Lots of Riding

Cody went first tonight. I groomed outside and I'm glad I did, the hair was flying. Luckily both horses are starting to get a bit shiny so maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Cody and I started with some of the bending exercises from the previous day. It only took a few spins before he remembered what I wanted. We did a few circles as well and then I tacked up to ride. I was going to try some circling techniques from the Stacy Westfall demo. The point was to keep a bend using the inside rein, keep traveling in the circle, and then work on widening the circle with the outside rein. He's supposed to gain some balance in his movements and then we're supposed to work into a figure 8 where half the 8 is counter bent. We didn't make it to the figure 8 but he did pretty well with trotting in the circle. I worked on some of the bending from in the saddle as well and that took a few more spins than on the ground. I asked for some canter as well. He took several tries to get into the right lead canter and picked up the wrong lead a few times until I counter bent him in a corner. The left lead canter he picked up on the first try but wasn't terribly excited to maintain it for any length of time. We had a few good downward transitions from trot to halt or walk. We even had some fairly decent halts. I need to add more backing up to our halts but I did make sure I never asked him to move forward out of the halt, we only changed directions. He's definitely started to figure out that when I'm going to dismount I want him facing away from the gate in the opposite end of the arena and that I do not want him to try and turn around to look at the gate. The nice thing about Cody is that with consistent work a person can really see his improvements.

Axel only had some minor screaming bouts while we were in the arena. When I took Axel out of the pasture and groomed him at the rail, Cody ran around a bit and made fuss. I took Axel in the arena and we did some lunging before working on the bow. The bow work didn't go quite as well as yesterday but I think it's a slow process. I was huffing and puffing by the end of our session. I picked up his foot and lowered his head over and over again. Every once in a while I'd tempt him with a treat. One instance he bit my finger which still hurts, my own fault but dang. That will just help me not use treats very often for this trick. One time he touched his knee to the ground and I patted him and praised him. Another time he had his head all the way upside down nearly touching the ground so he got praise for that one as well. Of course I tried to video tape both the bow work and riding Cody but my aiming skills are less than stellar so it's back to the drawing board on that one. I'll see what I can piece together and add them later.

The lady that owns Danny came in right as we were finishing so I asked if she wanted to ride down the road. I tacked up and she and I went down the road and then up the next block. She thought the total trip was about 4 miles. The brown western saddle is a lot harder than my butt tends to like. Axel did pretty good and kept up with Danny and I don't think Danny was being held back at all. He didn't even try to kick him until the end of the ride but he was also stomping his foot spontaneously which we later found out was due to a stone stuck in his frog. Cody was having a minor fit when we left and one when we returned but I suppose he just kept up with the fit while we were gone we just couldn't hear him. I think he's at least changed his fits from pacing and screaming to just standing and screaming so he wasn't sweaty at all when we got back.

I will probably run out tomorrow again for a few minutes and just do some groundwork to give each horse a chance to get out of the pasture away from the other horse. I still hope that they will eventually figure out that it isn't the end of the world when one of them leaves.

Spinning in Circles

Axel was first tonight. I put a training surcingle and a bridle on him and got out my new ropes. They are little heavy and that in combination with Axel forgetting what long lining was about made for some awkward driving. I wanted to start with regular long lining/lunging with the long lines but Axel was mighty confused about the situation. We drove a little, he fought with the bit and the lines and assumed an extreme rollkur position with his head. I wasn't pulling on the reins he was doing it all to himself so I just let him work through it, the side effect was that he was still stepping pretty well under himself and stretching through his neck to the poll. So I guess in the end some good will come out of it. We were finally able to trot around in a circle to the right. He did not like going to the left and would cut the circle short and then face me and get confused as to where to go. We'll definitely have to work on that more. He broke in the canter a few times and then startled himself when he'd hit the end of the lines in his mouth. I had him lunge a few times around without the surcingle and bit and just a single line so he could stretch out a bit and get into a canter. After the pseudo collected work he went into the canter really easily comparatively.

