Well it seems like everything is happening all at once today!
First things first, the horse's had their feet done this morning. Jetta was the only one who really needed it, but AC cleaned up Colton's back feet a bit and Grady's front feet. Jetta was a pain in the butt for us - that's what I get for riding Colton all the time and not her I guess. I was planning on riding her this morning, buuuut I slept through my wonderful alarm. I was talking with AC though and its amazing how much Jetta has matured. Last time AC came out and did Jetta's hooves by herself and she didn't even halter her and was able to trim all her feet so easily. Such a difference from when I first got her and AC had to come out several times a week to trim her hooves, one each day. She had to dodge kicks and we had to keep Jetta from laying down because she didn't believe she could stand on three feet (though I think she figured out how that was a good method to make us stop, lol).
After that, Jazz's lessor came and dropped her off. Definitely bittersweet. I'm happy to have Jazz home but at the same time it's really sad because she was so good for her lessor and I want her to be used, not just hanging around in the pasture. Jazz definitely knew she was "home" because she whinnied in the trailer and then power walked her way to the barn. Grady recognized his girlfriend but it will be interesting to see how the herd dynamics change. Colton tries to be bossy but it doesn't work very well, he just ends up getting beat up and Jetta has taken over the position of boss mare. I can't wait to ride her. I think I'm going to take her to the little dressage schooling show down the street and maybe do some second level for fun. I really wish they offered third level, but nope. Maybe we'll have TS come and give us a lesson in the double bridle! How cool would that be?
Then I moved Jetta into her new barn. I dragged my mom with me so that she could see the barn and she approves :) I really do like this place. They're re-doing the fencing in one pasture this weekend and have hired someone to till the outdoor arena. So they're making good on their plans unlike the other barns I boarded at... Got all my stuff unloaded and turned Jetta out in the arena. She pranced around a bit and then followed me back and forth from the gate to the tack room watching me unload all my stuff. Cute stuff. I'll get to see her again on Sunday when I move back up to school! Looking forward to riding in a big arena!
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
A Lot Like Work
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| The "before" |
This tail. Is ridiculous. Instead of a ride before work yesterday, I decided to tackle Colton's tail. It was a nasty, snarly, gross mess. The result of me braiding his tail and then leaving for 5 weeks. I was dreading dealing with it and with good reason. 3 out of 5 braids were still in and last week I took the rubber bands off in hopes that they'd unbraid themselves, but they basically turned into dreadlocks. Like I said, maintaining this tail is a lot like work.
You know how there's always those articles in horse magazines about "how to grow your horse's tails" etc? Well, they don't help. Because they always talk to a Gypsy or Friesian breeder or groomer. You couldn't kill one of those horse's tails if you tried. When you leave braids in for 5 weeks, it pulls out a bunch of hair. I got several handfuls out of Colton's and it didn't make a single dent. Like I said, tails like these refuse to die.
I spent 40 minutes first brushing and picking out the braids. Then washing and soaping his tail multiple times. Unfortunately I couldn't find my detangler spray (best thing ever when dealing with big tails!) and I was out of conditioner, but it's way better than it was. It certainly doesn't help that his tail is white, but at least it's better than a white tail on a mare. Also, it's tar weed season - if you don't have this problem I envy you. These weeds are covered in sticky burrs and so when the horses are in the pasture their noses, forelocks and tips of their tails turn black with the sticky tar. It's nasty and really hard to get rid of.
Colton has been doing fantastic. I had a great ride on him this morning. Our goal for the day was to work on accepting contact. He's not necessarily ready to be working "on the bit" but he needs to respect the contact and give to it. He caught on to the idea so fast. By the end he was going around at the trot very soft and responsive to the bit. I love this horse. We still have a lot to work on obviously. For one he likes to counter bend when we go around to the left. We also cantered today and he did very nicely. He just needs to canter a lot more until he finds his rhythm and maybe some hill work to get those muscles in shape. Have I mentioned that I love this horse and that I love starting babies?! It's so awesome to see when something clicks in his brain. And I like being able to start them right so that they will be awesome horses for many years to come.
We are planning his big "debut" at a little dressage schooling show down the street at the end of this month, just going to do some walk trot classes, but I'm excited to get him out there!
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| Lunging like a big boy |
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| Cutest face ever |
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| Don't you just want to take him home with you?? |
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Maiden Voyage
Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been busy, but unfortunately not much of it has been all that interesting. I have one more week until I move Jetta and I'm actually pretty excited about it. My friends and I went looking at other barns but didn't find any we liked (including one we would not have let our horses within 20 feet of!) so I'm still happy with the barn I've chosen.
