, because I am too stupid to lean back, thrust my legs forward and grab the grab strap, and instead try in vein to yank up the head, I eventually ended up on her withers.  This gave her the chance to launch me like the human cannonball and I hit the hay field, hard.

My husband, who was lying down at the time, heard, “Dee, no!  Dee, no!  Dee, no!  Dee, no! DEE NO!” and got up in time to see me storming after the fleeing Dee.  I caught her by the barn, led her back down to the mounting block (armed with a crop), got on, and we rode past the bucking spot a couple of times and out into the field.  By that time, the shock and anger were wearing off and I decided I better put her away and check my injuries.

Broken tailbone and injured shoulder.  When I saw the doctor a day or so later, she proclaimed the shoulder injury to be a sprained rotator cuff.  Since rotator cuff injuries are common with horseback riders, at least the kind who hit the ground, I am relieved that this is just a sprain and not a break or tear. 

In fact, it’s been a few days and I’m starting to plan my next rides.

One huge regret I have is that I have been alternating between getting the Point 2 air vest and the Kan-Tek vest.  BOTH have better shoulder protection than the Tipperary I wear.  I put it off, because I read about the Point 2 Hybrid coming out, which will combine a racing jockey’s protective vest with the air bags, so you don’t have to wear two separate vests.  I’m going ahead and pre-ordering mine now.

The other thing I did was talk to Cornell about spaying Dee.  She was in heat when this happened, and I’m starting to think that her schizophrenic behavior is related to hormones.  For the record, I’m an avowed mare lover, and my other three mares are steady, even when they are in heat.  But Dee has a violence in her that she display at such times.  Kicking (usually other horses, but sometimes me) has been her prime method of showing her feelings, but let’s now add bucking to the list.

Cornell said she sounded like a good candidate for the procedure, but I may try her on Regumate first, to see if the behavior changes.  That will be a good indication as to whether the spaying will even out her personality.  Or, I might just go for the ovary removal.  Stay tuned.

In the meantime, I’m healing up and will soon be back at it.  I’m hoping to get myself and at least one of these mares in shape for some upcoming hunter paces this year!