Thursday & Saturday

On Thursday I had limited time at the barn so I lunged for a bit and then rode for only about 20 minutes. He was a bit of a brat. The temp was warming up so I took one of his two buckets outside and flipped it over so it could drain while I rode. The other bucket was almost empty and icy too, but since Friday was supposed to be in the 30's I was planning to just fill it and let it thaw the next day. I didn't realize until the next morning that I had neglected to put the bucket back OR refill the other bucket!!! I knew the morning feeder would be out within an hour or two of when I got up so there was no reason for me to drive to the barn to check on him.... there's a reason I pay for full board. He would get a full bucket in the morning and another in the afternoon.

I worried about him until I went out today. It was almost 50 degrees! He had about a quarter bucket of water and the other bucket was still outside where I left it. He was laying down when I got there and I filled the 2nd bucket and put it in his stall. He didn't get up right away, but he didn't seem distressed. I took the other bucket out and dumped and rinsed it and by the time I had it full and was carrying it to his stall he was up. He didn't seem like he was acting strange, but When i was grooming him he kicked up at his belly a few times like there was a fly there or something. I know some horses do this when they have a belly ache so it made me nervous. He did not seem lethargic or anything and he kept grabbing everything in sight, me, lunge line, bridle, lunge whip, other lunge whip, etc. I think I need to coat everything I own in that bad-tasting chew deterrent. Why on earth doesn't he use his Jolly Ball?!?!?!?! It's covered in dust like he never uses it.

I lunged him. he seemed fine but he acted like he wanted to roll. He hasn't rolled without his blanket on in ages so I understand his desire to roll in the dirt, I just hope it didn't mean he wasn't feeling well. He lunged poorly to the right as usual. I only rode for about 30 minutes again. He was being kind of a brat and there was no one else there so I didn't want to take any chances. He did some nice jog work and his headset was pretty good, except when he was tossing his head. I loped a little bit and he did some nice work keeping his frame and staying slower, but he also tossed his head and jigged around. Nothing TOO out of the ordinary, but because I'm the overanxious horse owner I was a little unnerved. It was a lot warmer than it's been for a while, so he may have just been reacting to that. He drank some water before I left and he was licking his feed tub in anticipation of the upcoming mealtime.

When I brought him back in I made him stand in the aisle so I could clean his hooves. It's sloppy mud between the barn and the arena and it's kind of damp in the arena so he had a dirt pack going. I didn't want to clean his hooves in the stall and let him roll in the mud so I tried to make him ground-tie in the aisle. If there had been any activity I think he would've been worse, but he was pretty good. I had to keep turning him around because he wanted to bother the other horses. Max doesn't mind him at all, but Max has lots of things to chew on on the front of his stall so I couldn't leave him pointed there..... Minnie was squealing and striking at him so I couldn't leave him there, in the end he was content to sniff the ledge of the lesson tack room and pick up stray bits of hay. He doesn't like to stand still. He needs to be occupied. Do they make pacifiers that attach to halters? Maybe I could invent that and make my million: Horsifiers! Bwa ha ha!

I went to Dublin Tack today. Cute little store. No real possibilities for used saddles for me, but I've been told the inventory moves frequently "like a used car lot" so I'll keep checking back.