I've been mostly riding Colton and he's doing really well. I'm slightly disappointed that I haven't gotten him ready to sell yet, but I will continue coming home weekends during school to ride him and hopefully get him sold this winter, though that's not a very good time for selling horses. But at the same time I don't want to sell him. He's a cool horse and fun to ride, even being so green. I could see myself keeping him and showing him in dressage as that's what I think he'd do best at. Unfortunately I just can't afford to board two horses.
In other news, Jazz is coming home. I'm excited and sad at the same time. I wasn't planning on having her come home, her lessor was just talking about buying her a couple months ago and I at least was hoping that she'd renew her lease. So I don't know what happened with that, but I definitely wasn't planning on having another horse to care for so it's a bit of a bummer. I'm excited to ride her though, and I might take her to a couple shows before this winter, hopefully find another great lease for her, otherwise she'll just get to hang out with Grady and Colton.
Okay, all the boring stuff is out of the way - Today was exciting at least because my friend CL and I went out to a horse park to go riding. I got to use my fancy new trailer for the first time and it was Colton's first time too! I was so proud of Colton. At first CL was going to ride him while I rode Jetta but at one point the groundskeeper had a 4-wheeler that he just could not get over. At home he chases my brother around on his, so I don't know what his deal was. CL got off and walked him for a bit but he was being a brat and not listening to her so I swapped her horses and got on Colton. He settled down and was a superstar. He lead the way (Jetta wasn't on her best behavior either since she refused to lead) and bravely crossed the little river (in both directions) and two different bridges. Logs are still suspicious but I was more than happy with his behavior. I don't think he's ever walked so fast in his life! I was very proud of him for the most part. He just needs more miles and new environments and he'll settle down to being such a nice horse I think.
It was a really beautiful day and a great almost-last-day-of-summer kind of thing to do. My trailer hauled beautifully and I had fun organizing all myjunk stuff in it this morning. So much room! Colton doesn't agree, he was slightly tentative about going in the trailer as if he was asking "Are you sure I'll fit?" He did, but I really want to teach him to self load soon!
Here's some pictures of the giant tack room I've been talking about. Made slightly less giant by the amount ofjunk stuff I'm able to fit in it.
I've been mostly riding Colton and he's doing really well. I'm slightly disappointed that I haven't gotten him ready to sell yet, but I will continue coming home weekends during school to ride him and hopefully get him sold this winter, though that's not a very good time for selling horses. But at the same time I don't want to sell him. He's a cool horse and fun to ride, even being so green. I could see myself keeping him and showing him in dressage as that's what I think he'd do best at. Unfortunately I just can't afford to board two horses.
In other news, Jazz is coming home. I'm excited and sad at the same time. I wasn't planning on having her come home, her lessor was just talking about buying her a couple months ago and I at least was hoping that she'd renew her lease. So I don't know what happened with that, but I definitely wasn't planning on having another horse to care for so it's a bit of a bummer. I'm excited to ride her though, and I might take her to a couple shows before this winter, hopefully find another great lease for her, otherwise she'll just get to hang out with Grady and Colton.
Okay, all the boring stuff is out of the way - Today was exciting at least because my friend CL and I went out to a horse park to go riding. I got to use my fancy new trailer for the first time and it was Colton's first time too! I was so proud of Colton. At first CL was going to ride him while I rode Jetta but at one point the groundskeeper had a 4-wheeler that he just could not get over. At home he chases my brother around on his, so I don't know what his deal was. CL got off and walked him for a bit but he was being a brat and not listening to her so I swapped her horses and got on Colton. He settled down and was a superstar. He lead the way (Jetta wasn't on her best behavior either since she refused to lead) and bravely crossed the little river (in both directions) and two different bridges. Logs are still suspicious but I was more than happy with his behavior. I don't think he's ever walked so fast in his life! I was very proud of him for the most part. He just needs more miles and new environments and he'll settle down to being such a nice horse I think.
