Year of the Vegas

I am beautiful.

Unfortunately, Vegas did not get too much play time last year. I tried to get her ready for some shows, and each time, she "tied up".  It was depressing. I had three other distractions as well. Bacon had entered my life, and it was the first riding season for having Lucy. And Pandora had a little more size to her to start doing a little more work as well.

Vegas, the steady mount.

But Vegas did play well for others to ride her. She is good at toodling when a novice is on her, and takes great care of them. She does take advantage of them though. She is good at stealing snacks and going her own path. She never takes others seriously, so when they ask her to lope, she just rolls her eyes at them. I would too, since her new passengers never put more pressure on her than a half winged fly. But it is great that I can allow people to come over and ride, and not worry about her. And at this point in time, she is only 5 years old.

We did make it to one show, where we did not do so great. But it was nice to get out and do something. She was all fired up at the show and raced around the arena. We did beat a couple people. And she got to look really pretty!

Don't need a fake tail!

Also this year, I started moving her into a shanked bit. For her 6 year old show season, she needs to be in a curb bit to follow show regulations. She will be considered a senior. To me she is still a baby, but I will roll with it. I put her into a broken small-shanked bit. She had no problems what so ever. She is not perfect yet with the neck reining, but she did great. And then I thought to myself...I wonder if we could do a flying lead change. So, we started loping around in a circle, and when I came to the middle, I shifted my weight on my hip, and pressed back to move her hindquarters over to initiate the switch. And BAM. Flying lead change. Now, I want you to know, I have never even performed a flying lead change on any horse. Ever. So for me to train her to do this was pure awesome. I got so excited. And we did it three more times. The next time I rode her, we did thirteen. They are not the prettiest things to watch, and sometimes she misses the switch, but yay! Flying lead changes!

I am now a shanked horse!

One day at the beginning of fall, Blake hopped on Vegas in his beautiful McCall versatility ranch saddle. I hopped on Lucy, and went to work in the arena. Blake checked Vegas' maneuvers, and asked what I had been doing with her because she was being amazing. He said that she was the best she had ever been. I had hardly ridden her, so I think she must be maturing and giving up the fight. He side passed her all over, did some pivots, and some good stops. He then went to ask for a lope departure. Now here is the thing. The gate was left open. He never put her boots on. He forgot to re-tighten her cinch. He also left her back cinch too loose. Everything was wrong. And it was about to get worse.

We're fancy.

They started to lope, but didn't make it far. The saddle slid completely sideways and Blake fell off to the side. She stopped. The saddle slid all the way underneath her. And then she took off. Blake, seeing his $3,000 saddle (the most expensive thing he has paid for in his life), start being scraped across the fence and stomped all over, started screaming at Vegas to stop. I raced Lucy to the gate before my horse ran out it, only to never return. Vegas desperately tried to escape the "animal" latched underneath her. Blake desperately tried to stop her. I tried to keep Lucy calm and tried to get Vegas to stop. But she just kept going, and the saddle kept being ripped on, and Blake kept yelling. And then Vegas somehow got her back leg through one of the metal stirrups, which made her run hard. She broke the fence. I thought I was going to watch my horse break her leg. Finally, she stopped, and Blake's dad grabbed her. Blake took one look at his saddle, and walked into the house. I handed Lucy to Blake's mom, and tried to get the saddle off of Vegas. But I was going to have to pick the saddle up underneath her in order to undo it. I told Blake's dad specific instructions. DO NOT LET GO. No matter what. I tried to soothe Vegas. Her legs were covered in blood, especially the one stuck in the stirrup. The hide on it was gone. I tried and tried to get the saddle off. Like some sort of weird magic, our friend Ross showed up. I yelled at him for help and he hurried over. He picked up the saddle, and I quickly undid it. I carefully slipped her leg through the stirrup. She was till breathing hard, and her eyes were huge. But, to my surprise, she walked without any lameness. I hosed down her legs with cold water and betadine. I tried to be as gentle as possible when I applied the antibiotic sauve and wrapped her legs. She got a good dose of banamine and I put her back. I took Blake's saddle and hid it in my truck so he couldn't see it. I will have to come back to this night in Bacon's story, as more happened, if you can believe that.

So sorry Vegas. I love you!

The next day, we had our vet out to check on the girls. He suggested giving Vegas some antibiotics to help her heal. Blake felt terrible for how he reacted the day before, and hugged Vegas. He realized it was his fault more than anything. It was a bad day. Later on, as her legs tried to heal, she contracted scratches. I had dealt with this before in my previous horse, and I wasn't about to let her deal with that crap. So, I grabbed some ointment similar to Panalog from work, and went to healing her up. I am happy to say, by the end of the year, she was fully healed, with minimal to no scare tissue and lameness.

I am really hoping that this year will be a great year for the both of us. It is time for us to hit the show ring again, and show everybody how it is done! Love my Vegas horse!

We're cool.