Mr. Tender Toes

 While not as bad as he was, Peebs is still slightly NQR in both front feet. We've had some odd spring weather, with it getting hot and dry, then rain and some hail, then really dry, then a day of rain, then dry again. I think his feet are protesting the changing conditions. 

Oh hey look, the pics from Cinder schooling XC

 

His left front does have a little thrush going on, and I treated all four just to be sure. And to cover my bases I scheduled a lameness exam for him on the 15th. Friend A was having the vet out for Scottie, so I'm piggybacking on her appointment. 

"Thanks, I hate it."-Cinder, most definitely

Peebs gets his feet done next week, and I'll see what the farrier thinks as well. I'm hoping it's just the thrush and a little tenderness from the wet/dry cycles. I did scratch from our show in  a week and a half because even if he's sound tomorrow, I haven't really ridden in two weeks and we won't be ready. There's always more shows.

Cinder Progress Report: Finally

 Farrier J finally came out on Tuesday and Cinder got her first shoes. He was supposed to be out last Saturday but never showed up. I went out to see Cin and Trainer S was very apologetic. I told her I know its not her fault, J is just like that. He does good work, when he shows up. 

I apologize for the absolutely horrible pic, but I forgot to take a nice one. She's got shoes on all 4 and is going to be living in bell boots on the front since she overreaches so much.

Cinder is also officially under saddle. Trainer S has ridden her a handful of times, mostly just sitting on her. She didn't want to do too much until Cin had her shoes on. Cinder has been great about being ridden.  Hopefully I can see S rider her soon! And get on her myself! The plan is either at the end of next month, or during the following month, we'll swap out one or two training rides a week for lessons. I can not wait!

Cinder moved stall and isn't quite as in love with her new neighbor Onyx as she is with Airy. Especially when I pet him and not her.

Cinder Progress Report: Waiting Game

 It was my understanding that Cinder was going to get her first set of shoes last Friday, and that Trainer S's hoof/leg specialist vet would be there to consult with Farrier J.  Half of that ended up happening.

I failed at getting any media of Cinder, so here's Peebs looking cute

Vet K was there, she was also doing a PPE on another horse in the barn, so I did have her take a look at Cinder's feet. Cin had some high/low issues going on, and after a set of radiographs, her left front is a club foot. Not a bad one, but a club foot. Luckily, she has more sole depth than K thought she would have and my farrier, Farrier L, has done a great job of trimming her. I would honestly like him to keep doing her while she's in training, but he doesn't have time to do just one horse at a barn he doesn't go to. 

Farrier J, S's farrier, ended up not being able to make the appointment so hopefully he can make it out sometime this week to do Cinder. I've used J in the past, and he's good, but he's not so great about communication, or being where he said he'd be, when he's supposed to be there (big reason I switched to L who is fantastic about communication and being on time or letting you know in advance that he'll be late). Vet K did message him about what set up she'd like on Cinder (aluminum Rockers in front), and what size shoes she needs so again, fingers crossed, J can make it happen this week. 

Cinder Progress Report #2

Cinder continues to get good reviews at kindergarten. The round pen has been put up so Trainer S is working her in there and has started taking her for hand walks on the trails. The barn backs up to a big forest with miles of trails along the hills. S is a big proponent of getting the horses, young and old, out on the trails as much as possible.

Cinder got a new neighbor who she loves but Airy is kinda meh on her

Unfortunately Cinder's feet have taken a bit of a beating on the trails. She chipped off enough so she currently doesn't have enough hoof wall to nail a shoe onto, so I bought her some hoof boots. I got a report that she was NOT pleased wearing them for the first time yesterday, but too bad so sad mare. Hopefully we can protect her tootsies so she can grow enough to put shoes on.

S thinks shes close to being ready to be ridden, and she thinks it will be pretty uneventful. She's doing a little more groundwork to really cement some body control. Cinder can blow you off about yielding her shoulder or hip, but not in a bad way, more of "Oh, I didn't realize you actually meant it" kind of way. Both S and I agree that she's not mean, or naughty-minded, she's just not the most sensitive of horses. Unless she's in heat, but S called it a good kind of sensitive.