It was a really beautiful day and a great almost-last-day-of-summer kind of thing to do. My trailer hauled beautifully and I had fun organizing all my
Here's some pictures of the giant tack room I've been talking about. Made slightly less giant by the amount of
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| Fancy mirror/cabinet |
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| Hanger for clothes and a seat with storage under it |
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| Inside of the cabinet |
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| Everything! |
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Barns, Barns, Barns
Oh how I hate barn shopping. I spent a day driving around looking at barns. Here's the four I looked at:
Barn 1: 35 minutes away from school. But that was the only downside to this barn. The owner was super nice and is actually an eventer herself. The arena is nice and big with dirt footing. It sounds like she keeps it up pretty nicely and rakes about once a week. The stalls are big, I didn't ask how big exactly but more than 12x12 I would think and have an open front so the horses can stick their heads out. A wash rack with hot water. A big empty tack room for boarders that locks. She has room for 5 boarders and has three right now, then four of her own horses. Limited room for trailer parking, but I don't think that'll be a problem. Several small paddocks and 2 fairly large pastures. They're going to add bark mulch around all the entrances to help manage the mud. It sounds like they have a lot of ongoing projects - they want to put in a round pen, fix up the fencing on one pasture, add a outdoor natural trail course and put footing in the outdoor arena which is just basically an empty pasture right now. On a quiet road, 20 minutes from some really nice trails and the barn often hauls out together. Feeds a timothy/orchard grass mix three times a day, even in the pasture to keep hay always in front of them. Club room with TV and fridge and food. The owner is super nice and I really liked her. Pretty cheap for full care at $250, stalls were well kept and horses had individual water buckets, not giant tubs which I prefer.
Barn 2: Also really nice, just over 15 minutes from school. Very clean and well kept barn. Medium sized arena. Turn out isn't that optimum since it's on a hill but at least there is some. Horses are meticulously cared for but board is overpriced and I could only afford partial care. I really don't want to have to clean her stall every day. Local grass hay is included and is weighed out for each horse. Hot water wash rack. Not a huge barn, maybe 15 stalls? Nice turnaround driveway with a small area for the trailer. Small summer outdoor arena with jumps set up 24/7. Not useable in the winter. Both of my barn buddies want to board there but I really don't because of the cost and because it's only partial care - $360 for that or $480 for full care. It's just not that fancy to justify the cost.
Barn 3: A QH racing barn, the owners are getting out of racing so they have a lot of open stalls of varying sizes. A large all-weather outdoor arena, no indoor. 27 minutes from school. They have three hot walkers and they'd train Jetta to walk on them. Some turnout in the winter. And they have a race track! They have jumps that you can set up on the track or in the arena and it'd be a great place to practice galloping. Downside is the distance from school and no covered arena. Sounds nice and low-key. You can get as much care as you want with of course varying prices though it's comparable to most places in the area. I kind of liked it, though I'm sure I'd hate the lack of covered arena...
Barn 4: Close to school, about 18 minutes. Lots of stalls scattered over the property, they run a lesson program as well so there's quite a few horses. One small pasture that they are going to divide in two. Really interesting parking, it'd be hard to get my trailer in and out. Stalls have runs for the most part. All the stalls I saw were very dirty and they use big water tubs, all of which looked gross. Very large arena but ground looks rock hard and I don't think they ever rake it. Immediately down the road is a huge trail system that I've ridden before and like. Full care with a run on the stall is $325. Feed orchard grass 2x daily. Heated tack room but pretty crowded. I really didn't like it.
So, I picked barn number 1. I might end up finding another barn, but I really liked this barn. It had a quiet and friendly atmosphere, the owner was so nice. The arena is nice and there's turnout. Horses seemed to be well cared for and the price was exactly right. I liked the hay they fed, it was nice quality. I liked the small size and the huge tack room. The only thing I didn't like was the drive so we'll see how long it lasts - either I'll get used to the drive or get sick of it. There are 2 more stalls available so I was hoping ML and ZS would come with but they sound pretty set on Barn 2, it's just not for me unfortunately. Move in set for the 20th!
Barn 1: 35 minutes away from school. But that was the only downside to this barn. The owner was super nice and is actually an eventer herself. The arena is nice and big with dirt footing. It sounds like she keeps it up pretty nicely and rakes about once a week. The stalls are big, I didn't ask how big exactly but more than 12x12 I would think and have an open front so the horses can stick their heads out. A wash rack with hot water. A big empty tack room for boarders that locks. She has room for 5 boarders and has three right now, then four of her own horses. Limited room for trailer parking, but I don't think that'll be a problem. Several small paddocks and 2 fairly large pastures. They're going to add bark mulch around all the entrances to help manage the mud. It sounds like they have a lot of ongoing projects - they want to put in a round pen, fix up the fencing on one pasture, add a outdoor natural trail course and put footing in the outdoor arena which is just basically an empty pasture right now. On a quiet road, 20 minutes from some really nice trails and the barn often hauls out together. Feeds a timothy/orchard grass mix three times a day, even in the pasture to keep hay always in front of them. Club room with TV and fridge and food. The owner is super nice and I really liked her. Pretty cheap for full care at $250, stalls were well kept and horses had individual water buckets, not giant tubs which I prefer.
