the Sage By Nature blog

OK, so I haven’t personally had a good pedicure myself in a very long time, but its nice to know that my horse is finally getting her feet taken care of properly.

On Monday, Lori came out for the second time to trim Sage’s hooves. It had been five weeks, and we decided that was at least one week too long. We need to look at Sage as actually being in rehab, recovering from how her hooves had been shaped and trimmed for the past year – even though that work had been done by a barefoot trimmer. We will have her on a four week schedule for a while.

Lori took her time balancing Sage’s hooves and then had me lead her up and down the aisle; we were both not quite satisfied with the movement. So, she did a little more filing, and we finished up fairly confident that enough had been done for the day. I am never quite sure how Sage feels until the next day, however, so I still kind of hold my breath until I can gauge how she is feeling at least 24 hours post-trim.

It was a sunny, glorious day, and I brought my saddle on the off-chance that Sage would feel good enough for me to ride her. To tell you the truth, I was not that optimistic, although Lori is restoring my faith in barefoot trimmers.

Sage trotted off into the arena to have a good roll, and she seemed fine and energetic, like the last time post-trim with Lori. I thought I would give riding a try, especially since I hadn’t even been up on her since last Fall some time. If she was too painful with me on her, I would be able to tell immediately and could just get back off. So I saddled her up, got the kids occupied with their plastic horses in the grass, and rode off into the outdoor arena.

Sage had a definite spring in her step right from the start, so I did some warm up and refresher work, holding her back at times because she really wanted to trot faster than I thought she should. She is, after all, in rehab! She probably has some muscle and joint realigning and healing to do, so I held myself back as well. Better to have a short, productive ride than potentially make her sore for the next ride. I may be being too cautious, but I want to give her at least a few more days.

I did put my girls on her for a short ride when I was done though, and that was a treat for them, too. It sure is delightful to have a horse that I can throw a saddle on, ride with a rope halter, then put my kids on her back and not worry, all after not being ridden for almost six months.

Happy children, a sunny day, a pain-free horse, and the light smell of horse sweat and leather mixed with cherry blossoms – it just does not get much better than that!