Axel on the road!

I really should keep better track, I can't recall if I went out to the barn on Friday or not. I think I did and just groomed but who knows. I did go out on Saturday after some extensive napping. I decided to groom outside again, the weather was perfect. I took Axel up to hose off his legs again since it's been a while. The mud just won't go away so it's kind of pointless but I want to keep tabs on the mud fever and make sure it's not getting any worse. He's actually got it on his shins (basically) right now. There's really not much on his ankles where it usually is but the front and back of his left rear cannon have some weird scab like bumps. Those don't seem particularly awful, they are more like clumps of skin and hair than they are scabs. I scraped off as much as I could and scrubbed him down with the chlorhexidine as usual. I hosed off his front feet as well and put some more Underwood Horse Medicine on his wound. It's looking pretty good, seems like it's healing up decently. I decided since Axel seemed to be feeling pretty good the past week that for a change of scenery we'd go out on the road for a quick ride.

If Axel stayed at his current state I'd be happy. I grabbed his bridle this time but opted to get on bareback since the picnic table makes such a nice mounting block. Axel was a little figity with the bit and spent a fair amount of time diving for grass but other than that he settled in to "work mode" a little better than I had expected. We walked to the west for a bit and then to the east, staying on the shoulder area where we wouldn't have to fight with gravel. I think overall he remained more sound than he did when we last rode in the arena. And really, how many people can get on their horse bareback for a ride down a semi busy gravel road after the horse has been out of work for 9 months? I didn't time it but I'm sure we didn't go for more than 10 minutes. I hope I can get him back in shape enough to do easy trail rides at the walk. Even if he needs a couple grams of bute every time we ride, a couple times a week shouldn't be too big a deal. I think the combo of the injection and the supplements seems to be finally paying off. We'll see if he'll ever get back to trotting shape or not. I think walking and carrying weight will be the first hurdle. I'm trying to go conservative on the pain meds so I can see if riding is making things any worse for him, so far it seems like it's having no negative affect.

When Axel was done I brought Cody into the barn to groom and tack up. He needed another ride on the road, I'm determined to keep it up and see if he improves at all. There's bound to be some trail riding this fall and I'd like a sane horse. We made our way down the driveway and down the road pretty slowly. Once we got past the culvert and a few moments of "I won't go forward" things picked up a bit. We actually made it down to the second to last field entrance before the intersection and Cody was moving out and not weaving so I asked him to turn around. Of course that was the moment a nice big wind blew up his tail and he scooted forward so we turned around and tried again. After that we walked back to the barn at a nice pace with no trotting. Except for the moments of not wanting to move forward we're making it further and further each time. I'm still trying to reward him for going forward without hesitation so I haven't pushed him further than the first mile. Next time we have someone to go with we'll most likely go further.