So I went out to visit the boys today. The plan was to try out the new saddle on Axel. I first went out to grab Cody and get him groomed up quick. As I was walking him up to the paddock Axel came over to say hi, and that's when I noticed he had red gobs in his forelock. I thought, hmm I don't think there's any bushes with berries on it around here that he could have gotten into. I looked closer and noticed he had a huge hole in his head. So I let Cody go and ran up to the house to get a bucket of warm water from Tom. He came out with me to check it out. The only thing we can figure is that he drove a big stick or branch into his head. And it had to have happened between breakfast and when I got there, so in the span of maybe 4 hours or so. We couldn't find any blood around any of the trees so who knows what he got himself into.
He was walking fine, wasn't shaking his head at all. He had a little tenderness around the wound. And he was still eating. We called the vet to see what he thought, he directed us to just keep it clean and put some ointment on it once a day. Didn't sound like there was anything the vet could do as it was a puncture and you can't really suture those. He said it'd heal better if we left it open to the air. I'll be back out there tomorrow and I can check on him. I think he'll be fine though, guess he's got a thick skull.
I wonder if it'll be ok to ride him tomorrow though, a friend and I had plans to maybe go riding a bit in the snow. She's an experienced horse woman so I'll see what she thinks.
So... after all that excitement, I brushed him a bit and cleaned the 3 inches of of ice out of Axel's hooves. That's gotta make things a bit easier for him. I tried the new saddle on Axel to see how it fit. I think it's going to be ok but the girth I have wasn't nearly long enough. And as much as I asked, Axel just wouldn't suck in his belly. ;) I did pick up a girth extension on my way home that should work out.
I retrieved Cody and groomed him a bit and cleaned out his hooves. He wasn't nearly as bad as he got trimmed recently. I put the new saddle on Cody to try it out. Atleast the girth fits him! Seems like it fit well but Cody was not pleased. I tried to ride around the pasture a bit thinking as long as all the other horses were around, maybe Cody would be willing to go, but that was foolish thinking on my part. Any little turn in a direction where he couldn't see the other horses really upset him. Goofy horse.
The saddle feels kind of weird compared to riding in my lessons. Just must be how differently shaped my horses are or something.
Axel's head is starting to look better. Atleast it's scabbed over now. Hopefully he'll be all healed up in the next week or so. He looks so sad with his big scabby forehead. I took his little pony tail out, so he was a little curly for a while. I ended up grooming both Axel and Cody while I was at the barn. They are both getting pretty good at picking up their feet. Next I'll work on getting them to pick up all 4 feet with me standing on one side, instead of walking to the other side to do those feet. Then Axel and I went on a quick ride once around the pasture so I could try out my new saddle on him. After that I put Beau in the barn so he could eat some hay in peace. While I was waiting for him to finish his snack I went and gave everyone some treats and did some carrot stretches with them. All the horses were really good at it, all of them kept their feet where they belong and both Cody and Kalani's neck cracked. They looked pretty pleased with themselves after that. 
I stood around and watched them hang out for a while, Kalani looked pretty bored. He was standing in the manure pile afterall. So I put a halter on him and we practiced leading and stopping and tying. He did really well. Hopefully we'll get some more practice in with him and the rest of the horses.
