A Visit

I got invited to see Zoe in June...CAN'T WAIT!!!

Ok, actually they invited me to their daughter's (not T) graduation open house but still...I can see Zoe!

In other news, the farrier is finally able to get to our house on Friday to trim.  He got sick over the winter (a bad case of pneumonia) and has been playing catch up all spring.  So Friday is our turn!!  I hope he's able to stay healthy and keep us in his schedule!!  Along with playing catch up, he's moving right down the road from us...how convenient!! ;-)  So needless to say, he's been very busy this spring.

Melody has been feeling great!  So great, in fact, that she has decided to try biting people again.  She got my youngest on her little wrist!  My youngest was at her pen and had her hands resting on one of the boards when Melody put her head down to "sniff" and ended up biting her!  I'm thinking that she was looking for treats so we have put a stop to feeding her treats.  Plus, whenever I lead her out of her pen, she stops (with her butt only half way through the gate) and puts her head down to eat.  What a pain!!  I need to break her of that habit ASAP!!!!!

Star has been doing so well!  She's been prancing, playing and kicking out while in turnout with Melody.  Acting like a 2 year old!  But her age caught up with her yesterday because after her little playful bout with Melody, she ended up getting sore on her back leg.  This morning she was fine again...no swelling or heat.  So we will chalk it up to a mystery injury while playing....

Not much to report on Tyson.  He's in turnout with Gunner and the two seem to be happier without Zoe keeping them in line.  They zoom around with each other a lot more than they used to, Zoe must've been a tough lead mare!!

I took the pictures for T's dad of Gunner.  He's one of those horses that I just couldn't find a good angle on...so we had a lot of outtakes.  It didn't help that it was extremely windy so he was feeling frisky and didn't want to cooperate!  Grrr...you be the judge...

Well, that's all the updates for now...

Until next time,
Lynell

Star & Melody's Shenanigans

We've completed the bute pills regime for Star now.  She's doing much better now but still ouchy in the spot at the end of her ribs.  Might have a cracked rib in there, but there's really nothing we can do for that.  The swelling has gone down to almost nothing now so the vet doesn't think we need to do another blood test, but if the swelling reoccurs definitely need to have him come out again.  She was feeling so good the other day that she was bucking and leaping around in her turn out withe Melody!  I can't even tell you how happy I was to see her acting that way!!

Speaking of Melody...I was bringing Star to her turnout and left Melody in her pen in the barn by herself.  She didn't care for that at all!  She got to bucking and leaping in her pen while Star and I were walking away.  That stuff never phases Star...she had one thing on her mind and that was her turn out!  I went back to get Melody and she met me at the gate.  She tried to be patient while I put her halter on.  I could see it in her eye that she was anxiously waiting to get past the gate.  As I opened the gate she pushed past me and got the end of the lead rope and jerked around.  Naughty, naughty.  I don't tolerate bad gate manners - too many accidents happen at gates (or anywhere with a naughty horse)!  We did a few more passes in and out of the gate until she walked through like a good girl.  Then we were on our way to the turn out.  Star was standing at the gate waiting for us.  Melody was practically dragging me all the way to the turn out, so I decided we would do more leading work.  We would walk away from the gate/turnout, then circle back.  Every time we would turn away she would whip her hips around and face me like she was saying "Umm, you missed the gate lady!" and then pull on the lead all the way back to the gate again.  We did this for a while...I'm not sure how long it took but I know my hands were cold by the time she "calmed down".  I decided we were at a place I was comfortable with ending so we headed back to the gate.  We were almost to the gate when she reared up and started bucking and jumping with all fours off the ground.  She never came at me or tried to strike me so I waited for her to finish.  Then we were off to the round pen for some work.