Barn 2: Also really nice, just over 15 minutes from school. Very clean and well kept barn. Medium sized arena. Turn out isn't that optimum since it's on a hill but at least there is some. Horses are meticulously cared for but board is overpriced and I could only afford partial care. I really don't want to have to clean her stall every day. Local grass hay is included and is weighed out for each horse. Hot water wash rack. Not a huge barn, maybe 15 stalls? Nice turnaround driveway with a small area for the trailer. Small summer outdoor arena with jumps set up 24/7. Not useable in the winter. Both of my barn buddies want to board there but I really don't because of the cost and because it's only partial care - $360 for that or $480 for full care. It's just not that fancy to justify the cost.
Barn 3: A QH racing barn, the owners are getting out of racing so they have a lot of open stalls of varying sizes. A large all-weather outdoor arena, no indoor. 27 minutes from school. They have three hot walkers and they'd train Jetta to walk on them. Some turnout in the winter. And they have a race track! They have jumps that you can set up on the track or in the arena and it'd be a great place to practice galloping. Downside is the distance from school and no covered arena. Sounds nice and low-key. You can get as much care as you want with of course varying prices though it's comparable to most places in the area. I kind of liked it, though I'm sure I'd hate the lack of covered arena...
Barn 4: Close to school, about 18 minutes. Lots of stalls scattered over the property, they run a lesson program as well so there's quite a few horses. One small pasture that they are going to divide in two. Really interesting parking, it'd be hard to get my trailer in and out. Stalls have runs for the most part. All the stalls I saw were very dirty and they use big water tubs, all of which looked gross. Very large arena but ground looks rock hard and I don't think they ever rake it. Immediately down the road is a huge trail system that I've ridden before and like. Full care with a run on the stall is $325. Feed orchard grass 2x daily. Heated tack room but pretty crowded. I really didn't like it.
So, I picked barn number 1. I might end up finding another barn, but I really liked this barn. It had a quiet and friendly atmosphere, the owner was so nice. The arena is nice and there's turnout. Horses seemed to be well cared for and the price was exactly right. I liked the hay they fed, it was nice quality. I liked the small size and the huge tack room. The only thing I didn't like was the drive so we'll see how long it lasts - either I'll get used to the drive or get sick of it. There are 2 more stalls available so I was hoping ML and ZS would come with but they sound pretty set on Barn 2, it's just not for me unfortunately. Move in set for the 20th!
Friday, September 7, 2012
Trailventure
Finally got my trail ride in today and it was quite the adventure. I decided to ride Grady and pony Jetta - Grady is a good guy to pony off of and Jetta is a very well behaved pony-er so it all should have gone smoothly, right? Haha, it was funny.
First of all, Grady is quite short strided and Jetta has the longest stride of any horse I've ever met. Not quite the best combination. But they started off doing really well as long as I kept Jetta's lead short so she'd stay at Grady's shoulder instead of charging ahead. Usually on the way up the hill we trot or canter it the whole way. Trotting worked out just fine, but when I tried to canter, Grady tried to gallop in order to keep up with Jetta. We slowed and I reorganized all my rope and pushed Grady into a canter at the same time as holding Jetta in a trot. That worked really well for about half way up the hill until Grady decided he needed to get farther ahead of Jetta, then Jetta has to canter to keep up, but her stride is so long that then Grady has to go faster so that he can keep up and then he decides to ignore me asking for a halt. Naughty boy, but at least I can laugh about it because it's not all bad when it's a 26 year old horse wanting to gallop!
Finally got him back to a walk and we continued on our way. The rest of the top of the hill was nice and peaceful. It was 90 degrees out today so quite hot but the shade was wonderful. We headed downhill and ran into a little spring. I guess the owners tried to gravel it in so there wouldn't be a little water hole in the middle of the path. Grady goes to walk over the gravel and sinks several inches so he jumps out of that and we tiptoe around it.
