For Lack of a Title

I went out to the barn, all on my own this week. Steph and Tricia both had things going on. Patti wasn't even around so it was just me, the horses, and the flies. I figured I would ride Cody a bit if he was feeling okay. I lead him into the barn and he was walking like he was sore. So, as usual, my plans changed. I groomed him, fly sprayed him, and let him wander in the barn for a while with his fly mask off. I grabbed Axel and groomed him up as well and they both just wandered around until Cody decided he wanted to leave. Of course as soon as he walks out of the barn door he's walking in the paddock perfectly sound. I think I might have been hoodwinked!

I decided to do some ground driving with Axel and see how he'd react to the pool noodles I bought. We just drove normally in the side pasture for a while to make sure we remembered how. Our steering is still a bit wonky, lots of over correcting. I think hooked up the pool noodles to the sides of the surcingle, mimicing the shafts that would be on a cart. I carried one end for a while so they were just bumping his sides. When that didn't faze him I let them drag behind him, hitting the lower part of his legs off and on. We walked and trotted a bit and the only thing he was concerned with was the fact I wouldn't let him eat every time we stopped. He's getting pretty good at verbal commands, I'll have to start adding things like "Gee" and Haw." I think he appreciated me not getting on his back with all the bites he has. Someone has been picking on Axel a lot lately and his whole left side is covered in teeth marks. When we were done with the noodles we drove down the road a little bit which also went just fine. It's funny to watch Axel grow in height when he sees something "scary." The sprinklers were all on at the nursery next door and the closer we got the taller Axel got. That's all he did, of course, but it was fun to watch. You don't get to see those things when you're on his back.

It was still pretty early when I got back to the barn so I decided to hand graze Cody for a while. The lawn was getting pretty long in places so we helped clean that up for a while. Maybe that's not the best idea with a laminitic horse but we were only out there for 10 minutes at most and they'll be back on pasture soon. Plus who knows what caused it in the first place, I'm pretty sure it wasn't a food issue to begin with.