Once she got her bucks and kicks out, she actually worked really well.  On a side note: Our December weather here has been unseasonably warm with temps in the 40's most days so the footing in the round pen was fine for working.  I was very pleased at how well she listened and had retained what work we had done in the fall.  To be honest, I haven't done much since we had the major snow storm in November.  To end our work session, we worked on her bending.  She still has issues with that so we will keep working on that.  Then she was finally out with Star and happy about that!  They played together for a few minutes and then got the serious business of finding blades of grass that could be eaten.

That's all for now!



Quote for the day:
"It is a fine seasoning for joy to think of those we love."

-Moliere

News

The vet called Friday afternoon with the news.  Her white blood cell count was good but her red blood cell count was low signaling that she is anemic.  The vet said that he wasn't too worried about it.  He would come back in a month or so and take another blood sample to make sure the red blood cell count didn't drop anymore.  In the meantime, we were to "worm her real good" to make sure it wasn't because of worms.  I have the horses on a regular worming schedule but I re-wormed them all again on Saturday, just to be on the safe side.

Star has been feeling great since we started her on the Bute pills.  We were worried she wouldn't eat her grain with the bitter tasting Bute pills in it, but she cleans up her grain dish - every last bit!  The swelling is still there but has gone down and she's been trotting around in her turn out.  I have her with Melody in her turnout and I think I'm gonna leave it that way this winter.  We seem to have peace within each grouping, so why mess with it?

Gunner's swelling has gone down a little.  The vet said he should be back to normal within a week so I'm keeping an eye on it to make sure it does.

I've been doing more groundwork exercises with Melody whenever I lead her in or out of the turnout.  She's been introduced to the tarp.  I first had her walk on it - no big deal.  She sniffed it a little and then walked on and stood with no problem.  The next time she walked right onto it, no questions asked.  The next time, instead of walking on it, I rubbed her with it.  She was alert at first and then got bored.  I repeated all the tarp stuff with her for about a week and then moved onto laying it across her, over her head, neck, back and butt.  She did some dancing but nothing major.  Those lessons were repeated over the following week until she was bored with that too.  It doesn't take much for her to be ok with what we work on.  She's very trusting and has a good head on her.  She came in from turnout the other day with a mystery cut on her face.  I have NO IDEA where that could've come from.  It's healed up nicely now, though.  Being a light colored palomino Melody is absolutely filthy, and you can see every spec of dirt on her!  I can't stand it!!  Zoe is a buckskin and her cream color gets really light in the winter too but she keeps herself clean, but not Melody!  I think she finds the smelliest, muddiest spots in her turnout and rolls, and naps there!!  I'm looking forward to the warmer weather already so I can get her clean again!  Yuck!  I should try to snap a picture just so you can see how nasty her creamy coat is!  Oh well, nothing I can do about it.  We brush her the best we can but it doesn't get the deep down stuff...

With all that's been going on, not much progress with Zoe lately.  She's been itching for work so I did lunge her the other day.  She was happy about that!  We are going back to working on leadership exercises to help build a better working relationship before the riding happens again.  Not that it's a bad relationship but more that we haven't been working together for a while now and I want to start off with a trusting relationship.  Make sense?

Well, that's all for now!




Quote for the day:
"He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything."

-Thomas Carlyle

The Vet

Since the cold weather set in, I started to separate the boys from the girls.  Tyson wasn't letting anyone in the lean-to so that meant Star ALWAYS ended up out in the weather.  She's gonna be 20 years old next year and I don't need her getting stuck outside in the bad weather we are having so I moved the boys to stalls at night and a different turn out during the day.

Before, the girls got along really well.  All three could stand the in the large lean-to comfortably with no issues.  Well, there's issues now!  Zoe decided she was queen and wouldn't let ANYONE into the lean-to.  So I moved her to the stall at night and brought her back out with Star and Melody during the day.  This was going great - or so I thought!

