Cruiser - a Few Weeks Later

Something has happened to my horse.  We have been working the hill and, once the river went down, going on short trail rides.  He just simply is not settling down. 

Mingo is.  Mingo is going faster than he did last summer, but he is controllable.  Of course, there was that day that he leapt into the river instead of stepping into it-twice-Ellen said something about sounding like Shamu.  I could forgive him for that, though.  It was the first time at that river crossing since December.  Then there was the time he just jumped straight up in the air, for no reason, with all four feet, but when he landed, he was fine.  Overall, he is getting better with each ride.  I'm sure in a few more weeks, he will be the old Mingo, once again.

The thing with Cruiser is that he's not settling down.  He is getting faster with each ride.  Probability it is because he is getting stronger.  The other night, I was out riding with Kevin on Starry.  I tried to slow Cruiser's trot down.  Huge Starry couldn't keep up with little Cruiser, and kept trying to canter.  There was no question as to whether we should canter or not.  In the mood that Cruiser was in, cantering would have been galloping, and I'm too nervous to be doing that with his tendon at this point.

I thought that Cruiser's gradual slowing down over the last few years was due to his age.  In a sense, it was.  Insulin Resistance is usually an age related condition.  The summer before Cruiser bowed his tendon-he never behaved so well in his life.  I figured a horse in his upper teens wouldn't act the same as a horse in his prime.  I was wrong.  He just needed a change in his diet.  I should have known better.  My first horse, Brandy, was quite a handful up until he died at the age of 24.  There was no slowing him down, either.

The best thing about an Insulin Resistant horse is there is another component, other than diet, in his lifestyle that helps with his condition.  Exercise.  The more I ride him the better, and I am more than happy to comply.  Exercise causes the muscles to absorb insulin.

This gives me hope in another way.  Mingo is such a quiet horse, I often wondered how slow he would get once he got older.  Maybe he won't get any slower, and when he's in his twenties, he will still be unexpectedly jumping up in the air with all four feet for no good reason.  I sure hope so.