This week, I spent my time soaking Luc’s foot instead of riding.
Well this week I just wasn’t in favour of the riding gods. Luc has been off all week, with what we think is an abscess brewing. Despite Jen, Luc’s owner, diligently soaking his foot every day, by the time my riding day rolled around, it still hadn’t popped. In fact, it might even have gotten a bit worse. Luc didn’t seem too bothered by it, and was quite content to not have to do any work at all.
Instead we pampered him. I brushed him until his coat shone, as much as a grey horse who hasn’t had a bath recently can. Then while we soaked his foot, he got to enjoy a lovely al fresco lunch out on the lawn. Surprisingly, he was good with having his foot in a bucket. He mostly kept it where it belonged, at least until he was done his meal and became more interested in grazing on the lovely green grass. Then it became a game of foot goes in, foot comes out, foot goes in, foot comes out.
After about five more minutes of that, we decided his foot had soaked enough for the day. We fed him his treats, because he wasn’t spoiled enough today, and let him back out in the field to go join his friends and go graze on even more grass.
While I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to ride this week, taking care of Luc is far more important. And it was a nice change just grooming him and enjoying the gorgeous sunshine and warm weather. I forgot how much I miss just having a horse to hang around with. It’s days like today that make me wish that one day I’ll have a horse of my own again. Not that I don’t love Luc, and am not unbelievably grateful for getting to ride him and spend time with him. Because I am. I so am. But it would be nice to have a horse of my own to cuddle and bond with. And it would be amazing to get to ride with my sister.
Until then, I plan to enjoy every second I get to spend with Luc, lame or not, because having him in my life has been a blessing, He’s helped me get my confidence back , inspired me to make healthier lifestyle changes, and given me an easy way to get back to doing what I love.
