Sweaty Evening

When I got to the barn around 7:30 last night the horses looked like someone had dumped a bucket of water on them, they were sweating that much. Of course the first thing Axel does is try and rub on me, ick ick ick. I wanted to get his legs cleaned up and decided he would appreciate some time standing in front of the fan while I scrubbed away. I really should carry the other camera more, Axel looked pretty cute with his fabio hair blowing in the wind but my cell phone hates the overhead lights in the barn aisle and I must have sweated on the lens or something.

So Axel has been on his new supplement (Flex-in-Motion) for a week now, not big breakthroughs but he was moving pretty good. Still a bit off at the walk but better than the last few weeks. His back right leg is still puffy but I'm hoping that's just from the scratches (mud fever). So I brushed as much of the dried mud off, scrubbed with a rag and water, let it dry for a while, shaved the hair short, scrubbed with a Norwex cloth and water, picked a few scabs, and then scrubbed in some Chlorhexidine. He wasn't terribly happy with the scrubbing but he tolerated me for the most part. I can't imagine the cold water felt too horrible considering the heat. I'm hoping to get this cleared up and see a change in the swelling sooner than later. If it ever cools down I'm going to start long lining the old man.

I brought Cody in to have his time in front of the fan as well while I just cleaned him up a bit and gave him the once over. Both horse's manes and tails are disgusting, sticky dirty gross. Axel had some nice hair "tornadoes" in his mane I had to get out. Cody had found the mud which I don't think I actually got completely off. I should get some show sheen to clean them up but I suppose it's kind of unnecessary. Maybe I'll get around to giving them a bath one of these days. Cody's nose is looking pretty good now. A was barn sitting this past weekend and put Cody's fly mask back on him when he'd lose it so I think that helped clear up some of the sun burn. He's not been great about keeping it on this summer, Axel has kept his on for longer stretches of time. Cody didn't seem to enjoy the fan quite as much as Axel but I think was starting to get used to it by the time I went to turn him out. He's got a weird bump on the outside of his right front which had a scab on it. I picked it in case it's mud fever so we'll just see what happens.

I had put their fly masks back on but they were both wet with sweat so I changed my mind and removed them. I should spray them down with some bleach water or something and air them out in the sun while they aren't wearing them but that takes planning. So far this morning it's rained and is now overcast and sunny so they shouldn't be too bad without the masks. We'll see how they feel about it tonight. I won't be around this weekend again so maybe I'll put them back on so at least they have them for a bit until they take them off.