Hopefully she continues to be good, grow some hoof, and be under saddle soon!

Ugh

Ugh pretty much sums up the last month or so.  Work was incredibly busy and stressful, but *fingers crossed* we should finally be back to normal (or at least fully staffed). Life with ponies at two different barns has me feeling like I'm being torn in two different directions, but that's going to change this weekend. And last but not least, winter sucks. 

When everything sucks, just hop on for a bareback toodle

Peebs and I started December off pretty well.  We had been focusing on our flat work and I felt like we were making progress.  Until I took my bridle apart to clean and condition and then screwed up putting it back together again.  I somehow swapped the cheek piece and noseband attachment on one side, causing the the top of the full cheek bit to dig into his face and didn't notice it at first. We had two really, really bad rides where Peebs just felt MAD. He was flat pissed at something and I couldn't figure out what and actually texted my trainer on the verge of tears to see if she would be willing to ride him instead of me doing a lesson. Then I thought about what happened in the space of two days between our last good ride and the bad ride and took a good look at my bridle and figured out my mistake.  Sorry Peebers!!

Cinder modeling her new big girl halter

In our first, and so far only, lesson this year Peebs took great exception to the puddles in TCF's arena and at one point ran my leg into a standard rather than trot through the puddle. I then got off and put my spurs on and we had a slight CTJ about moving off my leg. He then had a meltdown about my spurs and our lesson was spent almost entirely at the trot, but our rides since then have been good. He's more responsive and attentive, and I've been able to put the spurs away for now. We haven't been consistent in our schooling at all in the past couple of weeks, but hopefully that will change.  Peebs is moving back to TCF this weekend. One of the boarded horses at TCF had to be put down and Peebs is taking that stall. It will be so nice to have the ponies back together again.

Princess pony loves the new hog fuel footing at the pasture entrances

Temperature wise, it's been a fairly mild winter. But we've gotten a lot of rain, and a fair amount of wind. Cinder's feet have had a hard time coping with the moisture. Last winter she didn't have turnout in the pasture, just the arena, and this year she's out 6-10 hours a day. She's also growing out some not so great hoof from when she had her big allergy attack last spring and we were switching up her diet trying to figure out what she could/would eat. All that combined has lead to her chipping off chunks of hoof, sore feet, and her first abscess. Luckily my farrier was able to come out the day after I suspected she had an abscess and dig it out. Cin was not a fan of having her hoof soaked, but surprisingly didn't chew off her hoof wrap. I've started painting her feet with Keratex as she's still a little tender footed. Next winter I'll start that sooner and hopefully she'll have better feet all around.

Bringing Home Baby

Once again I've fallen behind on blogging.  But the biggest and most important thing is that Cinder came home last Sunday.  I'm excited, but also terrified.  Who let me buy a baby?!  I have no idea what the hell I'm doing.  I'm assuming this is kinda what if feels like to bring a human baby home from the hospital.

I convinced a couple other boarders at the barn to come with me when I went up to get Cinder on Sunday.  I figured having someone to talk to in the truck would help calm my nerves and get my attention off every bump and sway in the trailer.  We took Rosy, my BO's mini as a travel buddy for Cinder with the plan of putting them in a stall together over night while Cinder settled in. As we were getting ready to load up, KP (who is a vet) and I talked and decided to give Cinder her vaccine booster then and she took it like a champ.  We put Rosy in the first stall in the trailer, shut the divider, and Cinder took maybe 45 seconds to load.  She did get a bit nervous when she realized mom wasn't with her, and called a couple times.  But once we were on the road, I didn't hear or feel anything.

That's the sound of my heart melting

Rosy must have had words with Cinder because back home when we turned them out in the indoor together Rosy pinned her ears and Cinder wouldn't come within 10 feet of her.  Obviously Rosy does not appreciate having to play babysitter, thank you very much!  We let Cinder play around in the indoor for probably close to an hour and she called maybe five times?  Way, way less than I was expecting.  We decided to split Cinder and Rosy up and Cinder was walked happily down the aisle away from Rosy past a bunch of other horses and into her new stall.  She paced for a few minutes till I gave her some hay then seemed to settle in.  And from the reports I got (our BM lives in the apartment in the barn), she was pretty quite during the night.

