The short story below is from a composition/writing class I took in 2005. The assignment was to write about an obsession (passion) while making the rest of the class guess what you were writing about, when it was read aloud on the due date. You can see that I played with words a bit in a way that would not have been obvious while reading, unless I put emphasis on them. :) I hope you enjoyed reading it. I am still hunting for another one, but can't seem to locate it. And, I have one in waiting that I will post soon. I really should get back to writing!


Promise is nearly 100% again. She looked fantastic this weekend, both in terms of movement and weight. She's put back most of the weight she had lost, and by the end of this week, she ought to have all of it back. She's still doing wonderfully with Panache as a turnout buddy, too. 


Her gait is a lot looser, and definitely less sore. I still see a bit of a hip hike, but it seems to be lessening quickly, and getting better as she walks. 


I decided a couple of weeks ago to pull her old show bridle out of my shed, clean it up and let her wear it as her regular bridle. It's in considerably better condition than the one she had been wearing, and chances we're ever going to show again are slim to none. I figured, she looks great in it, it matches the saddle, and there's no sense letting it rot away unused at home. You can see her below, the week we got the saddle and bridle, plus her funky tie-die wraps. :) I will try to get some new pictures of her in it this weekend.

So, on Saturday, I tossed her bridle on and brought her out to the arena to lunge her for about 25 minutes. My boyfriend was in tow, so he kept time for me. We did 10 minutes of walk and 3 minutes of trot in each direction. 

I was surprised how relaxed she was...I figured she would be trying to play and be goofy because it was chilly and she's been laid up. I guess getting to go out again probably helped my cause quite a bit.

On Sunday, I lunged her again, this time with 5 ground poles set up on our circle, about 14-16 feet apart -- enough length at a walk for her to step comfortably with all four feet and at the trot, to have to take an extra step between each pole, which reminds her to engage. 

We did a few carrot stretches to loosen her up and then I had her walk over them, and then trot over them, and then walk over them again in each direction. She seemed to be having fun and it got her to start using her hind end a little bit. I think we did about 15 minutes total. She didn't break even the slightest bit of a sweat and wasn't even puffing. 

I brought her in and rubbed her stifles and hocks with some vetrolin liniment and fed her the rest of an entire bag of carrots while doing some more carrot stretches. She's quite stiff from being laid up, and could barely touch her hip on either side. So, I will have to invest in some more carrots and get her stretching again.

I think she'll be closer to her normal weight this weekend, and she's having her teeth done on Thursday (WOOHOO!!) -- and since I can warm up her back a bit on the lunge without working her too hard, I will hop on her this weekend and do a lot of walking and maybe 2 minutes of trotting in each direction. I've been hesitant to get on her, because I don't want to rush her. I really wanted her to heal as much as possible before I added my weight to her. 

My boyfriend and I are looking into the possibility of renting the house on the barn property, if it's in the price range. Kind of a long story, but it boils down to me only wanting to move once, and if I have to move, I would love it to be in with him. He's got a new job - he has started orientation this week, and with any luck, I would be able to work off either rent or board in the barn by feeding at night and/or mucking on the weekends. So, I've started asking the barn owner some questions about it, and with any luck, we'll both be able to talk to her in person this weekend, and maybe even see it. It would be a great solution for a while, to be that close to Promise. It's not a great commute to work for me, but I think the other benefits would outweigh that. Even if I didn't ride every day after work, I could certainly spend time with her and work her on the lunge, or long line her. Getting her fit again would be wonderful!