It started when I noticed that Star was losing weight.  I ended up working with hubby around the barn one day last week and that's when I realized that Star wasn't moving around in her turnout.  She would stand in a corner, appearing to be scared to move.  That's when I saw Zoe start blasting Star with both back feet right into Star's side!!!  Star had nowhere to go so she stood there and took it.  WTH?!  I was UPSET to say the least!  I took Zoe out and put her out with the boys.  That was enough of that!  If she can't play nice with Star then she will have to go out with Tyson, who is head honcho and will keep her in line!  Once Zoe was out, Star let out a big sigh.  She immediately walked over to the water and drank for what seemed like forever! 

The next day, I went to check on her.  Her spirits were up but I noticed she wasn't acting quite like herself.  Star isn't a cuddly horse (unless you have treats).  She's very sweet but isn't the one who will hang her head on your shoulder or nuzzle your hair.  That day, all she wanted to do was rest her head on my shoulder and kept nuzzling me on my neck.  In all the years I've owned her, she's NEVER done that.  I looked her over carefully and didn't see anything physically wrong with her.  So I chalked it up to her "thanking" me for taking Zoe away.

The next night (hubby did chores for me in the morning because I was running late to work) I went to check on her again and this time there were HUGE lumps on her right side and a long swollen area beneath her belly.  She was tender to the touch but let me touch her.  I called the vet and he called me back right away and told me it could be an allergic reaction and to give her a treatment (with the heaves medication).  I did as I was told, hoping that the vet was right.  The reason we were wondering about allergies was because I had just switched her to a pelleted grain (no dust) so I immediately stopped feeding that grain to her.  I gave her 3 treatments as instructed by the vet and kept an eye on her.  I thought I had seen a change for the better one night...

But the next day, she was worse.  She wouldn't even let me touch her on that side anymore!  I was immediately concerned and called the vet.  He said he would come over first thing the next morning.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be there for the vet appointment so hubby was there instead.  That was today...he agreed with us that these lumps were probably from getting beat up by Zoe and she might even have a cracked rib.  He gave us Bute pills that we are to put in her grain (2 daily) to help with the pain.  Hubby pointed out her weight loss and the vet said the stress of being out with Zoe would cause her to lose weight, and then hubby pointed out the swollen area beneath her belly.  The vet wasn't sure what the cause for that would be so he took a blood sample.  He said he would get the results this afternoon and call us.  If it's a tumor, he should be able to remove it fairly easily.  But we will just have to wait and see.

While he was there, we had him clean Gunner's sheath.  I wasn't sure if he had ever had that done before so the vet took care of that.  He said Gunner was very dirty and also agreed that it appeared he had never been cleaned before.  Or if he had, it had been a LONG time since the last time.  Tyson was done a few months ago so we didn't have him done again.  It would be nice if we could get them all on the same schedule next year so we don't have to pay for so many farm calls!  I guess that's something I will have to work on next year!

Needless to say, our vet bill is gonna be a big one!  With this business with Star, our cows getting preg-checked, Gunner's sheath, and puppy check-ups...it should be a good size bill next month.  But, I would do it all over again - LOVE these animals!

Until next time!


Quote for the day:
"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."

-Leo Tolstoy

A Few Random Things

I just thought I would quick share what's been going on with the horses lately:

Melody has been getting round penned three days a week.  She picked up on it pretty quick.  I think she enjoys the work and I enjoy watching her move - what a beauty!

Zoe gave me a great ride last weekend but that's not without a little drama beforehand.  The last few times I've thrown the saddle up on her she's acted like she's never seen the saddle before and FREAKS out.  I did the slow, let her sniff the saddle approach.  I tried the deliberate, don't make it a big deal approach.  Freaks out the same both ways and didn't improve at all.  This has got me thinking about why?  She's muscled up quite a bit now (and gained weight) so I'm wondering if this is her way of telling me that the saddle is too small.  Hopefully tonight I will be able to get the saddle I've been using on her and take a close look.  If that saddle appears to be too small, I will try my other saddle.  I hope I can figure this out soon.  I don't want to ride her in a saddle that's too small...

