Cody to the Left

Last time I made it out to the barn to ride I met Cody in the pasture taking a nap. That old horse has come a long way since I've bought him. A few years ago there's no way he would have let me walk up to him in the pasture while he slept let alone sit on his back like I did the other day. After I hung out with him for a few minutes, took a bunch of pictures, and annoyed him to the best of my abilities I finally put the halter on him and he reluctantly got up.

I wanted to set up a series of poles to work on turns on the haunches and forehand but we don't have quite enough poles in the barn and they aren't very long so my pattern was a little small. We did walk through it a few times but next time I'll have to make it bigger and probably video tape the session so I can see what he's doing. I tried to work him to the left as much as possible since that's the direction he has the most trouble with. He really hollows out and counter bends going left and doesn't pick up that lead of course. I thought maybe the chiropractic adjustment would help a bit but even on the lunge he wouldn't get that left lead. Back to the drawing board I guess. One good thing that came out of it was that I'm more comfortable with the old boy. It always felt like he got so worked up after one attempt at cantering but after watching Nancy ride and seeing how not worked up he really was something must have clicked for me and now it doesn't feel like he's freaking out nearly as much. So I guess one thing at a time.

Lots of Vet Visits

Well it's spring again, I can tell because my checkbook has been getting a work out. Luckily work bonuses happen around the same time as all the Spring vet visits. Cody and Axel had their usual rabies and coggins visit quite a while ago but we didn't have time for the dental work so we scheduled that for April. So now both boys have had their teeth all spiffed up as well as their boy parts. Even under heavy sedation Cody still protested the sheath cleaning, silly old man.

The nice part about appointments with sedation is that I think have horses very willing to stand still while I fiddle around and comb their tails through and clean up bridle paths and all sorts of good things that they usually don't stand still long enough for. Axel hadn't been groomed in quite some time so he had a nice carpet of hair that I was able to remove. Luckily the mud situation isn't too bad this year (yet) so I didn't have to do any more leg shaving (good thing since my clippers died while I was working on Cody's bridle path).

So the day after the dentist appointment the chiropractor came out. Some folks (Jeff) think I'm nuts for having the chiropractor work on the horses but that first time I had Cody worked on he was a changed horse. It may look like voodoo but you can argue with results. Cody had quite a bit "out" for this appointment including his left shoulder so now that he's straightened out maybe he'll pick up that left lead easier? We'll see. Axel only had a bit out and that's pretty normal for him but I figured since he's been limping around for so long getting an adjustment might be a good thing. He may be retired but I'd like to keep him as pain free and happy as possible, plus he'll still be able to take Daniel around for a while. So now all that's left is the rest of the spring shots which I pick up at the Horse Expo and administer myself.