The shining point was when I was about to be done I decided to see where we could get with learning how to bow. I had no treats but I figured I'd give it a go anyway. The best I can figure is that it has to be done in parts. I was able to get his head down just by a bit of pressure on the halter. He'd keep his head down (probably just smelling the ground) so I picked up his front foot. I asked him to keep his head down and I pulled back a bit on his front foot. After a few seconds of encouragement he leaned back just enough that his lifted leg touched the ground and I let him up and rewarded him with scratches and praise. We did the same process a second time with the same results so I stopped there. Hopefully if we go gradual like that when he really puts weight on that knee he won't freak himself out. I'm not certain he can really stretch down physically like that but it's worth a try. I should probably teach him on both sides, it's a good stretch.

Cody was freaking out in the pasture while I had Axel in the barn. The other boarder had Danny in the arena at this time so Cody was pretty happy to work in there. He was very unresponsive when asked to circle so when she took Danny out to groom and saddle I started some work I saw at the Stacy Westfall demo. I wanted to be able to bend Cody's neck around and have him stand still while I asked for the bend. When I asked for the bend he'd spin or more commonly he'd back up. So we spun and backed up and spun and backed up over and over again. Ran into the wall, moved back to where there was room, rinse and repeat. I was ready to give up, he just wasn't getting what I wanted and I didn't think he was going to get it. But just as I thought we were going to be done he started to pause his spinning when I bent. So I kept it up and finally he understood. Danny was in the arena now and I think that might have helped as he was a bit calmer with life but I kept it up and I was able to bend him in both directions without him moving his feet. I tried some turns on the forehand after that but he's a bit sticky with that now because of the bending so we'll have to work on both so he can tell the difference. We spent a little time standing still while I chatted with the other boarder and he did pretty good with that.

I have to go over my notes a bit more and make sure I'm keeping up with what needs to be done to teach him to whoa and mean it. I did make sure that after I asked for a whoa I didn't move him forward but turned him instead. Axel screamed a little bit while we were in the barn but he quieted down a lot quicker than Cody did. I really should keep going out there as much as I can even if it's just to walk each horse into the barn for a few minutes while the other one learns that he won't be alone forever.

2009 Horse Expo

The MN Horse Expo was this weekend and I spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from open to nearly close at the fairgrounds. I set up and opened the We Can Ride booth on all three days and on Friday and Saturday closed down the booth for the evening. Hit the rodeo on Friday with Steph and her dad, sidewalked for the demo on Saturday, and walked around with Tricia and her dad on Sunday. In between I attended all of the Stacy Westfall presentations and was very impressed. I have quite a few notes on some of the stuff she went over. She had a session on "Teaching Whoa" so I paid close attention to that one since I can't seem to get Cody to stand still for more than a second after I ask for a whoa. She showed some patterns she likes to use while riding and even went over a bit on how to teach the horse to spin. There was another presenter that I watched a few times and got some different riding pattern ideas from him but by far Stacy Westfall's presentations were the most useful. Now of course I just have to go out and get them to work for my horses! Watch out boys, I have new tools in my tool box!

So on top of all the good information I picked up I also did a bit of shopping. Came home with some $175 boots used for $25, two 23' lead ropes to use for lunging as well as long lining and ground driving, this year's vaccinations, and a lint brush. So as far as I'm concerned it was a successful expo!

Movie Star

Keep Trying

It was a better day than yesterday but I still think Cody and Axel should be with a herd. In any case both horses were standing randomly in the pasture snoozing. I grabbed Axel first and groomed at the hitching rail. My thought was that we'd sort of be out of Cody's line of sight but he could see us if he needed to. I thought that would ease him into us being in the arena. He wasn't terribly concerned with our absence. He called a few times but it seemed to be directed towards the other horses and not Axel. Axel was being kind of a pain while tied, he kept chewing on the rope and I couldn't figure out if he was just chewing or if he was actually cribbing. I'm hoping he was just trying to untie himself.

