Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Ever have a horse that you've always suspected was a few fries short of a Happy Meal, but he still somehow managed to excel in the self-destruction department?? Well, you're not alone.? I've got one too.? No one would ever mistake my boy Bear for an equine Einstein.? Not Bear, who will sometimes approach the hinge end of a gate that he comes in every night and head-butt it, expecting it to open there.? "Um, Bear, the gate has *never* opened at that end, and honey, I really don't think it's going to do so?tonight...why don't you come down to this end where it's already open?"? Not Bear, who will stand calmly and quietly?3-4 feet in front of a huge boulder (one of a groups of boulders in a park?that he always spooks at) for several minutes while I sit relaxed on him chatting with a park visitor, then suddenly realize the boulder is there and leap sideways out from under me.? "#$@%! horse!!? Didn't you see that @#$! rock when we walked up to it????

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But Bear is perhaps the sweetest horse on the face of the earth.? And he loves endurance, loves going down the trail and seeing what's around the next bend.? He's pretty good at it.? He takes good care of me when I'm feeling cruddy in the heat, and he really takes charge and takes us safely down the trail in the dark on 100s.? I trust him completely.

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But the boy has some real talent in the destruction category.? Just last night he reminded me just how resourceful he is.? We were pulled at 40 miles into a 50 last weekend.? Non-specific left front slight lameness.? No heat/swelling, etc., but I decided to confine him for a week anyhow.? He was in a 15x30 pen, wooden fence.? Nothing to hurt himself on, and he's really mellow when confined.? Went out to feed the herd, I retrieved his feed pan from his pen, and he was fine.? Hubby and I scooped up feed for all 6 horses, soaked it down, and when Ross took Bear's food into him he hollered and asked if I'd seen the big hole in Bear's chest.? Hole?? What hole?!?? I ran out there and sure enough, there was a 1"x2" rectangular hole in his right pectoral region.? Clear down to the muscle.? Skin flap hanging.? He just stood there llke nothing was wrong.? Don't you just hate it when they do that?? They look at you like, "Whaaat?? Somethin' wrong?"? We searched the pen for the source of the wound and found...nothing.? Absolutely nothing on which he could have done that.? But he obviously found something.? Call to the vet, Arranged to meet in an hour or so.? Vet sewed him up at 9pm.? He's back home.? No doubt thinking up his next trick.? I think he overheard me mention Tevis 2010...

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Dawn Carrie, Texas