But that wasn't the end of it. I had a cute little 6 month old filly to deliver to her new home in New Mexico. And a couple of mares to pick up, one as far away as Tennessee. So that excursion cut into getting to any rides.
Sesenta Anos was my next to last chance to get miles for the 2018 season, and if I could get 2 or 3 50s on Demon, I could keep him comfortably in the the top ten for the Jim Jones Stallion Award. We could get more miles at Gold Rush later in the month, as well.
Complicating matters was an incident Demon had on a training ride a week earlier. We'd been out training with his Scoot Boots on all four feet. At some point I realized he didn't feel right. He wasn't lame, but he wasn't right, either. We slowed to a walk for the remainder of that ride. When I got him home and removed his boots, I found a rock had gotten wedged into the back of one of his rear boots above his heel bulbs and rubbed him quite raw and bloody. It looked much better after a couple days of rest and Desitin applied daily, so I decided to glue boots on for the ride so he wouldn't have to have anything above his hairlines to irritate his fetlocks. I had a pair of EasyBoot Gloves I took the gaiters off and glued on his fronts, and a pair of Renegade ProComps I glued on his hinds. When we left for Sesenta Anos, I figured if I kept him well lubricated with Desitin he'd do just fine.
On day 1, I very carefully slathered all of Demon's fetlocks with Desitin before saddling up and hitting the trail. It was a largely uneventful day (and of course I'm getting around to writing this several months later, so memory has faded). We finished in decent time.
I got Demon vetted out and in for the next day, then untacked. I washed his fetlocks and reapplied Desitin for the night. Got him set up with his feed and water and we both went to bed.
Day 2 was similarly uneventful. I again cleaned Demon's fetlocks and reapplied Desitin. So far he was looking quite good. No heat or tenderness and he was eager to hit the trail. Day 2 the vet check was back in camp, and the way the loops ran, we got really close to camp before pulling away again. This did not please Demon. He knew where camp was and could not for the life of him figure why I was telling him we weren't going that way. But, he managed to get through it and finish again.
Once again, cleaning and reapplying Desitin was the order of the evening.
Day 3 started rough. I had a hard time getting my tail up out of bed and as a result I was quite rushing around camp trying to get done and hit the trail. During this bit of hurry, I forgot to reapply Desitin to Demon's fetlocks. I remembered just before I mounted up, but I decided he'd been doing well and didn't need it. He'd be fine.
This was a mistake.
The day was quite lovely, and it was quite a climb on the first half of the ride, necessitating quite a lot of walking. So when we got to a downhill section, Demon was a bit forward and we ended up cantering full tilt down a hill rather steeper than I would have chosen for such an act. I had a wild moment of thinking we must look at least a little Man From Snowy River.
At the vet check, we rested for a bit before presenting to the vet. The vet told me Demon was not lame, but he wasn't moving quite right. I got Pat Helly to trot him out so I could see, and he was putting his right hind down in a different place in the stride every step. Like he was trying to find just the right spot to put it and it wouldn't be uncomfortable.
The same hind he'd gotten the stone on.
Palpation revealed the still-irritated area was sore to the touch at this point. Although he was not lame, there was no way I was going to try to finish another 25 miles with any pain on palpation, so we pulled.
It was a good ride, and we did get another 100 miles, which ultimately finished Demon in 5th place for the Jim Jones Stallion Award. I had already decided we weren't going to try to go to Gold Rush. I was going to let him heal up and we'd go to Death Valley next.
