It was the day, Jezebel’s first turnout with the full herd. It’s been 7 months and i needed to get her out and being a horse. Her little hospital paddock time was coming to an end. I had tried this once before a week or so back just getting her out into a field and basically she lost her mind and was charging fences and being an idiot. The plan was to Ace her which we did with 3.5 mils IM. Then to put her out with the ladies who are field boarded in that field, one of which is Lilly who she shared a paddock with at my last farm. Then once she got her Aced ya ya’s out the other mares would be brought down and by then it would just be a matter of politics and herd position. I was more afraid if her running and charging like an idiot then anything else. Its been a long 7 months and Jez needs to be a horse again she needs her herd, she needs her normal horse life back.
She was good walking down to the field. She was good when she was first turned out, she looked at the water trough. She trotted around with her tail flagged. And the other mares pretty much ignored her. Then it happened, she bolted, bolted like well… a racehorse coming out of the gate. Huge thundering hooves pounding the wet grass, full speed ahead, like she wanted to win and in that moment you could see her breeding her sire Point Given the strong thundering drive to win. It was all there in that moment. She then turned sharply and went down. I mean went down, hard. She slipped and lost her balance and landed on her side. She didn’t jump right back up and my heart was in my throat, I think I was frozen with fear. It took her a couple seconds to regain her composure and she was up. She ran again my worst fears were happening, she slipped again but this time just down to a knee. I tried to calm her with my voice, call to her let her know it was ok. I was thinking i needed to get her out of that field before she killed herself. Then she calmed some, the other mares continued to ignore her as if to say.. its wet out her why are you running like a fool. She was snorting and blowing but she wasn’t charging. She was trotting a floaty trot and flagged her tail. She didn’t appear to be hurt at all or worse for wear.
Then the rest of the heard was brought down and the politics began in earnest. The young mares all split off and went down to the far side of the field. Lilly, Gracie and my redheaded Circe. Lilly and Circe are peas in a pod and though Jez and Lilly were friends and shared a semi private turn out before now Jez was tossed over for the sexy redheaded Circe. Or as I was calling them Amanda Bynes and Lindsey Lohan (which i guess would make Jez the wild one, Miley Cyrus) Jez attached her self to Windere the 30+ year old ex broodmare who is allowed to wander the isle in the barn. Jez knows her but has never been turned out with her Jez wanted to be right next to her. Windy? Not so much, she was trying to get away but Jez was on her like white on rice. The other two old ladies Jess and Super Thing were not really interested in Jez being near them. Oh horses and their pecking orders. Jez wasn’t running though and thats a good thing I could finally take a breath. Just normal horse politics and not Jezebel being a lunatic racehorse even on a good dose of Ace. I stuck around until she started to graze and then walked back to the barn. Before I left I went into the field Jezzie walked right over to me and I checked her to make sure she was really all right. I ran my hands down her legs and all over her side and there was no heat, no swelling, nothing. I think she just knocked the wind out of herself with that slip and fall. Disaster averted for now. My farm owner texted me a couple times though the evening and into the night that everything was calm in the filed which really put my mind at ease.
Hopefully the politics and herd dynamics will all settle down quickly and all will be right in horse world. Hopefully my little 1966 of a Corvair horse wont flip over any more. I”m crossing my fingers, actually I’m crossing everything.