Nico Has a Friend!

I got to the farm yesterday afternoon to see that Nico wasn’t in his usual individual turn out. I bumped into the barn manager and she said they turned him out with one of the gelding herds that morning. She said they chased him around for awhile, but then one of the horses, Bailey, eventually decided to protect him from the others.

Now Bailey is not my favorite horse on the planet. He bucked really big with me one time last year. He’s an off the track thoroughbred, and was a stallion until he was older (six or seven?) so he’s kind of a pain at times. He’s also the horse that falls asleep in the crossties and scares me to death every time I have to tack him up. But I was really happy to see him grazing with Nico away from the other horses. They were practically grazing on top of each other they were standing so close. Bailey usually runs away when you try to catch him, so I was hoping he wouldn’t run off (with Nico in tow) when I approached them. But they didn’t run off, and I caught Nico very easily, and Bailey came over for me to rub his face.

Then we rode by ourselves in the outdoor and Nico was full of energy. I figured with his exciting morning, it was okay for him to be a little “up”. Steering was really bad yesterday. Oh well. Two steps forward, one step back. After riding, I pulled off his saddle in the arena and got back on bareback to cool him out. I hadn’t ridden bareback in at least 8 years, so it was fun. We only walked, as I felt a little insecure without a saddle. He walked really slowly and carefully. Then one of the teenagers at the farm who is training her own young jumper at the moment asked if she could try him. So she hopped on bareback and trotted him around a little. He was really good for her.

The vet didn’t have time for him on Friday. So the poor guy has a grungy sheath for a couple more weeks. I ran over to the barn to check on him Friday evening and stumbled into a barn movie party. So I ended up staying and eating pizza and watching International Velvet. And then I went out and looked in Nico’s stall at 10:30pm and he was laying down sleeping. It was really cute!

He didn’t act like his back was sore at all yesterday. I’m kind of wondering if he just doesn’t like being surprised by someone suddenly touching his back. One of the times he swished his tail was when I was petting his face and my boyfriend touched his back while we were in his stall. So I think it surprised him. And if I’m grooming him, he never does it. My trainer said that my saddle wouldn’t be making his back sore, but we don’t know about the saddle that the previous trainer used on him. So I’ll just pay attention until the vet comes in a couple of weeks.

When I took Nico back out to his new field yesterday afternoon, three of the horses came galloping up to the gate. That made me a little nervous, and I tried to shoo them away from the gate. The last thing I need is a hoof to my head. Finally they backed up a few steps and I was able to walk my pony through the gate and let him go. Two of the horses started chasing him. I felt bad for him, but then Bailey came galloping from the other side of the pasture and chased off the other two horses! Then he and Nico walked off together to graze. I suddenly have a newfound love for Bailey.  He’s taking care of my baby!

~ by haffiegirl on April 20, 2008.