Rogo Update and Riding Savanah

Rogo healed nicely - no swelling, clean and closed, penicillin finished on Wed. - so I went back to riding on Thur. He was sluggish and spooky, not like him. He isn't a spooky horse and although sometimes he takes a while to get going, he was really hard to get forward. 

Fri. when I went to groom him I saw the wound area was quite swollen and had heat in it, the first time it had been swollen since he cut it a week ago. I gave him a shot of penicillin and called the vet this morning, who told me to do five more days of penicillin (25 cc shots every 12 hours) and put hot compresses on twice a day. I wonder if the penicillin could make him sluggish, or if the hidden infection may have been dragging him down Thur. evening?

Anyway, I cancelled my Labour Day weekend competition plans. He'll be fine but I want him to rest and I don't want to feel pressure to have him ready. I'm hearing there are nasty infections happening in equine cuts and scratches in NS this summer, so I'm going to keep a very close eye on it.

Last night just before dark I jumped on Savanah bareback and headed to the beach. What a great ride we had. She is such a sweetie pie, I just love her. We practiced shoulder in and leg yield, and walk / canter / walk. I couldn't get a walk directly from the canter. She was having too much fun being forward. She loves the beach. If you ride bareback, you'll know that going directly to walk from canter is a real bonus, so I was motivated :) It's interesting, when I was learning to ride bareback I could always transition smoothly from canter to trot on the beach. I'd focus, slow the canter, get her hind end under her and we'd trot. When we were in the ring I couldn't do it nearly as well. She'd fall onto her forehand and bang, bang, bang I'd go on her back until we got it together again. I told Joan that I thought the idea of coming off on the beach with all the rocks around was the incentive I needed to get the transition right. I still think that - motivation and focus can do wonders. Even though I'd think I was trying just as hard in the arena, it never went as well. Does this make sense to anyone?