Then we run into a long tendril of blackberry vine across the path. No way to go around it so we go through it, but I don't have any hands free to move it so we charge past it. First it catches on Grady's ear bonnet so he's holding his head all sideways trying to escape it. Then it catches on my shirt and rips its way off, making quite the noise and both horses spook forward a couple steps and then stop with Grady facing one way and Jetta facing the other and I only have one rein. Oh, I'm lucky I have such good horses.
We made it back to the barn in one piece and not much worse for wear. It was definitely an adventure!
First of all, Grady is quite short strided and Jetta has the longest stride of any horse I've ever met. Not quite the best combination. But they started off doing really well as long as I kept Jetta's lead short so she'd stay at Grady's shoulder instead of charging ahead. Usually on the way up the hill we trot or canter it the whole way. Trotting worked out just fine, but when I tried to canter, Grady tried to gallop in order to keep up with Jetta. We slowed and I reorganized all my rope and pushed Grady into a canter at the same time as holding Jetta in a trot. That worked really well for about half way up the hill until Grady decided he needed to get farther ahead of Jetta, then Jetta has to canter to keep up, but her stride is so long that then Grady has to go faster so that he can keep up and then he decides to ignore me asking for a halt. Naughty boy, but at least I can laugh about it because it's not all bad when it's a 26 year old horse wanting to gallop!
Finally got him back to a walk and we continued on our way. The rest of the top of the hill was nice and peaceful. It was 90 degrees out today so quite hot but the shade was wonderful. We headed downhill and ran into a little spring. I guess the owners tried to gravel it in so there wouldn't be a little water hole in the middle of the path. Grady goes to walk over the gravel and sinks several inches so he jumps out of that and we tiptoe around it.
Then we run into a long tendril of blackberry vine across the path. No way to go around it so we go through it, but I don't have any hands free to move it so we charge past it. First it catches on Grady's ear bonnet so he's holding his head all sideways trying to escape it. Then it catches on my shirt and rips its way off, making quite the noise and both horses spook forward a couple steps and then stop with Grady facing one way and Jetta facing the other and I only have one rein. Oh, I'm lucky I have such good horses.
We made it back to the barn in one piece and not much worse for wear. It was definitely an adventure!
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Sound and in the Saddle
Well Jetta's leg seems a lot better. Still a little bit puffy around the scratches but she doesn't seem any worse for it. I lunged her this morning and she seemed fine. Slightly short maybe on that right hind, but barely noticeable.
I hopped on her and had a fairly good first ride. So good to be back on my pony! Of course it was not all butterflies and rainbows... When I first sat on her she pulled her "I'm going to throw a fit if you ask me to move forward" which I guess worked with ML while I was gone, which is why she probably pulled it with me. But two can play that game - if she doesn't want to move forward then I'm going to chase her butt in a circle until she decides she can walk forward. Then whenever she sucked back like she was going to throw another fit she would have to trot. The first trot she gave me was beautiful but after that she pulled out her "pony trot" which is not exactly what I was going for, though gradually she gave me a more relaxed big trot. Our canter was pretty good too, though the transitions weren't very nice, but I just let that be. We'll work on it next time.
We ended on a good note and then went apple picking in the field as her reward for a good ride. I hosed her leg just in case, we'll see if she's still okay tomorrow since I want to go on a trail ride! We got to work off some of that fatty belly :)
I hopped on her and had a fairly good first ride. So good to be back on my pony! Of course it was not all butterflies and rainbows... When I first sat on her she pulled her "I'm going to throw a fit if you ask me to move forward" which I guess worked with ML while I was gone, which is why she probably pulled it with me. But two can play that game - if she doesn't want to move forward then I'm going to chase her butt in a circle until she decides she can walk forward. Then whenever she sucked back like she was going to throw another fit she would have to trot. The first trot she gave me was beautiful but after that she pulled out her "pony trot" which is not exactly what I was going for, though gradually she gave me a more relaxed big trot. Our canter was pretty good too, though the transitions weren't very nice, but I just let that be. We'll work on it next time.