Star has been doing great!  She hasn't coughed since the medication regime was finished.  She's been staying sound as well so I hope to take her out more often but there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day since I work a full time job, have other horses, and have 5 children.  It's a balancing act for sure!

Gunner has had time off.  He's been bucking lately and actually bucked middle daughter off.  She's fine but I would like to get his back checked to make sure it's not bothering him.  I guess it also wouldn't hurt to check the fit of the saddle as well...

Tyson, well Tyson is lame.  He's just not getting any better.  He's another one that the vet is going to come out and take a look at.  I think there's scar tissue in his foot from when he got caught in some wire that's causing his continued lameness.  We'll see what the vet has to say...  But he's in great shape despite his lameness - he plays out in the pasture all the time so he actually has good muscling.  He's such a goof!  He looks great though!!!

I never think to have a camera with me to take some updated pictures - I will try to get better about that!

Until next time!



Quote for the day:
"It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself."

-Eleanor Roosevelt

Sore Gunner

Gunner got the day off on Thursday because the farrier came out.  So Friday we decided to get a ride in during the afternoon because we didn't want to try to ride while people would be starting to shoot off fireworks.

Going back, Wednesday we tried Gunner in the hackmore and he did AWESOME!  So quiet and relaxed!  I have a phone call in for brother-in-law about Gunner's teeth, though.  I would like to know when the last time he had them done just so I can or cannot rule out his teeth as the culprit with the bit.  Don't get me wrong, I will still be scheduling an appointment for his teeth and we will probably continue to ride in the hackmore but I would like to keep him on a better schedule.

Anyways, middle daughter was grooming Gunner before the ride and when she ran the brush over his back he dropped his back out under the pressure.  He's been doing something similar to this ever since we turned him out with Zoe but this time he seemed more tense.  My gut says that Zoe got a hold of him...  Anyways, we decided to try him out and all was going well until middle daughter asked him to canter.  He jumped up in the front end more exaggerated than usual but picked up the correct lead and went around the pen once before she asked him to trot.

She changed directions and when she asked for the canter he gave out a small buck.  Middle daughter stayed in the saddle and didn't really know what happened.  I told her riding was done and to cool him down.  I'm guessing he was too sore.  Poor guy!

Since the ride was cut short, we decided to pamper the little guy and gave him a good shampoo bath.  He has one white sock on his back foot and when we were done it was glowing!  He looked like a million bucks!  Middle daughter took him out to the yard to let him eat while he dried off and he behaved so nicely for her.  What a great little horse he's turned out to be!  I'm hoping that we will be able to keep him for her to ride for 4H...

Anyways, he's gonna get some time off for his back to heal.  If I don't see much progress in a week or so, I'll have to call the chiro and see about getting his back adjusted.  I've never used an equine chiro before...it will be a learning experience for both of us!

Until next time!



Quote for the day:
"The fewer the facts, the stronger the opinion."

-Arnold H. Glasow

Another Visitor...

My brother-in-law came and picked up his two horses this past Saturday morning.  To say I was excited would've been an understatement.  We just don't have the room.  But...and this is a big BUT...he had to leave another one of his horses behind and guess what?  We are the lucky ones who get to keep him!  I'm being very sarcastic.  To be really honest and fair, I do like my brother-in-law's horses.  They are good boys and are very respectful so they aren't too much trouble.  But they are living in my only horse specific pasture with lean-to.  My horses have a small turnout they can stretch their legs in but I would prefer the pasture because it's bigger and if the weather isn't cooperating then they have a shelter. 

The new horse, Gunner, is a gelding so we took Tyson away from the girls and buddied (is that a word?) the two boys together.  Tyson is definitely the boss and rarely let's Gunner in the lean-to.  Anyways, the other day the boys were running around and I was keeping a very watchful eye on Mr. Tyson to see if he was showing any signs of lameness.  Sure enough, he was short striding his canter.  His trot looked good with little to no head bobbing so that's an improvement but I guess he's still lame.  Shoot!

