Johnny’s Spiritual Experience

Johnny Joe rightly related himself to a jump before he went lame.

One moment I was slogging along full of doubt (can he do this?), full of fear, (you need to drop out of this competition, get out now), and lacking faith (where will I get the money to do this when I have got to buy hay?). Then out of nowhere Johnny Joe jumped a bunch of huge jumps and all those questions were suddenly gone. The soles of my boots had not seen the tops of standards in a while, but they did that day. No average horse can clear a fence by five feet over and over again—it’s just too high—but it happened. It really did.

Johnny Joe suddenly realized he had a consequential relationship to upcoming obstacles and I imagine his thought process was something like this: there is no going around them, I must be committed to going, I must be focused on going, and I must over estimate details of going. It is always fun to be a part of a miracle when it happens just so long as no one gets hurt. It was like a bright light went off in his mind—there was clarity and focus—it can only be described as a spiritual experience. He suddenly had awareness, a presence, in that exact moment and I felt one with the horse. There was some type of transformation that took place and I am now a believer.

As for the mystery lameness, I have taken a “cowboy x-ray” of Johnny’s injury and here are my findings: he had blunt trauma to the right front leg causing what is commonly known as a splint. Said splint is located on the outside of the right front leg, is warm to the touch, and hard on the surface.  It measures approximately three quarters of an inch in diameter and a small swelling is found on the pastern sheath below.

I have administered him the “poor mans treatment”—cold hose 20 minutes twice a day, standing wraps in the stall, one gram of bute twice a day, and no work until the heat and swelling are gone. I’ll have to talk about something else until his leg is cold and tight without any wraps on.

Categories: Changing Track