Saturday, October 25, 2014

Whole New Pony

About a month ago McKenna had her teeth done, the first time she's had them done while I've had her.  I had gotten her vet records from when she came off the track and J bought her, and they had nothing previous since she came from a feed lot.  She had gotten her teeth done in spring 2013, so at a year and half I figured she was due and luckily another boarder wanted her mares done so we set up an appointment with our dentist.

Dentist said that she had a bunch of small, sharp points but didn't look too bad for 1.5yrs. She did complain (kiddingly) that McKenna has a very narrow jaw (I know, I had to go buy smaller bits) and that most horses have some excess skin around their jaw and McKenna didn't. Her teeth were right against the skin. The only major thing was one of her teeth on the bottom right side of her face was crooked.  Dentist couldn't tell if it was moving (please no, she's too young for dental problem!) or if it came in crooked.  She's leaning towards it coming in crooked, as it didn't seem to move around when she was working on it.  But its something to watch and she'll have to be done at least yearly to check on it.

I like that its hard to tell she's clipped.
Last Monday I gave McKenna her first clip of the season.  It's earlier than I normally clip, like to wait till mid November, but she's been so sweaty and I had time.  She was very good for it, standing still and not caring about the clippers except for around her head.  I still haven't managed to clip her ears but have gotten her bridle path done.  Last year I just did a trace clip along her neck and barrel, but since I hopefully plan to show the winter I gave her a full clip.  There's a few touch up spots I have to go back and get, but it took me just over an hour to do. 

Next week our chiropractor is coming out and McKenna's on her list.  During her trainer ride last week, trainer said she was much stiffer going left than right, but I hadn't felt anything. But during our ride Wednesday I couldn't get her to pick up her left lead without some major head tossing, running forward and general bad ponyness.  I had to dig my heel into her side while growling at her before I got a nice, clean transition.  That's pretty unsuall for her so I agreed with trainer and called for the chiro.
PNW bred ponies don't care bout no puddles
She's also getting her feet done next week, which is good since she's overgrown.  Our farrier was hunting last week when they were due, and had to push them back.  By the end of next week I'll have a whole new, (hopefully) balanced pony!

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