I don't have any pictures of Gunner because I keep forgetting either my phone or camera when I go outside.  I will try to get one soon! 

The weather is finally starting to shape up and the farm is getting messy.  I have a love/hate relationship with spring...


Until next time!



Quote for the day:
"Love is so short, forgetting is so long."

-Pablo Neruda

Little Updates

Since my last post, Melody casted herself one more time (the next day) but hasn't since.  Hopefully that means she figured that out now...Other than that, Melody has been a good girl.  She's so dang cute!  I can't wait until spring when she sheds out and we can see what color she's going to be.  I mean, we know she's a palomino but how dark/light will she be?  I've found that she enjoys ear scratches - she will stop eating for an ear scratch!

The other day I let the horses out and Tyson was feeling great!  He was running, leaping, bucking, kicking and rearing!  He hasn't done that in over a year because he was lame (injuries).  I was thinking that Tyson was going to be lame for the rest of his life so seeing him acting like he was a yearling was very encouraging, to say the least.  He didn't show an ounce of pain while he was playing and wasn't sore when I brought him in or let him out the next day.  Is it possible he's finally healed???  Time will tell!

Zoe has been such a good girl.  I've been having my children lead her in and out of her stall and her ground manners have been impeccable!  Better than Star's, in fact.  Last year at this time she was pulling and pushing when being handled but not now!  She's been lowering her head for my kids to halter her too - just a peach!  I can't wait to start riding again when the weather finally breaks, I have good feeling about her!  The farrier always makes comments about how nice she is too (great legs, feet and attitude).  I know I've said this before but she's a sensitive and tuned in horse, just a great mare and I love her dearly! 

Star has been a good girl too, like always.  Her only fault is when it comes to food.  When she knows there's food in her stall she will try to pull through you to get her food making it difficult for my kids to lead her into her stall.  That angers me to no end so I have to lead her in myself to keep her in line.  She doesn't try to push past me because she knows I don't put up with that but she does with the kids.  Grrr...

Brother-in-law's horses are being good boys too.  They don't have stalls (we only have 4) so they live outside with a large 3 1/2 sided lean-to for shelter.  We keep bedding in there so they can lay down and stay warm.  I don't think they are used to that but they certainly enjoy it!  They are in need of a trim soon so hopefully we can get that scheduled before they leave on March 13.  The vet came out yesterday to do their health papers for traveling.  They have a long ways to go and will be stopping every 6 - 8 hours to stretch and get a little exercise/food/water (if they aren't eating or drinking in the trailer) so that will make the trip a long one.  The trailer they will be in is a Sundowner 3 horse slant gooseneck with living quarters.  Brother-in-law has a beautiful trailer that is well maintained and the horses are accustomed to trailering so hopefully the trip will go smoothly.  The horses haven't been bad while they were here but I will be glad to have 2 less mouths to feed!  Hay prices aren't cheap these days...

Well that about sums it up for now.  This weekend is the Michigan State Horse Expo.  I plan on attending on Saturday.  I haven't been able to get there in several years so I'm really looking forward to it!

Until next time!



Quote for the day:
"Our attitude towards others determines their attitudes towards us."

-Earl Nightingale

It's been a while...

I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I haven't been able to do any riding because with 3 feet of snow and temperatures in the single digits, I can't ride outside or get the trailer out to go anywhere!  So my riding/training with Zoe is at a stand still, unfortunately.

Nothing new to report with Tyson.  He lost a little weight with the frigid temperatures but the weight is already back on.  Ever since his major injury he's been a 'hard keeper' not to mention accident prone.  I think he gets bored so he gets into trouble...he's a character, let me tell ya!!

