Uninspired

I'm feeling very uninspired lately. It mostly has to do with the mud. So much mud. The horses are living in a bog. On top of that it's been raining all week. I'm pretty sure they are going to go from bog-living to bumpy ice rink living sooner than later. There's no way this water is going to go anywhere before it freezes. Ug. I foolishly thought having the round bales would mean the horses would stay on the dry side of the pasture. Oh no. When I get to the barn they are standing on the far side grazing the non-existant grass and staring at me. Sunday I ended up tricking them into thinking it was dinner time so I didn't have to wade through to get them. They paced back and forth on their side of the swamp trying to figure out what to do. Finally Axel took the plunge and instead of tip toeing through the muck he went full speed, mud flying everywhere, and for good measure he threw out some bucks just to spread it around a bit. There is next to nothing I can do when they are full of wet mud like that. You can't brush it off. Luckily it's still warm enough that the barn owners have the hoses still out. So I sprayed both horse's legs off for what could be the last time this fall. The warm water was actually steaming off their legs. I did a very poor job on Axel's legs. It's very hard to see black mud on a black horse. Cody's was much easier. Surprisingly Axel's mud fever/scratches aren't bad at all. He has one spot with some big scabs but that's it. I expected to see much worse. Cody's was spread around in little scabs here and there. He has a few larger ones that I just can't get off yet. The small flaky ones seem to come off easily just with the hose. So I scrubbed them both up with chlorhexidine and sent them back out side. They, of course, approved since they had just gotten a new bale of hay.

New Camera

We picked up "my" new camera the other day so I yesterday I thought I should go out and give it a try on the horses. I definitely need practice still, I kept cutting off everyone's ears or nose and the first 10 photos were all blurry or focused on the wrong thing. I guess it's been a while since I've used a real camera! The cool thing about this camera is that it shoots 1080p video so HD horse videos will soon to follow!

The boys were happily munching away at their hay and wondering why I was just standing there clicking at them and not bringing them into the barn. When I was done shooting I did grab a brush and just bring it out to the pasture to give them a once over. You can see in Axel's photo they are still covered in mud so I didn't go below their bellies. If I can scrounge up some time this weekend I'll have to hose them off and get them scrubbed up again. The mud is not receding so it's kind of a pointless task but maybe it'll kill a few bugs.

Playing Catch Up

Alright so I missed a few posts which makes it very difficult to recall when I went to the barn and what I did. I do know that two weeks ago the day after riding Cody between the fields the other boarder and I went out and I rode Axel down the road. We went nearly the whole mile before turning around. I did end up dismounting a bit before the neighbors and walking the rest of the way. Axel was tripping a bit and having some issues with the gravel but once I dismounted he walked the rest of the way back sound as a bell and quick fast even. I'd say he's been pretty darn sound for the past month or so.

Pretty sure I got out to the barn sometime last week as well but I think I just managed to do some grooming. Last night I went out for another lazy grooming session which turned out to be more lazy than usual. Axel was fairly muddy but most of it was dry with the exception of his feet. Cody, on the other hand, must have run through the mud when I had Axel in because he was covered in wet mud. I brushed the dry parts and ended up just putting him back outside. Can't do much with wet mud.

Axel seemed a little bit off again last night but walking from the pasture to the barn isn't too far to really assess him. I'd like to get him out on the road a couple more times before it's too late. Then we'll start some ground driving in the arena and move up to riding. The deep footing seems a little hard on his knee so we might have to work up to to it.

Riding between the fields

Since Jeff is out of town for the week I naturally use every free day I have to go out to the barn and hang with the ponies. I went out to the pasture to grab someone and Axel comes booking it over to me, completely and utterly sound. So I groomed him and tacked him up and set out on the road. And I kicked and kicked and kicked. And he stood there and stared and didn't move. We made it halfway down the block before I finally gave up and turned around. He did manage to walk most the way back without stopping until we got into the driveway. If you'll recall when I first got Axel this is how life was, thus his nick name "thigh master." After riding him I wouldn't be able to walk for days he required so much leg to keep moving. I guess he's back to his old self after not having to work for nearly a year.

Another boarder showed up right as I was heading out so when I got back I got Cody tacked up and we set out on the road for a little ride. With inspiration from the other horse Cody actually made it down the road almost faster than a snail. We decided to turn into the ditch between the corn fields and check that out. Both horses must have gotten a little wind up their butts because what was a calm slow ride turned into a much more hyper walk/trot complete with a few spooks and the other horse doing a might fine PRE horse impression. They finally calmed down by the time we got to the other side of the field. We happened across a guy in a truck scoping out a place to bow hunt, I guess we'll be wearing orange from now on. We had one more spook on the far side of the field when a bird flew out. I admit, it scared me too so I can't really blame Cody. We were going along at a nice decent walk on the way back down the road when something snapped in Cody's head and he took off for no reason that I could find. I got him reined in and made him turn around once and we did some serpentines to get his mind off of whatever made him run in the first place. A tractor came up behind us so I pulled him down into the ditch and he decided to pull his litttle running backward into traffic move. I have no idea what his deal was, we were calm, heading home, going in the direction he prefers so there was no reason to start having a meltdown. When we got to the driveway I turned him around and got several "okay" steps backwards before dismounting and calling it a night.

I padded out the turnips I picked from the farm but most the horses had no clue what to do with them. Cody and Axel had a few bites but I think they were hard to chew or something. I dumped the rest in the pasture, maybe they'll get around to figuring them out. If the other border is around tonight and Axel is still feeling sound I might see if she wants to go for a quick ride down the road. Perhaps another horse will be a bit more inspiration for him. I think he should be able to manage a slow flat mile and if not it's not too far for me to dismount and walk.