Stitches Removed and Pull-Turn Added

Weird little day we had today. I arrived at the barn to find my awesome farrier ready 30 minutes early. We got his feet trimmed and scheduled his next appointment.

Since we were done very early, I had some time to kill before Dr. Johnson came to remove the stitches. I didn't want to ride incase he came early so I decided to practice showmanship. While working, I decided to try the pull-turn. The "pull-turn" is essentially a counter-clockwise pivot where instead of pushing the head away from you, you are pulling the head around towards you. I'd attempted to do this before but had no luck. This time, however, I was able to keep his attention enough to get him to go one front foot at a time (with a lot of "goooood boy" with each correct step) and as soon as I saw weight removed from the pivot foot I'd say "No" and stop, then rock his weight back and ask him to move the front feet again. Once he figured out what I was asking for he would do the whole 90 degrees! KAT told me the judges are not "allowed" to ask for more than a 90 degree pull-turn but I don't know whose rule that is so we only worked on 90. We're slow at it, but he's doing it correctly and the speed will come after the accuracy.

Dr. Johnson came and very quickly removed the stitches. Junior was an excellent patient and didn't need any sedation. He just stood and let him do the work. He got a little annoyed about half way through but after a little break he was fine for the rest. There's some scabbing under where the stitches were and it's not looking promising for hair re-growth since those follicles will not grow back. There's still some pink under where the scabs were so maybe we'll be lucky. I'm just glad he didn't re-injure it before it healed. Things could be so much worse. If it looks really bad when show-season comes I'll just have to use my touch-up spray. :) Dr. J. said we can act like it never happened. Yay!

As a hopeful preventative measure I installed a rubber floor mat around the post at the front of his stall. Forgot to take a picture of the finished product. I found a small rug at Target for only $10. I had to cut the edges off to make it fit then attached it with 3/4" staples that I flattened with a nail punch and a hammer. He didn't seem to notice or care what I was doing.... made me wish there was a horsey version of cat nip. :) Hopefully he finds it, finds it pleasurable and STOPS RUBBING HIS FACE ON METAL!!! *Sigh* I won't hold my breath.

All Better Now

I got back from the conference about 4pm but I decided not to go to the barn. I wanted to unpack and sort laundry and begin to plan the week ahead. I wrote a list off all the things I need to do on Monday and it was a daunting list. Grades for Winter quarter are due on Monday at 3:30 and with my back putting me out of commission Saturday-Tuesday then conference Tuesday-Saturday I was WAY behind. PLUS I was supposed to do some prep work for a student project last Monday but that too was not possible with my back.

I got up early this morning and headed to work, got WAY more done in WAY less time than I thought I would. I have a little left over for tonight and tomorrow, but it's not much. Yay for getting work done!

I went out to the barn about 2:00. Junior was outside, not sure why he was out on a Sunday but I will not complain. He was fine to catch but two of the other horses wanted to come with. He had his coat on so he was covered in sweat as it was 60 degrees and sunny. I took his blanket off and laid it inside up on the wash rack to dry in the sun. I groomed him slowly allowing him to dry a bit. His feet look fine. They were nice and dry and there was no odor. Yay for Thrush Buster!

His stall was VERY clean. I got a long email from KAT while I was at the conference that the stall cleaner was surprised that I took so much out and had KAT show him where in the stall. He told her he only sees Jr pee on the OTHER side of the stall so he didn't realize that the other side was getting so bad. Of course, he SHOULD have been checking the whole stall, but I think this was a good way of showing him that. He seemed to genuinely want to do a better job and like I said, the stall looked much better today, but I also think Max's mom cleaned it for me yesterday. She sent me a text about 5pm saying that his stall was clean, buckets washed, and that he was turned out for 3 hours. Yay for a clean stall!

It was SO nice out I could not fathom riding indoors. I mounted at the picnic table just outside the barn and rode out to the outdoor arena. I was just going to hack around the farm but I wanted to see if I could get him to go to work even with the distractions going on: lots of horses being brought in/out of barns/paddocks, car traffic, kids, etc. The arena was empty, though. He was more interested in the activity than working but he did well. I could tell KAT had ridden him while I was gone. His lope was slower and balanced, but when I tried to do it one-handed he was a bit wonky. My fault I'm sure. I haven't ridden in a whole week! I probably only worked him for 20 minutes, just to see how he was. Then we rode the perimeter of the hay field. He was a little sweaty so I un-tacked him and walked him until he was dryer and cooler. The overnight temp is only supposed to be 31 so I put his coat back on. I've GOT to get a lighter blanket. I felt bad putting the heavy one on, but the barn is not warm at night and I'd rather him lose more hair than grow more.

It was SOOOO nice just to ride my horse in beautiful weather...in a t-shirt...in the sunshine. Just awesome.

So: my back is feeling better (though I'll try to get one more adjustment tomorrow), the stall is better, the thrush is better, the mohawk is better, the weather is better, and my mood is better. Yay.