BM put Cinder out in the indoor during the day Monday for me and said she was great.  When I came in the afternoon she seemed like she had been living there forever.  I turned her out again to clean her stall and tried on the foal blanket I got for her.  She spun a couple slow circles around me when I first put it over her back, but didn't seem to care at all when it was on and fastened.  It was hilariously too small so I ordered a pony sized one.

We used to have a 3yr old boarder here that had problems getting her head over the door.  #giantbaby

Yesterday the farrier was out so we brought Cinder out to mess with.  She was super not happy about her back legs being picked up, but a light smack on her ribs and a firm "Knock it off" got the point across.  She's smart, and once she realized that she got pets and scratches for holding her foot up she was fine.  Farrier rasped a little bit off on each foot since she was in the middle of a cycle and didn't need a full trim.

Good luck with that Cinder

A post shared by Molly Basney (@mollybasney) on Dec 5, 2017 at 4:32pm PST

I turned Peebs and Cinder out together after their feet were done.  I was a bit hesitant because Peebs can play kinda rough, and his favorite game is chewing on other horses.  But baby sister wasn't having any of that.  He tried to bite her neck and she whipped around and let both back feet fly at him. He backed way off, and pretty much let her do whatever.  She tried to nurse from him and he just took it with a confused look on his face. I'm pretty sure he's going to be squarely under her hoof from now on.

Summer Break

The plan for after the show at the beginning of July was to let Peebs have an easy couple of weeks.  The week right after I lunged him once, and then used him for pony rides for my cousin's kids who were visiting from NorCal.  Peebs was pretty sure his days as a pony ride horse are over and would only walk as long as I was walking with him. He was very happy, however, that the kids stuffed his face before and after the ride with sour gummy worms and cookies.  Like mother, like son; we both have a weakness for sour gummies!

When you drive past a bar with your name on it.... We didn't actually go in because it looked sketchy af

I then went on vacation to New Mexico for five days, so Peebs got even more of a break. On our second day in Santa Fe I saw a local events magazine with a pony on the cover so of course I had to grab one.  We were there for the first of three weeks of Hipico Santa Fe, a h/j and dressage show. We managed to stop by late one of the days, but there was only one dressage ring going and it was 96* so we didn't stay. 

My superpower is fining ponies wherever I go

When I got back home, I started by lunging Peebs for a couple of days before getting on.  He was pretty up on the line but part of that was the stallion was getting lunged as well and they were showing off for each other.  Boys.  Our first ride back was pretty good, I didn't ask for much just let him stretch his legs a bit.  But our second and third ride were pretty crappy.  He's not lame just NQR and spooky.  I lunged him again to see if I can see anything, and his hind end was funky. He fell off the lead cantering both ways and did this weird stabby thing with both hinds.  So I've got a call into the chiro for another adjustment. I also think it's time to put hind shoes on him to give him a little more support.  I've never had hinds on him so I'm curious to see how he is with them. If that and the adjustment don't do anything, our regular vet is coming at the end of the month for teeth and fall shots so I'll sign Peebs up for an exam. Fingers crossed between the shoes and adjustment he can come back from his summer break!

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!

For Better or Worse

Buddy's going barefoot for now.  After pulling/loosing his shoes last week, he chipped up his feet so bad that our farrier didn't think Bud had enough foot left to tack a shoe onto.  He said he could try, but suggested we wait about a month till he's next out for some of the other horses.  Since we don't have a show coming up and the fact that I'm going to be on vacation for a week, I said ok and we left Buddy barefoot. 

He's been ok walking on the gravel and I've seen him trotting out in the field looking sound.  I got on today to see how he was in the sand arena and he was sore.  Not horribly so, but not right.  I'm going to ride a little bit each day to see if he gets better. 

Making it Hard

For the past few days, Buddy has been making life hard.  Thursday Jen used him for a beginner lesson, the girl has only ridden maybe 3 times, and he kept trotting off with her.  Jen eventually put him on the lunge line and he calmed down.

