She did it! Finally! I cannot believe it!

Over the years I have tried just about everything to get Rose to roll. The most extreme case was when I got her soaking wet and a very hot day, after a very good ride, and left her in a dirt arena dripping. She just stood their staring at me...for a long time. After a while I just accepted that I had a weird horse that would not roll. This actually became rather nice, since she would never roll in mud she'd stay immaculately clean most of the time and I also never had to worry about her rolling on my tack if she was loose in the arena. As much as I knew that it was good for her back to roll, I got rather used to the convenience of her not rolling, and just grimaced at the though of the cost of future chiropractic care. In one way lack of rolling is not convenient...cooling her out with her winter coat takes a long time. It would be nice to have a bit of a roll to speed up the process.

After the past couple rides on Rose, it became apparent to me that if I'm going to be riding her more than once a week this winter I needed to put and Irish clip on her. It was taking over an hour for her to dry with the thick winter coat she's learned to grow in Montana. So, I toddled off to the barn this morning, my Mom in tow for company, and with a plan to clip her and then ride. I doubt I need to tell you that was a lofty goal.

Rose was still in heat today. Not as bad as yesterday, but enough so that she was a wiggly ninny in the cross ties. So, I took her out of the cross ties and tied her up to go about clipping her. The clipping went well. It's been two years since I last body clipped her and she had no issues with the clippers at all. Actually she liked the vibration and calmed down enough to enjoy a little massage and for me to put her back in the cross ties. Due to her wiggles it took longer than I'd hoped and I was not able to ride. Instead I went ahead an longed her in preparation for our lesson tomorrow.

Despite the clip job, after a good twenty minute longe session she was rather sweaty and wet from the arena humidity. I decided to let her walk around the arena loose and cool off. Whilst chit chatting with my Mom, I noticed Rose start pawing at the arena. I could not believe my eyes. All of a sudden she started circling with her nose to the ground and began to roll. I barely had enough time to pull my camera out of my pocket. Poor thing hasn't figured out how to roll all the way over yet, and wasn't confident enough to go down on her other side, although it did seem like she was trying to figure it out for a while. I'm sure she's probably rolled in the pasture at some point before, but this is the first time ever that I or anyone has witnessed her roll.

Happy trails and swooshing tails!
•DS•