I got my mare back this weekend. Maybe not fully recovered, but her spirit and long strides are returning. She is not fully recovered from the EPM. She has a long way to go to regain her muscle, but she’s getting her strength back. She’s trotting with strong, floating strides up and down hills.
I started taking Isis on walks a few times per week just before she started Oroquin. We go on a “trail ride” around the perimeter of the farm. Once or twice around, up and down some small hills, along the pastures. At first, she walked slowly and was careful about where she put her feet. This weekend, she was all about strides. Big strides. The type that Juno, the 16+ HH Thoroughbred mare, had trouble keeping up with.
Here’s the regular video update of Isis moving. She’s pretty much back to normal. This video was taken Friday evening, October 7, 2011. We’re walking both on the gravel and the grass to show how her toe clearance stays the same (even if she is just a hair tentative on the gravel).
That’s my girl who was missing most of the summer. She seemed so happy this weekend. So full of herself and wanting to be the center of my world. She nickered at me and everyone else after weeks of being quiet. When I didn’t pay attention to her enough on Sunday, she demanded my attention. I had Isis’ stall door open with the stall guard across so I could pet her while I got her brushes out of the tack room (and stand next to her while talking with one of the ladies at the barn). When I wasn’t standing next to Isis adoring her, she would grab Prize’s halter and toss it on the floor. And then look at me. If I said, “No,” Isis’ mouth hovered just next to the halter until I turned my attention away and then the halter was on the ground again.
She was possessive of me again. Sounds silly, but I missed her threatening Prize whenever I was around. How dare any mare in a stall next to Isis get close to HER human. (The picture below shows Isis pinning her ears against Kasane, not Prize, but it’s the same general expression.)
It is so nice to see her back. We even went on our first trail ride (bareback and only at a walk) around the perimeter of the farm. Rooster and Isis, the two recovered EPM horses, out for a stroll bareback (with their owners really hoping they didn’t come off).
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