Peanut battles demons and Hoppy visits

I rode Peanut on Saturday with Steph on Gene.  Peanut was a mess: still nervous, still looking around for something to spook at, still unpredictable.  For example, at the beginning of the trail, we travel along the edge of a sudden drop - maybe 20 feet down - to a stream.  Peanut was nervous, and I felt him try to lurch towards the edge.  I caught him and pointed him straight, he lurched again and there was nothing I could do.  Luckily he pretty much just sidestepped and spun around, but still scared me silly.  I moved him up to a parallel trail full of jumps to just let him stand and chill where it was safe.  Another rider came up behind us, and I planted Peanut behind her horse and we went out of the Terror Woods.

It was not a fun ride at all.  I cooed to him, I petted him, I called him stupid, I let him graze, but he would snap back to omg-we-gonna-die in a moment if he did manage to calm down.

We made the ride short, and I am very disappointed at the ground we have lost.  I see a lot of hikes out onto the trails in our future.

Hoppy saw the boys (and Mona!) that evening.  I mainly wanted her to look Nuts over after his stumble where I landed on his neck.  Gene went first, and she said that he continues to improve.  Not all older horses come back like Gene has, but he's doing a damn fine job of it and doesn't seem to be stopping.  The range of motion in his knees has improved, and he is no longer wary about his legs being flexed.  She's very pleased with his progress and can't say enough good things about him.  I asked if Gene's improvements are due to either us catching everything before it was too late or else his appaloosa stubbornness, but Hoppy is of the opinion that he was just returning to a former state - like muscle memory, he had already been there.

That horse, I tell you.  Stubborn as can be, but he sure does love the trails.  He will keep up with the whipper-snappers and come out looking fresh as can be.

After the session, Gene sashayed back to his field.  That horse did not sashay when we got him, oh no.  He didn't have the looseness through his back that left him able to shimmy his hiney.  And shimmy he did.  Once he was released, Gene thundered across his field to where the hay had been thrown.  It was too bad that it was dark, it must have been a gorgeous sight.

Peanut was not thrilled to be pulled away from his hay pile in the dark.  He definitely did not want to see what I had in store for him, but a few carrots helped convince him that it wasn't all that bad.

Hoppy found him twisted both in the fore and the rear, and both in the same direction.  Thus, one end wasn't compensating for the other.  She set him straight, and found that the top of his neck was very tight.  The reactions that Peanut had while she worked on his neck were amazing.  I swear he smiled with his entire face.  There was a glimmer of joy in his eyes, dammit.  The next day I did notice that his neck was much, much softer along the crest.

After her last move (on his forehead), he stood glued to the spot, completely motionless.  He was in his own little world.  After around 5 minutes, he started to lick and chew.  Several minutes after that, he sighed loudly and came back to the world as a silly, goofy pony.

Part of me hopes that his feeling better will help him relax on the trails, but Hoppy also recommended an herb (acontium napellus, aka wolfsbane) to help calm him down.  And, as a plus, it should keep werewolves away too ;).  In the past, she has recommended a course of sweet potatoes to end the clicking in his joints, and by gum that worked nicely.  So, I'll give this a try too, just to keep him calm enough to see that, man, this ain't no thang, he got this.  I think I might also take him grazing in the area where the shots were fired and he fell.  Hoppy is of the theory that they happened close enough together that they are tangled together in his mind leading to his loss of confidence.