We went into the barn and I tacked him in the crossties where he stood fairly decent. Seems like he starts flinging his head when I put the saddle on him. I just put the western saddle on out of laziness. We did the basic walk and trot. His trot was just okay. He wanted to stop a lot so I tried to just keep him moving. He greatly dislikes me posting on the left diagonal and almost always stops. We had a few rounds with him in a long and low position which was nice. He was shuffling quite a bit for most of our trotting, I couldn't quite get him to pick up his feet. When I asked for more go he'd try to canter for a stride and then back to his trot. I did ask for the canter a few times but only got a few lazy strides, no bucking tonight though. We tried a few turn on the forehand which I think went better than the first time, it felt like he was swinging his rear end around at least for a step. I hadn't set up the camera so I'll just have to keep working until I can see what he's really doing.

When I dismounted I let him roll in the arena and then I put down the fake bridge so he could work on backing off a step. He stepped up easily and even stood there with all four feet waiting for the next request. I asked him to back off and he did what he usual does, took one step off and hopped right back up. I kept urging him on until he finally stepped all the way off. We worked on that a few times. One attempt he had just the tip of his back toes on the bridge balancing there while I did my best to encourage him to step down. He did alright overall but he seems pretty hesitant to step off going backwards. We'll keep working on it. It's almost as if he doesn't bend his knees to get off the bridge both forwards and backwards. He just kind of falls off instead of stepping.

Cody seemed almost okay with being left alone. I heard him calling a few times but he didn't seem as frantic as Axel was the day prior, but it was windy and the radio was on so I couldn't completely hear while in the arena. I tied Cody in the arena and brushed him quickly and tacked him up. He's the only horse I know that can pace while tied to a wall. I was lazy and just used the rope halter instead of a bridle. After this ride we'll be switching to the bit. He was preoccupied with the entrance as usual. We did some circles in the corners in both directions. I like riding Cody at the walk he actually moves. We trotted a bit. Cody speeds up quite a bit when I post. I asked for a canter as well, it took quite a bit of encouraging to get him into it and he pretty much ran into it. Things were kind of getting a little out of control. He wanted to run to the gate and wasn't listening at all so we went back to trotting in circles until he started listening again. I dismounted, untacked in the furthest corner, and lead him back to the gate without a leadline practicing some halts and backing in the process. We spent a few minutes on turn on the forehand and haunches and some sidepassing before backing out of the barn and going back to the pasture. Axel seemed like he was a little calmer than the day before but he was a little concerned. When I put Cody back I took him to the furthest corner to let him go. Today he actually stood there while I walked away from him instead of running off. Of course he started pacing after I left the pasture. They'll both get some time off as I'm booked the rest of the week and the horse expo is all weekend.

Two Herd Bound Horses

I get to the barn tonight and Cody and Axel are in the front pasture by themselves. They're grazing a bit and are pretty calm and not concerned with the other horses in the back pasture. I was early enough that no one else was around, I had forgotten that the hunter girls ride on Monday. I was going to see if I could at least get some grooming done before they got there so Cody and I went into the barn. Cody slipped on the aisle floor because his feet were muddy and that scared him. I was going to crosstie him but he was pretty worked up so I just tied him to one while I grabbed my grooming bag. Actually by that time he had calmed down but I decided to go into the arena with him to do a little groundwork before grooming. While we were in there I could here some really weird noises coming from outside. At first I thought it was from the mares next to the arena but I realized it was Axel. I let Cody go so I could check and make sure Axel wasn't going to knock down a fence or anything. He was in the pasture running around as fast as he could. Unfortunately my video taping did not work out how I had planned so I only ended up with one sort of usable video.

