Two (too) Hairy Visits

I try to not put two posts in one but I'm approaching a week behind so too bad. I had Friday off work so we were heading to the farm on Thursday evening but Jeff had some stuff to finish at work first so I ran out to the barn. Axel got his MSM and I opted to not groom since he was shedding in full force and I didn't want to be covered in hair. I did however find a very itchy spot on his back and we stood in the arena while I scratched him. I ended up getting covered in hair anyway. I thought maybe he was going to roll but in the end he didn't. He thinks hard about it though.

So last night I went out to the barn while Jeff was rock climbing. I thought he would be busy for a while and I'd get a chance to get on Cody. I grabbed Axel first and got him groomed up. He's shedding like mad. I've noticed this both last night and the week prior, but he's stopped picking up the wrong back foot. For a while there when you'd ask for his hind left he'd pick up his hind right. My guess was that it was a balance thing so he didn't have to put weight on that sore front knee. But the last two times he's picked up the correct foot without an issue. And he's seemed mildly perkier/less sore. His knee is still puffy though. I walked him around the arena a bit and he was slightly less lame. It's all very subtle still at this point. On our way out of the barn I decided we'd take a little walk down the road since it was very melty. He walks really well on the flat harder surface so I thought this was a nice change and a chance to move a little. We only went down to the first mailbox and back. He was a little hyper on the walk back and nearly trotted over me going into the driveway. Needless to say you couldn't tell he was lame at that point. He hasn't been on stall rest but he's pretty much done nothing all winter so I can see where he'd be a little wound up on some footing that seemed safe. We might have to go for some more walks down the road before we start lunging or anything like that.

Cody isn't shedding nearly as much as Axel but he's getting there. His neck and his face have started pretty decently. I brought him in the arena to move around as well. I had originally thought maybe we'd go for a ride down the road but it gets pretty chilly quick and with no ditch traffic could be an issue so I figured he'd be just fine stretching his legs inside. Jeff was already on his way home so I scrapped the plan to ride and just free lunged Cody for a while. I need to bring out the Flip and get a real video of how good Cody looks these days. The cell phone videos leave a bit to be desired. We did a little more work in hand than we've been doing lately which took him a while to settle into. I really have to work more on the turns on the forehand and haunches he tends to ignore me on those which could be why we don't do them under saddle. I'll have to brush up on some techniques online or something.