Busy day today. Start off with Connor flat on the ground, back legs flailing. Holly called me up to check him, and when he saw me he stood up, on wobbly legs. He’s not really improving on his left front abscessed hoof, either. He doesn’t want to walk, but he is still always interested in eating. We hand walked him a few yards to the tack house, where Jessika and I changed his bandage. The three of us stood around this poor old horse, trying to decide whether we should call the vet; was he in pain; was it his time? I came so close to calling the vet, and as I rehearsed in my mind what I would say to him, I had to choke back the tears…just thinking the thoughts that needed to be said were painful. We walked him to the arena and turned him out…more like placed him in it…he never moved. When we walked him back to his paddock, he seemed improved, and the call to the vet never was placed.
Holly worked “the boys” (the Welsh boys, Flash and Zim) on lunge line with side reins. She also attempted some desensitization to the measuring stick – well, the two of them jump right out of their skins when you start walking towards them with it! We’ve all worked hard trying to desensitize these two ponies but they remain very spooky and skittish – at the most mundane things – even after repeated exposures! (I read somewhere that a deficiency in magnesium can cause spookiness, but they have a mineral salt block in their paddock, so that’s not it!) Holly works diligently, but it often seems like we’re back to square one every time!
Jessika took out Jack and lunge him, and he was off a bit today. Not wanting to stay out on the circle, but is beginning to stretch down. Although, as Jessika puts it, every time he stretches down he trips over his feet. Rather a clumsy, young horse…
Star got a bath today from Jessika. Found out Jessiak does a really thorough job washing horses when Max came up so clean the other day. Star is loosing patches of hair and its not rain rot – maybe a medicated bath will help.
While Jesskia gave Star a bath, Steven went to town digging out the muck and mud that had built up in her paddock through the rainy season. Star not only has poor hooves prone to bad thrush, but she also pees like crazy and then stands in the muddiest part of her stall all day – she’s a real challenge!! I talked with our farrier and we’ve got a plan of attack. Of course it starts with the environment – clean the stall and keep it dry!! (oh, brother!) Well, Steven did a great job removing 2 tons of muddy pee/poop, and now we’ll lay down a layer of gravel, then sand, sloped 1 degree away, covered by rubber mats, then wood shavings. The fun has just begun. Then, we begin treating the thrush. Stay tuned for that experimental treatment which we’ll be chronicling.