So now I'm thinking "great they move my horses and now I have to deal with two herd bound horses." I brought Cody outside, luckily Axel had taken a break from his heart attack so I wasn't rewarding his behavior. I put Cody on the hitching rail and groomed him out there.

The hunter girls arrived and took their horses out of the pastures. The horses that had been in the front pasture were now in with the grays and Danny. When the girl took her mare out those horses started having a fit. Then Diva the arab mare was having a fit because her pasture mate was in the arena as well. Then Axel was having a fit. And Cody was calling. It was really great, I was getting quite frustrated. When I was done grooming Cody I started walking him back and forth within sight and out of sight of Axel to try and bore Axel of the whole ordeal. The barn owner came out and mentioned that Cody was doing so well. I pointed out that I now had two herd bound horse. Her response was that "they'll get over it." I agree, they will get over it, I want them to get over it so I can have my horses back and maybe have them a little more able to go out alone or stay alone in the pasture. But I wish the "they'll get over it" attitude applied when my horses were having issues in the herd. Instead they just pulled them out of that herd and put them alone to leave me to deal with not being able to handle either of my horses due to herd bound-ness. Ug. Anyway I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now because all the horses were worked up, it was cold, the wind was blowing like mad, and everyone was running around. We'll reassess when things calm down in general.

Axel had started to calm down quite a bit so I put Cody back in the pasture and took Axel out. At least Axel is calm when he's with even just another person. Cody isn't. Axel stood at the hitching rail while I groomed. He's started shedding again so I was covered in hair by the time I was done. Since it was so windy I cleaned out my grooming bag as well, it was full of hair. I put Axel back and sort of hoped they'd all run around again but they just went on their way grazing.

TGIF

Friday I went out to the barn for a quick check on the boys since I was out of town all weekend. They were still separated (and I assume they'll stay that way :( ) but it seemed like Cody was starting to calm down about the situation. Though it's hard to tell since the other group of horses was up by the feeder. The barn owner thought he had stopped pacing but we'll see.

I grabbed Cody and we went into the arena to work for a little while before I had to head out. We did some circling and backing and worked on some of the turn on the haunches and forehand and even some sidepassing. He wasn't totally understanding the sidepassing but that was because he was a lot calmer and didn't have quite as much "forward" as he had this past week when he was sidepassing up a storm. But I'm glad we started working on it because I think he retain a little of what I want and we'll just keep working. I'm wondering how to transfer that to under saddle. We didn't work for too long because he was doing so good and was so calm. I let him (I think - that was three days ago) off lead for a while and asked him to canter a bit in both directions. He was disuniting for a while but worked out of it.

When we were finished we stood outside for a few minutes chatting with the barn owner and Cody was very patient standing there. I didn't take him down to the same corner of the paddock since I wasn't wearing my boots but we still went to the opposite corner and I let him go there. This time he stood pretty well for me to take off his halter, he did promptly go to see who was at the fence but didn't completely blow me off like he usually does. We'll see how he's doing this week.

Not Good News

So far it's not looking good for Cody and his chances to rejoin the herd. Or Axel for that matter. Apparently the reason Axel was in with Cody is because Axel insists on chasing everyone during meals which not only means none of the other horses get to eat but it also means it's difficult for the barn owners to give him his supplement because he keeps walking off. So I chatted with Jason for a while and right now his plan is to move Cody and Axel to the front pasture when the two horses that live there leave at the end of the month. He figured eventually Cody will give up and stop pacing. But if he doesn't calm down soon I might have to look into some supplements for calming so he doesn't work himself sick worrying about the other horses.

Though Jason did say they would maybe try to put the horses together again or maybe put Danny back in with them and put the two grays up front instead. Really I just want Cody and Axel in with other horses so I can take one out and not have the one left behind have a heart attack, but that's selfish. In the end I just hope Cody calms down and maybe learns it's okay to be alone or almost alone.