Friday I went to get him and he was minus a shoe.  The other was missing a nail and loose so I pulled it the rest of the way off.  It was the first time I've ever pulled a shoe off myself, and boy do I have more respect for my farrier!  It took me about a half hour to work it off and I was pouring sweat by the end.  Luckily Buddy was due to get redone this week anyways so he'll only have a few days barefoot.

 

I was a little worried how ouchy he'd be because Saturday we were scheduled to ride in a cutting clinic. I've been to the barn where it was held before and knew they had really nice cushy footing.  It was the walking on the gravel/hard pasture that worried me.  I gave him a little preventative bute Friday night and Saturday morning and he was fine.

It's been six months since Bud's been on cows, so I figured he'd be pretty excited.  Wrong.  He perked up a bit when he first saw the cows but then promptly lost interest.  We started by practice moving the herd and then being "herd holders" for the person cutting.  Basically the herd holders keep the group of cows back while the cutter cuts their cow out and works it.  There are two herd holders, one in each corner of the short end of the arena.  Buddy and I were actually pretty good at holding the herd, we got compliments and didn't get yelled at as much as some of the real cow horse people.

At least he's cute, right?

Unfortunately Buddy's lack of interest in the cows killed us when it was our turn to cut.  He wouldn't focus on a cow and was dead to my leg.  We couldn't keep a cow separated from the herd and it was pretty frustrating.  The clinician called me off and said that Buddy was loosing confidence because he couldn't get a cow. He then said to go somewhere else and work with just one cow till we could get it. In the moment I was pretty hurt, no one likes being told their horse is loosing confidence and to be called out like that in front of the group was pretty humiliating.  I walked Bud around for a few minutes, then got off and went back to the trailer.

By this point I was trying my hardest to hold back the tears.  My barn owner who had come to watch came out to talk to me and said the clinician was wrong, that Buddy was just being incredibly lazy and wasn't loosing confidence.  He just couldn't be bothered to care. She also offered me her spurs that she had in the truck if I wanted to get back on him. I thought about it as I untacked and groomed him and she was right.  Buddy normally locks on to his cow and is pretty enthusiastic about moving them.  He just didn't care and wasn't paying attention.

One of the clinic organizers came out and talked to me saying they were sorry I had a bad go and offered to have me work one on one with a cow. She said she'd been in my place and she knows how hard it is to be called out in a group setting. I stared getting teary eyed again and that set her off and the two of hugged and cried it out.  I got Bud tacked up again, put on the spurs, and headed back to the arena. 

There were only two cows in the arena this time and we worked on just following one and moving with it.  Buddy woke up after a couple jabs with the spurs and was his normal cowy self.  He was locking onto the cow and moving with it.  The clinician was having me go slow and emphasize moving Buddy's shoulders when the cow moved.  At one point he told me to move Bud's shoulders away from the cow, and thanks to the spurs, Buddy did almost a 180 spin.  That got everyone laughing and saying that when he wakes up he could move.  It ended on a good note, I felt that I had redeemed us, and that Buddy at least remembered how to work cow.

Aren't Days Off Supposed to be Relaxing?!

Friday was my day off from work, and the plan was to have a relaxing day at the barn with a lesson and then going up to get Zoe.  I did go and get Zoe but neither the relaxing nor the lesson happened. 

I had done a light hack with Buddy Thursday afternoon and he felt fine but when I got on to warm up on Friday, he felt stiff and just so slightly off. I double checked his feet and no rocks so we continued with our warm up.  When Jen got there I had her watch us and she confirmed what I thought; that he wasn't quite right.

 It's been hot and dry here, which is great since we can get the horses out on pasture almost 6 weeks earlier than normal.  But the downside is that the ground/arena is harder and dryer than normal and it's making Buddy foot sore.  Normally he's barefoot Oct-June, and gets front shoes in the summer.  Unfortunately he got his feet done two weeks ago and our farrier lives in central Oregon, 3 hours away.  I called as soon as I got off, hoping Steve would be in our area within a week and as luck would have it he was 10 minutes away and had time to do Bud.  Jen had me get him drilled and tapped for studs this year, since we're jumping higher and plan to do a show or two on grass this summer.  Now Bud will get a couple days rest and we'll see how the new kicks work.