We ended on a good note and then went apple picking in the field as her reward for a good ride. I hosed her leg just in case, we'll see if she's still okay tomorrow since I want to go on a trail ride! We got to work off some of that fatty belly :)
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| Oh my gosh so faaaat! Can't get over it. |
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| Poor sensitive girl, sporting her fly bonnet |
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| Terrible self portrait. But it's kinda cute :) |
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Happenings
I'm afraid I'm not that exciting. But here's the happenings around the barn:
*Colton - I love how fast this guy learns! Before I left we were just starting to lunge outside the round pen. Since I never have helpers, I use the round pen to help teach them how to lunge and gradually do more and more outside. We hadn't done very much work at all though. Today however, he gave me some perfect walk and trot on a nice round circle without pulling on me. Still some sideways "OMG!" moments, but for the most part he was a champ. I've been on him a few times since I got back, mostly just re-acclimating him to having someone on his back so we didn't really do more than walk and trot around the pasture but I'm looking forward to getting him back in the arena!
*Jetta - I haven't ridden. I've been wanting to, but when I went to go pull her out of the pasture and tack up, her right hind leg is swollen. Oh pony. It looks like it got tangled in some blackberry vines and that's the reason it's swollen, she has small cuts all the way around. Grady and I went on a patrol just to make sure there wasn't any wire hanging around, but we didn't find any. She's not lame but I don't want to push it by riding her. Other than that she's her normal sassy self. We've been doing ground work and just lunging prior to her swollen leg to establish that I'm still the alpha since she has become the dominant herd horse in my absence. Her hooves are doing very nicely, the thrush is gone for the most part and her quarter cracks might just be closing up, knock on wood.
*Grady - My wonderful old man is still wonderful. I've been riding him around the pasture just for fun and I love it. Just today I was playing around, doing rollbacks on the fence and at one point he was doing them by himself! He'd canter out of one rollback, I'd adjust my weight to ask for a halt, he'd slam on the brakes and spin around then canter off in the opposite direction. I love this horse. I hope that someday Jetta and I build the same rapport as Grady and I have. His hooves are looking wonderful. Last year I was bad and neglected having the farrier out as often as he needed so his hooves shifted forward and they're finally going back to normal and I'm very diligently trying to get rid of the thrush that he has always had. He has such tiny halter horse hooves compared to Jetta.
I can't believe that it's already almost fall. The apples and blackberries are ripe which is one of my favorite times of year. One blackberry for me, one for the horse, and maybe one for the bucket :) I'm going to bake a blackberry pie tonight. It cracks me up to see Jetta with her muzzle all purple. She picks the blackberries herself. Colton is not quite sure if he likes blackberries yet and Grady doesn't. The apples though... Grady takes very delicate bites - you have to hold the apple steady for him because he'll bite it in half and then bite the remaining part in half again. Very cute. Colton eats the apples whole (they're pretty small) and then there's Jetta. She tries to eat them whole but they're too big for her so she has to spit it out and then bite it in half. Dork.
*Colton - I love how fast this guy learns! Before I left we were just starting to lunge outside the round pen. Since I never have helpers, I use the round pen to help teach them how to lunge and gradually do more and more outside. We hadn't done very much work at all though. Today however, he gave me some perfect walk and trot on a nice round circle without pulling on me. Still some sideways "OMG!" moments, but for the most part he was a champ. I've been on him a few times since I got back, mostly just re-acclimating him to having someone on his back so we didn't really do more than walk and trot around the pasture but I'm looking forward to getting him back in the arena!
*Jetta - I haven't ridden. I've been wanting to, but when I went to go pull her out of the pasture and tack up, her right hind leg is swollen. Oh pony. It looks like it got tangled in some blackberry vines and that's the reason it's swollen, she has small cuts all the way around. Grady and I went on a patrol just to make sure there wasn't any wire hanging around, but we didn't find any. She's not lame but I don't want to push it by riding her. Other than that she's her normal sassy self. We've been doing ground work and just lunging prior to her swollen leg to establish that I'm still the alpha since she has become the dominant herd horse in my absence. Her hooves are doing very nicely, the thrush is gone for the most part and her quarter cracks might just be closing up, knock on wood.
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| So fat! She looks like a broodmare! So unusual for her... |
I can't believe that it's already almost fall. The apples and blackberries are ripe which is one of my favorite times of year. One blackberry for me, one for the horse, and maybe one for the bucket :) I'm going to bake a blackberry pie tonight. It cracks me up to see Jetta with her muzzle all purple. She picks the blackberries herself. Colton is not quite sure if he likes blackberries yet and Grady doesn't. The apples though... Grady takes very delicate bites - you have to hold the apple steady for him because he'll bite it in half and then bite the remaining part in half again. Very cute. Colton eats the apples whole (they're pretty small) and then there's Jetta. She tries to eat them whole but they're too big for her so she has to spit it out and then bite it in half. Dork.
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