I didn't have a lot of time so I just grabbed Cody and we went into the arena to work. Our circles were okay, nothing spectacular. Same with the turn on the haunches and forehand. We did manage to do some side-passing though in both directions. Thought each of our activities weren't great the overall work was really good. He didn't call to the other horses, he wasn't yawning, he was fairly responsive, and he seemed very calm about it - almost back to his usual self. We really have to work on our halt though. I ask for a halt and when I get it, he creeps forward. It seems like I'm always backing him up and he's just not getting it. I guess it's time to try something different. I took him to the furthest part of the paddock when we were done and tried to get him to stand still while I took his halter off, that's another thing we're working on - not running away as soon as we're done.

Still Pacing

I knew Cody was going to be a hold out on this whole herd bound issue but I thought just maybe he'd calm down after a few days. He's still pacing the fence line while Axel stands in the opposite corner napping. Unlike yesterday he led out of the paddock a lot calmer so we went right to the barn. He didn't stand well in the cross ties but I groomed a little while before going into the arena. We did more circling and changing directions and then worked a lot on turn on the haunches and turn on the forehand. After all the turning he actually seemed to calm down quite a bit. Two of the arena doors were open so he had a lot to look at but the lateral work seemed to keep his attention better than most stuff. Obviously he wasn't completely 100% in tune with me but considering how he's been lately he did really well.

I brought Cody back to the paddock and grabbed Axel. I did a few laps with Axel back and forth out of sight and back in sight of Cody. Cody wasn't going to get bored of that since he didn't really care about Axel leaving so we just went to the arena. Axel stood like a statue in the cross ties (until I put the saddle on him then he lost patience). With two of the arena doors open Axel was beside himself trying to look out every time we passed. He had quite a bit more energy than usual but despite that I was able to sit his trot again. I had the western saddle on him if that makes any difference. He wasn't bending quite as well as he usually does but his attention was outside. We trotted a bit and I asked for a few canters. Wrong lead on the left and I think the right side was correct but it was a short canter so I didn't have much of a chance to check it out. He only bucked once so I wasn't going to push it.

I got off and untacked him so I could lunge him and get a couple more canters out of him. He actually offered the canter on the lunge line several times and it was the left lead believe it or not. To the right he had a few little head twists and grabbed the lunge line out of my hand but after that he cantered nicely. I unclipped him so I could go put away tack so I asked him to trot and canter without the line and he did pretty well with that even; right lead canter with no bucking. I love how one of my horses can act like a total idiot while the other one makes up for it.

Pacing

Axel is still in with Cody. The barn owners didn't seem to be around so I'm still assuming that's the reason. However, Cody has dug himself a nice 8-10" rut from pacing the fence (thus proving that having Axel in with him does not calm him down). They moved the feeder in the middle of his rut, either to block his path (which doesn't work, he just goes around) or to put the feeder near the feeder on the other side of the fence so the horses are sort of eating together.

I did some circling with Cody right in the paddock before I brought him out to groom. As is becoming more normal now, he was a complete fool while tied to the hitching rail (the hunter girls have their lesson on Mondays so the arena/parking lot/barn aisle are all occupied). I didn't groom long before I brought Cody back in the paddock with the intention to keep working him. Axel stays out of the way and just watches so it works out okay for everyone.

Cody and I worked on circling with him keeping an ear on me. He wasn't too great at this today since he was really concerned that those gray horses were way out in the pasture and he couldn't see them. We also worked on standing and looking at me. I tried to anticipate the moment that he couldn't stand there any more and move him before he chose to move. Every time he stood and looked at me for a few seconds without his attention drifting we'd walk back towards the other paddock where he wanted to go anyway. After all this work he did calm down a notch but all things are relative of course. It must have been almost dinner time because the gray horses decided to come back up to the fence and see what was going on. That made Cody very happy so we worked a few more minutes and then I let him go.