Star is sweet as always.  She's handling the winter very gracefully and enjoying her warm stall at night.  Have I ever mentioned how she starts her Harley at feeding time?  If not, keep reading...if so you can skip to the next paragraph...  Star makes noise, a nicker maybe, that sounds just like a Harley motorcycle starting up!  She kinda growls or grumbles with an eagerness to it.  Hard to explain but it makes me smile every time she does it!  The only time she does it is at feeding time - so stinkin' cute!

Melody has been the one that gets the most training done lately.  She had her first trim with the farrier so we had worked on picking all of her feet before hand.  She amazed me again with how quickly she caught on!  Hubby helped me with this task because he's so strong!  I didn't want to have her be able to take her foot away from me so Hubby helped out with her back feet.  She fought him BIG time the first time he picked her back foot up.  The second time wasn't near the struggle as the first and the third time she just picked it up and stood relaxed, like she's been doing this for years!  We went to the other side and the struggle for the other hind was 'half-assed' and then she just stood there like she was supposed to.  She picks her front feet up fine - has been since the second day we had her home!  When the farrier came, she did fine with her front feet and only fought her back foot a little, just to see what she could get away with, I think.  She did her other back foot just fine - no fight whatsoever!  We will keep working on leading and her feet but other than that, I don't like to baby the babies.  In my experience, foals who have been babied end up pushy and spoiled.  I want her to be respectful and attentive to my every move, not uninterested.  I know everyone has their own views on this but that's ok.  I just know what has worked for me and what hasn't.  I take her out and work with her on stuff about once a month or so, like yesterday I had to work on walking calmly through gates.  She developed a want to run through gates so that she can get to playing so that was a lesson needed right away.  But her next lesson with something new won't be for a couple weeks since we did the feet thing.  Does that make sense?  I address the issues right away that show themselves but teach her new things every 4 - 6 weeks and refresh the stuff already learned.  I hope that makes sense...

Until next time!


Quote for the day:
"Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get."

-Mark Twain

Not Lame, Then Lame Again! AHHHH!!!

The title of this post says it all.  After my last post about how Star was getting better, I lunged her and she was going BEAUTIFULLY!  So I put her through her paces.  She held up great!  Not a lame step at all - it was so exciting!  Middle daughter jumped on and walked her out while practicing her position (sit up, heels down, look ahead, elbows bent...).  It was an awesome night of riding.  We both had a great time!

A few days later (didn't want to push Star too hard) we took her back out.  I lunged her to see if there was any soreness and she looked good again. I was happy.  Middle daughter jumped on and did some walk/trot/canter for a bit and then I told her to walk her out.  As she was walking away, Star came to a dead stop.  Middle daughter didn't know what happened so she asked her to walk again.  Star tried and about fell over because she wouldn't put any weight on her front driver side foot.  CRAP!!!  I ran over to them and middle daughter got down.  We took the saddle off and middle daughter ran to get the hoof pick, halter and lead rope.  We picked her foot out - clean.  No stones.  Tried to make her move another step and there was no improvement.  WTH???  Her fetlock looked swollen and she was very tender to the touch on her heel.  We very slowly walked over the barn and cold hosed her leg/foot for 15 minutes, gave her some banamine and put her in her stall.

We did chores (takes about 45 minutes with all that we have to do everyday!) and came back to check her.  She was calling for Tyson the entire time so we moved Tyson to his stall (next to Star) and fed them both.

Next morning, I got up extra early and took Star out.  Still limping just as bad as she did the night before so I cold hosed her again and put her back in her stall.  Fed the horses and went back inside to get ready for work.

All day at work I was worried about Star.  Worried that she did some permanent damage and we would have to put her down.  I wasn't ready to say good bye!  Let's just say I was a wreck and move on...

I got home and saw that hubby had moved her and Tyson outside.  She was grazing and had weight on her foot!  WHAT????  Hubby said when he led her out of her stall that she was still tender but walked pretty good.  A phone call would've been nice so I didn't have to worry all day that she was in so much pain!!!

