December 22, 2013

Random Musings 'bout the Pony

 It’s hard when you are sick and the weather is nicer.  You want to play with your pony but the couple times you try you end up in coughing fits.  Ugh!  I haven’t ridden in a while and I know if I do ride I need to take it slow because a coughing fit in the saddle will not be fun.  I’m doing much better with my cough, it’s much more shallow but with the colder air I could easily make it worse again if I exert too much outside in the cold.

Dani is very cute.  I released her into the arena one day to roll and play.  She was full of bucks, snorts and farts!  LOL.  She was rolling then almost in one movement jumped and bucked a couple times and cantered off snorting and farting.  Oh if only I’d had my video on at the time.  It cracked me up! 


Lately when I’ve been releasing her in the “grazing” area she’s made a beeline for Daves hay bales.  He’s been buying a mostly alfalfa mix big bale….one of those almost 1,000 lb things from the local Prairie Springs Farm down the road.  That’s a nice facility with an indoor arena, expensive for what you get with no pasture turn out but nice full care right in town. 

Anyways, Dani can’t resist and I have to run up the hill, grab his practice rope that he leaves on a cow decoy and shoe her away.  She’ll eat the bits and pieces that have fallen when David has moved his hay in sections into his shed….I’m okay with that but when she starts digging through the tarp and trying to eat the bale I’m not okay with it.  I don’t want her eating his hay!  What a pest Dani can be!


David told me the day he brought the two bales there he had to fight off Don’s horses.  They are two mustangs that this guy doesn’t do anything with and has had the sheriff out a few times because of lack of feeding.  I think Don is missing a few screws in his head and really shouldn’t have horses but at least he seems to have been feeding more regularly.  The club alerted his family of the situation, brother, sister etc. and they have been assisting.  The older gelding isn’t looking so ribby anymore.  Anyhow Don had his boys out to graze and they were eating Davids hay.  David arrived with another bale and tried to shoe the horses away as he worked and took one bale apart to get into his shed.  Apparently Don just sat and watched rather than get his horses out of Davids hair.  How rude!  David said he doesn’t mind if Dani takes a nibble but I do.  She doesn’t need alfalfa or anymore food!  The mare acts like she’s starving sometimes!


Anyways, at least with my cough I can still love on my pony.  Her hooves are looking good, I’ve applied more oil to them and hopefully can get more done in the next week.  She has a pedicure next Saturday.  With the cold and mud I’ve been trying to keep an eye on her frogs for thrush.  I want to work on some of the gaps in her heal….I’ll do a post about just this soon.  No Thrush is a powder and on their website they tell you how to pack the frog and begin getting those gaps filled in.  Below is our usual hoof care area, it's on concrete so that I can apply the oil without getting dirt on her hooves right away.  Hopefully that means it absorbs into her feet for a few minutes.  My lighted hoof pick comes in handy with this shadowy light being what I have to work with.


Anyways, there hasn’t been much exciting training or riding because of the cold and me being sick.  I have the next two weeks off and the weather appears nicer so I will hopefully get some work done with my girl.  Perhaps I can even get my SLR out with me, my hubby too and get some Holiday pictures taken....been a slacker and haven't even gotten Christmas cards out yet this year!  Winter solstice was yesterday so you know what that means….the days will steadily get longer!  Yippeee!!!  Happy Holidays everyone!


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