I groomed Axel at the hitching rail and he was solid as ever, just standing still and enjoying the scratches. I thought he would shed out more black than it seems he is. But he probably has a lot more shedding to do. He seems to be getting some white hairs on his forehead now as well. I don't think it'll be a full fledged star, I think it's just old age, I mean he is 16 after all!

Still Confined

Cody is still stuck in the middle paddock. But this time when I went out Axel was with him. My guess is that the barn owners were gone all day so they put Axel in with Cody to calm him down a bit since they wouldn't be around all day. Danny must have been out with his owner so it was just Amigo and Steele on one side of the fence and Cody and Axel on the other side. Though I have to say, Axel didn't seem to provide Cody with much comfort. When Amigo and Steele wandered away from the fence Cody called for them and paced the fence.

I took Cody out to the hitching rail and groomed him there but he was a basket-case about it. I decided to work him in the grass for a while out of sight of the other geldings. He wasn't great but we worked on some of the focus exercises and he'll come back to me but only for a moment before turning his attention to the herd. So continued work on that is on the list. I really want to keep working on this while he's so worked up, I know he'll settle down as soon as the herd dynamics are all figured out but every time something changes we're back to psycho horse.

I put Cody back and just groomed Axel a bit in the paddock and just kind of hung out for a while. There wasn't too much excitement. Cody and Steele sniffed under the fence a bit and Cody squealed at him. But that was about it.

Cody's Confinement

I pulled up to the barn this afternoon and noticed that the new horse (horse owned by a friend of the barn owner's) was in the front paddock with the goofy paint gelding and the black and white paint mare. Looking further I see that Cody is in the middle paddock, by himself. I can see some other horses off in the distance in one of the back pastures. Cody was screaming his head off and not a happy horse. I was wondering what was going on. Jason was around so I chatted with him for a while. I guess he had just put out Amigo and Steele with Cody, Axel, and Danny. There was some fireworks and Cody gave it to Steele pretty bad. So they decided to put Cody by himself and give the rest of the herd a chance to get settled. The other four were getting along well when I got there. There was a few squeals still happening but very minor and all talk.

I grabbed Cody and brought him into the barn. I groomed pretty quickly because Cody was having a fit in the crossties. He did show me that his issue is not with the bit. Clearly his gaping mouth issue and probably the tongue over the bit issue is some sort of anxiety thing. I took a quick video if it with my phone if anyone wants to offer some suggestions on what to do to get him over this.

I took him into the arena to get his feet moving and hopefully get his attention back to me and off of the fact that his herd was far away. We did some circling and worked on keeping on the outside of the circle and not drifting in. Lots of changing directions to make sure he was paying attention to me. For the first time we worked on Cody circling around me with me stationary like you see all the NH types do. He was confused at first and when he got around to my back he wanted to stop and switch directions so we worked through that. You could tell he was concentrating more, his trot got slower and more thoughtful while he tried to figure out what it was that I wanted. We worked a little bit on some turns on the forehand and haunches, mostly just working on responding to pressure. I also lunged him on the real lunge line just to get him moving out a bit and to get a canter. He wasn't very willing to canter this time but we managed.

I did try some standing still focus type work but if his feet weren't moving he wasn't paying attention to me. I saddled him, mounted very easily and we rode around the arena. I grabbed another bridle from my stash, this one is a sort of loose ring with a curved mouthpiece and copper inlays. I might stick with this bit or one like it, I can still neck rein if I want to but when I need to I can direct rein and not cause issues. He actually did well in this bit so far. There was some gaping mouth issues, I'm not sure if he ever got his tongue over the bit or not but if he did he put it back. We did a lot of walking, bending around the corner, staying on the "rail." We did circles in every corner, worked on getting that bend right and keeping the circle nice and round. I added in some serpentine and concentrated on not nagging with the reins but using my seat and legs. We trotted a little, not nearly as controlled as the walk but acceptable. In the end it was a very good ride despite the distractions. And we got to foot-print up the arena that Jason had just gotten done dragging. :)

I put Cody back in his little detention which was difficult to do as he looked longingly to the other boys in the pasture. He went over to the horses in the front pasture and called to them. One of the mares came up to see but was intercepted by the paint gelding who apparently felt threatened by Cody even through the fence. Usually Cody is pretty laid back as far as herd bosses go so I'm kind of surprised that he picked on Steele so bad. Hopefully his separation will help him get over the herd bound issue. I suppose his separation might make him a little more cooperative the next time they put him back in with Steele.

