Second day in a row!

Sunday Steph and I made the trek back out to the barn to ride. This time I thought we'd go with Cody and Kiko and see if Cody was happier with that situation. He was pretty good about it, no groundwork ahead of time either. Kiko was having some usual issues about not really wanting to be out riding. Cody was actually really good in retrospect. We only had a few really minor Rolkur impressions. He likes to drop his jaw and chin and open his mouth in an attempt to evade the bit. It makes him look like he's doing rolkur. Ironically we ride him with a really loose rein, he just does it on his own. The new horses were quite concerned that we took Kiko away. Apparently she has made a few extra boyfriends.

It was such a nice day and our ride was pretty short since we only really have the road to ride on right now, we decided to get Kalani and Axel out for a second trip around. Axel was a bit slow as usual but nothing terrible. Well behaved for the most part as well. When we went for a bit of a trot he decided to kick out and start cantering. He wasn't trying too hard to get me off and we broke down to a trot just fine. Steph wanted a canter so she went ahead of me and gave it a try. I decided since I didn't know if Axel's protesting was from pain or attitude I'd just let him trot if he wanted. We were pretty far behind and I very lightly squeezed, I mean really lightly, just to see if he had any interest in catching up. Boy did he! Off he went, kicking, bucking, cantering. I pushed him forward to which his response was to drop back into a trot and then walk. I decided since his bucking is fairly straight and predictable I'd ask for another canter. I got more bucking, I tried to push him through, he cantered a few strides and then back down to the trot.

I'm not certain why he's been protesting so much. He isn't visibly lame nor is he visibly in pain. When he is trotting he's even. So either there's some pain somewhere I don't know about, he's got spring fever or just an attitude, or he's still not balanced enough to know how to canter properly. Of course it's probably a combination of all of that. My vote is on the majority of it being attitude. I'll get Tricia or Steph to ride him and see what they think. He did walkout much nicer when I rode on the buckle. Maybe we'll have to have a peek in his mouth. It'll be about a year now since he's had his teeth done (let's hope he doesn't need that done again, so expensive).

Since we've been backing Cody out of the barn door, he's been doing so well, we decided to try and back Axel. Cody's issue is flying backwards out of the trailer. Axel's issue is not backing out at all, insisting on turning around and going out forward. So I can get Axel to back on a flat surface in the barn or wherever, but as soon as he got about a foot from the barn door he wouldn't budge. And being the stoic bombproof horse he is, no amount of flailing, tapping, pushing, anything would get him moving. So after some rewards for taking a step or even just shifting his weight we ended that lesson. I'll have to start him through the other barn door that I can adjust the width and also there's no step. Then we'll move on to the small barn door that Cody has conquered. Goofy horses, if it's not one thing, it's another.

I remeasured Cody's feet for boots and I come up with 5" wide and 5.25" long. Not exactly the 3.5" long that the farrier reported. Of course I will triple measure in March after their next farrier visit to be sure before I order any boots. Hopefully by then my tax refund will be on it's way. Axel's feet ended up being 5" long and 6" wide. Though the farrier did square them off in front for more break over to help his sore knee. I don't think I'll be getting him any boots anyway though.

It's finally warm!

After getting up early to go into work, having to work later than I planned, getting stuck behind a train, and waiting in a long check out line at the store I finally made it out to the barn. Later than I had hoped but it was still light out and warm. I brought Axel in to groom him. He's already starting to shed and he's gotten himself some really nice scabs on the inside of his one back foot. My guess is he kicked himself, as usual, and since his skin is so horribly dry it doesn't heal the best and ends up being a nasty gross scab. I couldn't find the TriCare and the betadine was frozen so he had to go sans first aid. He didn't seem to care.

I left Axel tied and brought Cody in to groom. He wasn't thrilled with the idea but wasn't totally belligerent either. I groomed him, also starting to shed, and waited for Tricia to arrive. I was ready before she got there so I did some groundwork with Cody. He was a little concerned with what was happening outside but still minded my requests. I tried a bit of lunging outside in the yard as well. He was still a bit worked up about being away from his herd but we managed. Tricia still hadn't arrived so I gave her a call to find out where she was at. She decided she would ride Cody but in a saddle just in case he was crazy horse. So I tacked up both horses before she got there. From Tricia's report, Cody was a little stubborn, required a lot of leg to get moving away from the barn. But he wasn't terrible. Axel wasn't terribly fast himself. He kicked out a few times when asked to trot but nothing major. They both ended up a little sweaty but they're still in nearly full winter coats and it was 40F.

Cody proved himself to be quite the obedient horse when he backed out of the barn perfectly. I keep crossing my fingers that he'll load and unload in the trailer now.

New Farrier

Here's the update from Patti since I wasn't able to be at the barn when the new farrier came. She had him measure Cody so I can buy some hoof boots for him so he's more comfortable on the trails this year:

"Farrier (farriers - he brought his long-time assistant, Jesse) have come and gone. It's snowing out here now and it's so pretty. Anyway, everyone behaved well."

Here's the report:

Cody
- trim, not too short. He was very well mannered.
- for boots: angle 50; length 3-1/2; width 4-7/8
Axel
- trim, toes squared a bit in the front to ease his arthritic knees. The farrier was very careful with his left front - that was the only time Axel leaned a bit, when that leg was out front for filing.

I might have to remeasure his hooves as the hoof boots I am looking at don't have a 3.5" length boot and I don't think Cody has tiny little pony feet, he's a 15.2hh Paint. Maybe the length and width measures got swapped.

Axel Tries Skijoring Again

First visit out to the barn since the new horses moved in and it was a busy one. We went out on Friday a little earlier than normal. Tricia worked Cody a bit in the barn and then out in the pasture while we got Axel and Kiko ready. I guess he was a little worked up about it all. We took Kiko and Axel on the road and mounted there past all of the ice. Tricia joined us with a plastic sled for Axel to pull. He did really well on the stretch heading away from the barn. Kiko was a little concerned with the sound the sled was making but nothing too major. She was too busy fussy as she hadn't been ridden in quite a while. When we turned to head back and took the side road Axel decided he was done with our games and started a little hissy fit. Just a bit of bucking with a bit more energy than he usually is willing to give up. We got up to the bean field we stopped pulling the sled and I rode him around a bit to see if he was just pissed about pulling or if it was general barn sour crankiness. It appeared to be mostly barn sour crankiness. At this point we met up with Patti, Scott, and Andrea who came out for a ride as well. Tricia was horseless and didn't want to walk back so Scott and Gunner pulled her home. Axel actually led the pack on the way home. So much for my slow lazy horse! We'll see how long this'll last.

By the time we got back Cody had paced himself into a full sweat. It was only about 20F so we threw a wool blanket and a fleece cooler on him while we fed. Patti has a new system set up with clips and straps for each horse and they feed in the small buckets so no buckets stay outside now and you don't have to tie, you just clip them in. Since Cody was still wet we left the blanket and went to the bar for a while and came back on the way home and pulled them off since I don't have a waterproof sheet to leave on over night. Here's hoping for Cody to regain his sanity soon.

Axel has been ridden 5 times since his chiropractic adjustment, the last of which was his first attempt at Skijoring.