I was too lazy to clean out his hoof, but you get the idea

After Bud was done getting shod, I went up to get Zoe.  She nicked at me when I went to her paddock at her owner's house and jumped right in the trailer.  I felt her moving around a bunch as we were on the way back and thought that I probably should have given her a hay bag in the trailer.  Both Phoenix and Buddy haul great, with or without food or another horse and I forget that not all ponies are so good.  When we got back to the barn, Zoe had managed to untie herself and whacked her head in the trailer. She had a half inch cut right below her eye that was pretty deep.  Connie, Jen and I debated about calling the vet, but we worried about keeping it clean, so we did.  Our regular vet was over an hour away but his associate was 5 minutes down the road.  She said the cut wasn't as bad as it looked, and with a little happy drugs and 1 stitch Zoe should be good as new. I have some antibiotic ointment to put on it and Zoe will get some bute thru the weekend. 

After all the excitement yesterday I'm hoping the rest of the weekend goes a lot smoother!

Naughty, naughty mare

On Tuesday Zoe bit me.  And not just a nip or something somewhat innocent, it was a deliberate strike.  I had be petting her, with her head hanging out of the stall door.  I turned away to answer a question another boarder asked and Zoe reached out and grabbed my shoulder.  I immediately turned back to smack her, but she moved to the back of her stall.  I had been planning on riding her, but I thought she needed immediate work so I grabbed my lunge line and took her out in the rain.  I worked her butt for a good half hour, until she was nice and tired.  Then I made her stand in a cooler in the cross ties while everyone else was fed their dinner. 

By that point my shoulder was starting to throb a bit, so I went in the tack room to take a look at it.  She managed to break the skin in a couple spots while biting thru a long sleeved t-shirt, sweatshirt, and vest. It was already starting to bruise and had swollen up.  Unfortunately I like to sleep on my side so I didn't get much sleep Tuesday night. Wednesday I was pretty sore, but made it into work where a couple of my coworkers turned green when they saw it.

Wednesday morning
 

It doesn't hurt anymore, unless I bang my arm into something.  The bruising on the top of my arm is already going away and all the swellings gone.  Today Zoe got her feet done, and after warning my farrier I put a stud chain on her.  She was very well behaved.  Buddy also got his feet done and I had his shoes pulled for the winter. I'm giving him today off to get used to being barefoot then will take him out for an easy hack tomorrow.

It's a go!

I hadn't heard from Rick all day, so as soon as I got out to the barn I grabbed Zoe out of the pasture and saw that she had 2 shoes!  Yay! 

Seriously...the only thing I would change about this mare is her feet.



I tacked her up and we headed out to the sand arena to see how she felt.  The arena had been watered, and there was a couple little puddles left so I made her walk thru even though she tried her best to wiggle out of it.  We went back and forth a few times before she gave up and went through them nicely.  I picked up the trot and she felt fine.  We worked on transitions again and some spiraling in and out on circles.  She was little fussy, but not bad.  I'll take her out to the field tomorrow for a little jump session before the show.

Up in the Air

I'm supposed to take Zoe to a little hunter show on Saturday, so of course she pulled her shoe today.  I rode her Monday, just worked on transitions and going forward.  Someone had set up a couple sets of trot poles so we worked over those.  At first she was pretty confused about where to put her feet and kept trying to either jump them or canter over them. I channeled what we worked on in our lesson last week; keeping my hand up and having a nice steady rhythm.  She finally figured it out and after a couple nice times thru I let her quit.

There's a farrier who supposed to come out tomorrow (not my normal guy) and Rick's going to ask if he can put the shoe back on.  If he can, and she feels good we'll go on Saturday.

Easy week

All the ponies have had it easy this week.  Bud and Zoe got their feet done yesterday, and boy did they need it!  In the past week or so, Buddy's fee have exploded and I'm actually surprised he kept his shoes on.  Zoe weren't as bad, but when she gets long her feet look almost foundered.  I talked to my farrier about it and he said she has basically two clubbed feet up front.  As of yet they haven't caused her any problems, but I do wonder if in the long term they will.