So I've been checking her at least twice daily and everyday she improves.  She still favors it some but not too bad.  I'm thinking she may have overstepped or twisted it a little in while riding.  Either way, she's SOO much better than before and keeps getting better everyday. 

In Zoe news, I will be visiting next week.  I wanted to visit this week but the trainer had a show this weekend and had a busy week.  Next week it will be 60 days that she's been at the trainer.  I will determine if she needs another 30 days then.  I do miss her...  I've also been tossing around the idea of boarding her somewhere where there's an indoor arena so that I can continue with riding her throughout the winter so we won't have to start over in the spring.  The barn where middle daughter takes riding lessons doesn't have any outdoor boarding spots available and their full board rate is WAY more than I can afford right now.  But I really enjoy that place so we'll see I guess. 

Until next time!



Quote for the day:
"Habit, if not resisted, soon becomes necessity."

-Augustine of Hippo

Lame

In other news, we are battling lameness with Star again.  I suspected that she had some arthritis starting in one of her hocks but the soreness was coming from the other hock.  I started her on some joint supplements and she seems to be responding very well.  Part of me wonders if she took a bad step out in the pasture because we rode her on a Saturday afternoon and then on Tuesday she was LAME.  Three legged, couldn't trot, LAME.  The other day I went out with her grain and she trotted up to me, without pain so I think we are heading in the right direction.  I haven't tried her in the round pen yet, that's coming soon.  If she's good, we will try riding for a few minutes and go from there.  I don't want to re-injure her so we will take it slow.

Until next time!




Quote for the day:
"Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it."

-George Halas

He's Back

I can't remember if I ever mentioned Tyson on this blog before...I don't think I have.  Tyson is an APHA gelding.  He is out of the same mare as my Zoe, therefore making him a lot like her.  They both have great a conformation and they both LOVE attention.  Tyson is a retired heading horse (team roping).  He'd been all over Michigan with my brother-in-law roping until he got hurt.  I can't remember exactly what happened, all I remember is that it took him a couple years to be rideable again, even after that he would never make a heading horse again because of the risk of re-injury.  My brother-in-law gave him to us for my middle daughter to ride because he didn't have anyone to use him anymore and we were looking for something for her to ride.  Middle daughter clicked with Ty and they were like two peas in a pod.  He loved her and her him!  That was last summer. 

We sent him back to my brother-in-law's house over the winter (that was the agreement) and he hurt himself again.  He kicked through the lean-to metal siding while playing with his other gelding friends and really did it this time!  He sliced off part of his hoof. My brother-in-law took good care of the foot and it has healed completely, however the part of the hoof that was sliced off will never grow back, according to my farrier.  So that makes Ty good for light riding now.  He's sound on the foot at walk and trot, but not any faster.

We brought Ty back home again for the summer for middle daughter to ride again and just when we think we can start riding, he goes and hurts himself playing out in the pasture.  Lame again!  This time on one of his front feet.  So, we've been doctoring the foot every day for the past week or two and it's looking much better.  I think we're out of the woods now with that injury. 

I don't know what's going on with Tyson lately, he was always so easy to have around and all of a sudden he's been getting hurt and having trouble keeping his weight on (the bad hay this winter didn't help).  Maybe he's bored?  Needs a job?  I don't know but we are trying to give him extra attention daily to help with his boredom if that's the problem.  We've noticed that this summer he's been meeting middle daughter by the gate and pushes his head into the halter for her.  Last year he would stand in the pasture waiting for her to get him and then would keep his head just out of her reach for haltering.  Not sure what that means yet but it's been heartwarming to see how much he adores middle daughter. 

We haven't been able to ride him yet this year because of his new injury but maybe by the end of summer middle daughter can walk around on him in the front yard.  I bet he will enjoy that day!

Middle daughter with Tyson last summer

Until next time!



Quote for the day:
"Start where you are.  Use what you have.  Do what you can."

-Arthur Ashe