Weekend Update

Sorry for the lapse in any posts. I knew I wouldn’t have much time to blog the week before the SD Horse Fair. But I thought I would have time last week. Apparently I needed time to recover. I really didn’t do anything horse related other than standard chores all last week.

I did start Jim back on a bit of grain. He started to lose a little weight so figured I’d better get him on some grain. With constantly using Zeke, I started him on a grain supplement too. I want him in tip top shape for Drill Team. We are not practicing for three weeks so I’m giving him a three week reprieve. Hopefully I’ll be able to convince him that going into the barn every night for grain will make it easier to catch him once we do start back to practice. Bo already knows the routine and is at the door impatiently waiting for his nightly grain. I think Zeke and Bo are becoming best friends so it makes getting those two settled for their evening grain a little bit easier.

I let Queen and Flower out to eat a little bit of grass these past two days. I turned my back yesterday and both Queen and Flower made it to the front lawn. I guess that’s the tastiest grass on our place. I’m waiting until tomorrow to call the vet. Flower isn’t improving. I had such high hopes that it was a deep abscess but it’s been three weeks of absolutely no improvement. I’m afraid there’s more damage than I originally anticipated. So tonight I’ll do one final check to see if there’s any heat still in her hoof and then I’ll call the vet. I really want a second opinion. My opinion is pretty negative right now and I need a second opinion. If the vet confirms my worst fear, we’ll put her down that day. If there’s hope its’ still only an abscess, we’ll continue to work through it. But she’s down more than up these days and I will not allow anyone to suffer. I’ve prolonged the phone call for too long as it is.

Mike has been going out and grooming Flower, Queen, Babe, and Thor now that the weather is nice. I think he even snuck out and brushed down King. He’s shedding like crazy. Of all the horses, he came out of winter the best. If the weather continues to stay as warm as it is, we’ll have to start him on his meds. I don’t know the scientific name (or even the layman’s name) for what’s wrong with him. Every summer he comes up lame. When I took him to the vet to evaluate him, the vet said that it’s acid buildup in his muscles. There’s a powder medicine he is one but last summer was so cool and mild that the muscle issue never flared up. But with the warmer temps, I expect he’ll have problems and I’d rather not see him limping around. I may put shoes on him too just to keep him a little bit more comfortable. I bought EZ boots but they don’t fit his gigantic feet. Maybe if I have shoes on him, we can go for short walks up and down the grass of the driveway to keep his muscles limber.

During the Horse Fair, I found an incredible saddleseat saddle. I’ve been itching to try saddleseat out and think Bo would do fantastic in the showring. I still haven’t gotten on him yet. He dropped some weight at the end of winter so I’m trying to put the weight back on before I start making him work. But I had high hopes of showing him this year. It’s not going to happen but next year, watch out! I’ll have had enough time to mess with him and learn how to do saddleseat without making myself look like a fool.

I pulled Rain out Saturday and tried on the saddleseat. He is definitely not made for anything English. He’s a fat little arab and he’ll be prone to high withers and a swayback in his later years. Even though he’s a total spaze, I tend to pull him out for all my English riding. I have no idea why.

When I went to pull Rain out of the pen, Maverick let me know his disappointment in not picking him. I really need to start messing with Maverick. I’m hoping to do just a little bit of cattle work with him. I’m not sure how much we’ll actually get to do but I’m going to try and squeeze it in now while the weather is still nice. I think both Chaos and Maverick are bored and I need to really start using their mind. I don’t think they would be content even just to do simple trail rides. We’ll see what I come up with to engage their minds.

Rabbit is getting more vocal these days. I stuck her in with the ponies and although she tolerates them, I think she’d prefer to be in with the mares. She’s too hard on the old mares and would be absolutely cruel to the blind horses. I don’t want her back with Mayhem yet. Mayhem was picking up Rabbit’s bad habits and that’s not allowed. So for now, Rabbit will just have to suffer the ponies’ torture. I think all three secretly enjoy the company and harassing one another.

Saturday was such a gorgeous day. I wish I would have had a camera. Ivan decided he’d take a snooze but instead of curling up or stretching out, he was curled up but with his feet in front of him like he was getting ready to get up. Twice I looked over and he had his nose to the ground in between his front legs and his eyes were shut. He was wobbling back and forth. Silly horse. I don’t mess enough with Ivan. But he has his best friend, Brego to keep him entertained. Wherever one goes, the other follows. Although Ivan has picked up a bad habit of pushing Bo around at feeding time. I’m not exactly sure what’s the deal but any time Bo comes close to hay I’m tossing out, Ivan comes over and gets in the way of Bo. I guess Ivan is a little jealous. I may have to spend time with Ivan to see if that helps any.

I’m not sure if I’ll blog much this week. Hopefully I’ll have more energy. I missed out on the most beautiful day this weekend by sleeping 14 hours. I guess I really needed to recover from all the prep work and the excitement of the horse fair. If the weather holds out, I’ll try to snap a few pictures of the herd but I won’t make any promises.