Frisky Friday and Mashed Toes

Today it was colder and windy, but no rain.  Dawn and I rode at our usual time in the morning - she was very, very forward and had some trouble relaxing, but we got (mostly) there in the end and called it good.  There are new barn kitties in the viewing room - a momma kitty and three kittens - and several of the kittens were up on the window ledge while I was riding.

Red, as I was turning him after bridling to lead out into the arena, took a big step to the side and managed to badly mash the toes on my left foot against the concrete barn aisle - it's always my left foot that seems to get in the way.  It hurt like the dickens for a few minutes, but I could move all the toes so nothing is broken.  I got on and rode - fortunate that I don't use my toes much when I ride, and we had a pretty nice ride after getting through the balk that he offered on our first couple of walk/trot transitions.  I expect it was a combination of my foot hurting and his being a bit sore and stiff from the cold.  He worked out of it well, which means it's probably his hock arthritis acting up a bit.

Pie and I also had a nice ride with lots of cantering - we had the ring to ourselves.  His trot work at the beginning was very good - lots of nice, deep corners with good relaxation and softness.  After canter, he had some trouble getting back to that soft place, but we got there - again, I think the throbbing in my foot was making things harder.

After I got home, I took off my sock to look at the damage - several toes are bright red, and the nail on the big toe - which was already compromised by other "assaults" - was very sensitive.  I tried putting ice on but the big toe won't take the pressure.

Ah, horses - even ones that aren't that big, like Red - are heavy, and when they squish, and then turn, on top of your toes, it hurts . . .