Now Melinda, you can’t really blame Vento for rolling in the dirt and your trainer needs to take a chill pill. It’s not like he was getting ready for his close-up, right? Nobody died, right? I don’t care what anybody says horses do know how to push buttons and they remember exactly what to do.

It must be something about clinics. I had Ace get a bellyache during the second Harry Whitney clinic I took. But he pulled out of it after a few hours off.

This weekend, Ace decided he wanted to wear my shoes. Or, at least, that was the effect. We had a nice walk from my barn over to my trainers, a good lesson, and then most of the walk back was fine. Until the dalmation appeared from behind a wall and ran along the fence. Ace was on my left and jumped to his right–landing on the inside heel of my right boot. The initial pain running up my leg made me think “oh Christ, he’s broken a bone.” Fortunately, I could still walk and all I’ve got is a bruise. We got to the corner where a trickle of water was blocking the cross-walk. With cars waiting at three stop signs, Acd has to cross the water like he was taking a 4′ jump over a liverpool–in his western saddle. If not for the traffic, we’d still be walking back and forth across that spot.

When we got back to the barn and I was arranging my stuff in the new tack room, he did something which resulted in a huge scrape on his left front ankle (the one with the white sock) and a 4″ scrape across his left shoulder. A little girl said he “just fell” into the rail, but I suspect he was lunging after one of his neighbors. He did stand relatively still to have the blood washed away and there doesn’t seem to be any heat, swelling, or stiffness. Thank goodness.

I think Lauren got so uptight because she was Gunter’s assistant and did some grooming for him at the World Cup. These horses have to look perfect at the Olympics or the World Cup. When Gunter’s horse would come out of the ring they would put an electric blanket over his back, and ice boots on all four legs.