Come Hell, or High Water...

Jingle has now survived two massive floods...

The first occurred when he was a yearling at the Ranch he was born and raised at in 2005...

This lodge, and this river, was turned into this...

This is the right side of the lodge, a dorm called the "Burrow"

The damage was insane... The Flood completely changed the landscape, including creating still-existent riverways that had never been there before.

It turned the Wagon Cube, our area where we did our dances...

(Sidenote: I chose this photo because it's hilarious. Lisa was comforting a very homesick camper, who told her that he really missed his dog. She then told him that she would be his dog at the dance. So weird. So strange. The kid loved it.)

to an absolute mud pit.

I think this photo really gives you an idea of how dirty and damaging floods can be. 

I was pretty young then, and remember crying in my mom's arms as she received the email with attached photos of the damage, saying that the first week of camp was cancelled. For the owners, it was a huge blow, bridges were swept away, tack was ruined, houses were damaged, and the river changed the landscape. Finally, horses were hurt, changed and lost. My favourite story of all time that came out of the flood was that of Tad. Tad was the Rancher's horse for awhile, then he came down the string and ended up being the most responsible and trusting of horses. I've witnessed 3 year olds go on trail rides aboard Tad. He's a wonderful old man. Anyways, after the flood had hit they began to restore what was left, and try to relocate the horses. They were standing in the barn yard, formulating a plan, when Tad ran in whinnying, he then proceeded to run out, and then come back, and then leave again. Finally, they decided to follow him... sure enough, he led them to a mare bogged down. They had to pull her out, and if Tad hadn't brought them to her, she would have definitely died there. He's a hero horse, and a grand old man.

Tad, who spent the summer wandering the lawn and watching over our 5 yearlings. (Seriously, he never let them leave his sight)

A dapper old man

I have a hard time picturing a yearling Jingle in a flood situation. Knowing how my horse can be (haha) I just imagine him running around like an absolute wing-bat, and somehow he survived. Jingle, it seems, is a survivor at the best of times, and at the worst of times.

& in that thought, yesterday I got the go-ahead to start riding my boy again, after three and a half weeks of him being off! The vet came out and did multiple flexion tests, we hand-trotted, we lunged, he even had me get on and ride him. Which was surreal after not riding for over three weeks, and then annoying when Jingle decided that he did NOT want to lope his right lead and spent a little bit of time burying his head and humping around. Nice behaviour infront of our new vet, Jingle. Anyway, the vet concluded that Jingle maybe strained his fetlock, because that was the only test that he showed any signs of being off with. Jingle looked, and felt, great yesterday, but still seemed to be carrying himself slightly off. The vet said that he was traveling "uniquely" in his front, but that it didn't appear to be lameness because it wasn't agitated by any of the stress and flexion tests. He did say that perhaps when he actually was lame, it became accentuated, and more apparent to me because I was looking for something.

The Vet concluded that I should start riding (sidenote: we don't have arenas right now due to flooding and the mosquitos are overwhelming.. ugh) he said that I should start basic and build him back up, but that, for now, Jingle is sound. He also said that if there is a lameness, unfortunately riding will cause it to come back, and once he's back to being off, that is when they can best do more testing. So, a little nerve-wracking to start riding him again, incase it does re-appear, but for now, I'm very happy that I got the go-ahead to ride my boy again. Even if he's decided that loping is just not for him. Sigh... with almost two months off I fear we may be back to square one.

So... come hell, or high water... or bucking fits... we're going to start riding again! yippee.

& for my bates-ers that read this blog, remember these familiar faces? Sigh.. How time flies.

Gotta give a major shout-out to Garry for the photos, love ya buddy and appreciate it!