We're still not up to the nice 40's and 50's we were a couple weeks ago but the sun was out this weekend and the 30 degree temperatures felt pretty warm since the sun is much closer these days. I brought Axel in for some grooming and who knows what. A was in with both her horses and Vinnie was being his usual teenage self. The bad thing about a black horse is the more you brush the dirtier they look especially this time of year. The shedding has slowed down a bit for now but Axel is still as hairy as can be. He's still swollen but they are also still hanging out close to the feeder so I don't expect too much change in that department until it starts getting a lot nicer.
The pasture is getting pretty muddy but there's still a good layer of ice under the manure so when I pulled Axel out of the pasture he wasn't walking too well but he shaped up when we got on good footing. His nice clean back feet from when I got them shaved up the last time are no more. The back of his left hind is full of scabs again and it must be sore judging from the way he did not want me any where near it. I didn't scrub with the chlorhexidine this time instead I just covered him in MTG in the hopes that either 1. it loosens up the scabs a bit and keeps away some of the mud and/or 2. it actually does kill the mud fever. I might go on an alternating plan this spring, one week scrub clean and the next time douse in MTG. In the grand scheme of things even when his legs hurt he's very cooperative.
The BOs are going to put up a temporary fence in the pasture to keep the boys off the low parts and give that half a chance to actually grow this year before they start grazing it down to nothing. I'm glad about that but I'm sure that means Axel will stay swollen a little longer and where they do end up will probably be pretty muddy.
Sunday I wimped out and stayed home but N had a chance to get out and work with Cody again. I guess he did pretty well and made it down the road to the spot Danny had issues in last week. Then he started to balk a little. N dismounted and walked him past the scary ghosts and got back on and heading home. He was a little worked up on the way home (doing his best Rollkur impression I'm sure) but settled in and she didn't have to have him circle at all. I guess they worked on stopping and resting and being calm on the walk back. And apparently he was not sweaty when they returned which means despite some of his protesting he was calm enough to not work himself into a lather, good boy Cody! Hopefully by the time it's really nice out and people are ready to ride around the block Cody will be easy to handle and N can get out for some longer rides with him. He seems pretty decent when you take him away from the property on a real trail ride so I'm not too worried about that and all this going out alone on the road should only help. I just wonder if we'll every get Axel back in physical and mental shape to do some trail rides this fall when I'm able to ride again and my trailer is done (fingers crossed).
No comments:
Post a Comment