I jumped Zoe today and she was great.  I switched her bit, from a plain loose ring snaffle to a D-ring french link.  She some times will shake her head and grab the bit  for a stride or two in the snaffle, so I wanted to see how she'd do with the french link.  So far so good!  She didn't try to grab it at all, and I seemed to have a little better control of her shoulders with it.  We worked on going forward to the jumps today and we added two 2'6" fences in.  She jumped everything well, moving forward when I asked so I called it good while we were ahead. 

Boys, boys, boys

The boys have been tying my stomach in knots this past week!  Last Friday Phoenix was kicked by his pasture mate, a little 14.2hand QH/Arab mare.  She nailed him just below his shoulder and in the middle of his cannon bone on his left front.

I saw it happen, so I was able to pull Phoenix out right away and clean and wrap his leg.  I kept him in for a few days, with the leg wrapped, then turned him back out (in a different pasture!) to see how he would do.  He's sound at the walk, but off on both fronts, at the trot.  He still has a large lump on his cannon bone.  One of the other boarders at the barn, who graduated from vet school last year and has spent the last year in an internship at an equine surgical clinic, look at his leg and told me to get x-rays  since it's highly likely his splint bone is fractured.  So we have an appointment next Thursday with Dr. Ben. 

I had a lesson last night with Buddy and he was super lazy.  Jen had me get my spurs.  He was more awake, but a lot more pissy once I had them on.  We were having a pretty good ride, working on having enough pace and rhythm, when we went up a 2'6" vertical landing and turning right to a rollback when  Buddy slipped on the clover and went down to his knees.   All I could see was the ground coming at me and thinking "Oh this is going to hurt". I don't know how I stayed on, or how he righted himself, but he did.

Both of us were pretty shaken, but once my adrenaline was under control, we tried again but instead of landing and turning, we landed and stopped.  Buddy seemed sound, but he was very cranky so after a couple nice fences we called it quits.  Jen suggested getting him drilled and tapped for studs, so I'm going to call the farrier on Monday to see when he's available.

Burning and Barrels

It's been busy this week, and thankfully dry! The ponies got there feet done on Tuesday. Phoenix had pulled a shoe and thankfully I had found it so my farrier could reset it. Phoenix has had a small crack in his right front for a month or so. Hasn't bothered him and while it's not too big, it bugs me. My farrier heated up the end of his rasp and burned a mark into the hoof to keep the crack from getting bigger. Looks kinda funky, but works!

I haven't done too much with Bud this week, just a couple easy flat rides and one jump school. With Zoe I've done the same, with the addition of barrels to our jumping. The barn has 3 plastic barrels for barrel racing, but I use them as jumps.

The first time thru, about 3 strides out I felt Zoe back off, but with a nudge from my spur she hopped right over them. The second time thru she didn't hesitate at all! I got one of the other boarders to video, but I can't upload it. So here are some still shots!

Phoenix is home!

And settled in very well.  I was a little nervous about loading him at Jen's....he can be a little difficult to load by himself and seeing as he would be leaving his only buddy Sun out there I was prepared for a battle.  But he surprised me by jumping right in the trailer.  He was a wound up unloading at the barn, but I walked him around the indoor for a minute and he settled right in.  I gave him a big pile of hay and he was nice and cozy for the night.

Today our farrier was out and both Phoenix and Buddy got trimmed.  I only put fronts on Buddy in the summer since he get a little foot sore when we jump out on the grass.  The next time they're due he'll get his.  For now, we are going to leave Phoenix barefoot and see how he does.  I figured that his feet will go thru a big change going from the wet, muddy pasture to a dry stall and I don't want shoes on during it.  Depending on how he does, we'll either leave him barefoot or put shoes on.

While Steve was doing Phoenix's left hind he tore a bit of the frog.  It spurted blood and we had to wash it with Betadine and we ended up putting a rolled cotton/vet wrap bandage on it.  Steve said it should be fine, but to wash it again tomorrow and probably rewrap it.

Buddy in the crossties with Phoenix's blood.  Do you know how hard it is to get blood off of mats?