I grabbed Axel out of the pasture and we rode down the road for a while. Had a couple nice canters and generally just had a calm little ride. He seems to be getting along with the other horses really well. Steele squeals at him sometimes and paws but Axel just stands there. I'm thinking he might end up higher on the totem pole than usual. It seems like he enjoys being around some horses his same size. He was kind of tagging along with both Amigo and Steele and even though Steele seems to move Amigo around, it looked like Axel moved Steele. It'll be an interesting journey.

Manicure Day

Once again I brushed and brushed and brushed and there's still hair and mud everywhere. One of these days it'll be gone. Went out to the barn early to get the boys cleaned up before the farrier arrived. Both horses behaved themselves for their trim. He tapered Axel's front feet a bit so he doesn't flare out too much. He thought Cody's angles looked good. I could stand to get him x-rayed again though to make sure there's no change or laminitis.

When they were both done I decided to work with Axel for a while. He stood tied in the arena while I puttered around and he was very polite about it. Even with all the other horses in the aisle getting trimmed. He lunged the trot and canter pretty well also. Reluctant to pick up the canter but he had both leads. I got on and we walked for a bit and trotted. In my attempts to get him to collect a bit, wiggling the outside rein, he kept offering a canter. Well in reality I think it was actually just pissing him off and it wasn't a canter but a buck. So we tried a few canters. Went okay but slow to the right. And it was disjointed to the left. The barn owner mentioned it looked pretty rough. And boy was it. Even his trot was jerky and hard to ride. As much as I can figure it's a combination of having deeper footing so he has to pick up his feet more, he's moving out a little more than usual, and he had quite a bit of time off. I couldn't sit his trot to save my life. I was really riding poorly in the grand scheme of things. I'm pretty sure I have a bruise on my knee from smacking it on the saddle. I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen if a person rides properly. Oh well. We got out and moved around a bit and with the exception of a few little bucks things went okay. I'm not sure if Cody called while we were riding and Danny was being trimmed but when I brought Axel back out he was facing away from the gate not looking very concerned.

Mud and Hair

Mud and hair is the theme this time of year. I was going to experiment with some video taping tonight but part of the deal with boarding is that there are other boarders around. Apparently a couple of the girls have a little lesson on Mondays so the arena was full up. Rumor has it that two of the boarders are leaving at the end of this month so it should quiet down a bit. I scrapped the video taping for fear of looking like a dork and opted for some outdoor grooming. With all the mud and hair flying all over outside was the best option. The wind blew everything away and I didn't have to sweep the barn aisle. I groomed for over an hour and neither horse looks it in the least bit. Axel's mud fever doesn't seem to be showing it's face yet this year. He had a scrape on his one foot so I cleaned him up and sprayed it and some other rough spots with Betadine. Cody is shedding in full force and I could have used the shedding blade on him for days. Even with Danny in the furthers end of the pasture, I can take Cody away and Axel doesn't freak out like he does when both Danny and Cody are gone. It's kind of interesting. Next time Danny is gone I'll do some work with the herd bound-ness.

Apparently on Tuesday when it was snowing and raining and generally crappy out they brought all the horses into stalls. Including Cody and Axel. Sounds like my guys and Danny were in the small barn together. I guess they handled it fine. I suppose they were happy to be out of the mud and they probably had some nice hay to munch on.