Decided Sadie needs dentistry before more riding

So much for me really ramping up the hour per week of riding her.   But she has been chewing on her bit off and on for 3-4 weeks now and my initial "oh maybe she's just working to get every last speck of horse candy"  blow it off reaction no longer feels right.

Sunday it was a bit windy although warm enough to still feel fine.  I decided to ride in the paddock though rather than go out though and Ms Sadie was GRUMPY.   I don't ride in the paddocks often and she has been getting grumpier about it.   Sunday I pushed her through a few bits of mild bucking but the clue bat connected and I got off and felt in her mouth and went "Aha,  yes it does feel like there are sharp edges of teeth way back in your jaw that may be irritating your cheeks when you have to bend doing flat work circling in the paddocks."     So cut the ride short, and called the vet's office on Monday to schedule him to come out and float her teeth.    If she is still grumpy after we get her teeth done I'll just have to push her through it with  "You are a riding horse, not a pet, so suck it up and do what I ask of you"  mentality but I want to rule out the sharp teeth first. 

The other reason is that I thought I might have a 2nd rider to join L.   But I thought Razz would be a better mount AND I thought the gal had more riding experience then she does.   So I have ridden Razz a few times and she rode him twice but he spooked and she came off the second time.   Razz was spazzy that day and I thought maybe he was just freaked out by the smell of sheep that had been grazing there a couple weeks earlier so I tried giving him Valerian root twice.   First time it seemed to help quite a bit had given just a modest dose and  I rode him out by himself on a day with a cold front moving in and he still did a couple of small spooks but he was not nearly as goosey as the day C came off and I rode him home.   I thought C was ok but she is having some tingling sensation in her calf --may have a pinched nerve or something,   I feel awful about that.  

But L came out and rode Lady on Saturday so I grabbed Razz giving him what I think was a bigger dose of Valerian root but from some loose powder I bought rather than capsules that I had had on hand the first experiment.   He again was not all spazzy the whole ride but the bugger did spook 3 or 4 times.  

Now I am scared to have anyone ride him although it doesn't take a bronco-busting cowboy to sit his spooks and he can be pulled up after he jumps it does take being able to sit through a spook and I don't want someone coming off again and getting hurt.    I guess Razz will only get ridden if I'm resting all my arabs or dad rides him.    C may come out and ride Lady and possibly she can come out with L and ride CJ a little bit.   I have some reservations about putting folks on CJ but he has been pretty darn good at hunting the last 2 years.  I'm pretty sure he would be good if we hauled out and just did a walking trail ride and I think he'd be OK at home as long as someone stayed back with him.  

 BUT I have to ride him a few times first,   I've had him fairly lean the last couple of years and after he colicked at hunting this fall I upped his hay and grain and have kept his grain up at 4lbs/day to get him and keep him not just back to where he was in October but to having more weight over his ribs so he'll have a little reserve in case of getting sick.    So I definitely need to ride him and make sure he wouldn't be too full of p and vinegar with the extra grain he's getting now.

Rode AJ on Saturday after we went out one Lady and Razz.   I had given him Valerian root too, but did not know that he hadn't eaten his grain (picky bugger, but he did eat it later)   He seemed more relaxed than when I rode him just a few times 3-4 years ago and got a leaser who only came for 5-6 weeks and I was thinking it was the Valerian but I guess it was just age and me thinking "he wont be quite so wound up"     I wouldn't like to sell him at 20, but if someone liked him and wanted to take him on a 'feed' lease for a year or 2 while he remains sound it would simplify our horse keeping during that time.