Walli gets kicked

Today I had a nice ride all the way to Burg (town by the castle) with Melanie, the lady with two broken horses.


One is that gorgeous Arab mare, young, arthritic, will never again be ridden, but Melanie will not sell her. Instead she'll keep paying board the rest of her life. Whenever I look at that big, stout, bay, Russian-bred mare, I think "OMGosh I would have bought her in a heartbeat." They say they spent a lot of money buying her, and yet she has a bone spavin. No matter what you pay for a horse, they can break the next day. It's horrible.

Because the Arabian is retired, Melanie bought a massive Fresian/Warmblood cross named Kaie that has a lesser injury to her back, but still cannot be ridden. I call her "Poor Melanie" to my husband because, geez, two broken horses you have to pay board for at 215E per month! Also she has spent 3K E on vet bills the last year and a half. Poor Melanie.

Well, today the vet gave the OK to go out at a walking pace, and Melanie, being careful, and very fit, did the entire 14 KM or so on foot! Her mare Kaie had shown no sign whatsoever but suddenly she kicked out and nailed Walli. The sound was something I'd never heard before, a crack that rang out from metal draft-sized shoe hitting Walli's stifle bone. I knew it was broken, and jumped off before realizing that put me directly in the danger zone if she wanted to kick again. I had nowhere to go on the narrow trail but Melanie, also shocked, was quick to move her mare forward away from us.

Blood started dripping down from two spots, on both hind legs! I was terrified but saw nothing too bad. I just stood there watching, and the blood stopped and Walli was so good, she never flinched. I stroked her face and said, "It's my fault, I'm so sorry!" and got a big red streak on her face from my hand. Both Melanie and me stuffed some treats in her mouth before asking her to move. When she did, she was fine! Amazing. From the sound it made, I was sure she was ruined.

I took off her bit and led her up the next rise, letting her lag behind me for once out of pity. I walked enough that I have two blisters, one on each heel, from my new Ariat Terrains, which have a ridge behind my ankle and I don't know what to do about it- I get blisters everytime I do more than a little hiking. It got to the point where I had to ride, I couldn't walk anymore.

 When I got back to the barn I hosed her for 10 minutes but she was really fine. In the pasture she rolled, her normal sitting-dog style to do the other side (how odd!). Then I looked up that huge hill pasture and dreaded it, I would have to clean up all that poop going all the way to the top. I inched my way up there with the wheelbarrow, every step horrible. Then when I got to the top and started scooping, I looked down and saw someone else was also scooping poop into a wheelbarrow at the bottom. I couldn't tell who, I was too far up, but as I worked my way down, I saw that it was Melanie! It's not even her field - she has her two in the next field over.

She must have pitied me because of my blisters and she did fully half the work today. When I finally caught up to her I said thanks and I'll repay her someday. She's going to Holland tomorrow to ride horses on the ocean for her first time. I told her I'll be thinking of her. Another suspicious German works her way into a friendly acquaintanceship - I hugged her even and thanked her for the ride. She apologized about her horse hurting mine, said she'll drive back to the barn tonight to check on her again, and I said, "Walli's fine, no worries, and have a great vacation!"

(I contacted Walli's owner tonight, just to let her know.)