I took Tico outside for a couple of hacks Friday (the company I work for was bought out by a French Canadian firm; we get Good Friday off but not Presidents Day :( ), and then yesterday.
We went out to the fields behind the property and just walked around a bit. He was a really good boy this time - a few weeks ago there were monsters and dragons lurking everywhere, and I couldn't get him off his tippy toes. Then last week, there was a dreaded wild turkey walking in the field about 100 yards away from us as we were coming across the field and back towards the barn, which turned him from the slightly up but listening horse to a "channeling my inner arab" head high, tail up, idiot who wouldn't listen at all.
We took a refresher lesson the following day (more for me than him; it's my lack of consistency that allows his lack of discipline).
So, Friday and Saturday I wanted calm, relaxed, and listening; I got it. No grabbing for leaves or using his relaxed head down position to make a grab for grass. We crossed a tiny brook without doing the leapfrog jump - he drank from it first, of course - instead simply walking through. It was nice. :)
Friday was pretty chilly so I went back into the indoor to actually do some trot and canter stuff; yesterday was so beautiful I went to the back ring to enjoy the sun.
It always seems windier in that back ring than closer to the barn, and yesterday was no exception. He sometimes does the "there's a monster!" spook in either of the back corners but yesterday he was a star. The only thing that marred the whole ride was that as we were cantering around (a nice, on the bit canter, not careening around) and I asked him to whoa, he stopped quickly , tripped, and went down onto his knees.
As I've mentioned before (and in the previous post as a matter of fact) Tico is conformationally challenged. He has the dubious honor of possessing what a vet who fluoroscoped his right front fetlock a few months ago referred to as "the bone spur of the year", most likely caused by his crooked front legs, perhaps in conjunction with poor shoeing. Lord knows until I found my current farrier he was still getting that poor shoeing. He has limited flexion in that joint, and his left front isn't much better. So even if he sits on his butt in a reiner stop, those front feet can get in the way when he tries to move them.
To keep him sound, he gets trimmed and shod every 4 weeks. This horse can grow a toe like you read about, even in the winter. Yeah, it can get expensive, but this farrier listened to my vet (the previous one didn't), fixed his chronic lameness by shoeing the foot in front of him, and he's been sound ever since. At first with a 5 week trim cycle, but lately we've been doing 4. He's due to be done the 24th. So, his toes were long, and he also still had the borium studs in his shoes.
I jumped off him, took off his SMB boots, checked his legs and joints, put the boots back on, walked him around. He looked a bit embarrassed, but not lame. I got back on him and we walked back to the barn, schmoozed around, then walked back to the ring with another rider. He hadn't taken an off step, so I asked for a trot. No limp. Yay! I asked for another canter. Again, no limp. I rode him about 10 minutes more, working him in both directions.
We went back to the barn, I got off, took off the boots and bell boots again, checked all his joints (no heat, no swelling) groomed him, picked his feet, and gave him Kashi bars and carrots. He deserved them - what a sweet boy he was!
After I told her about what happened, I said to one of the other boarders "It's really nice to have such a tough little horse". It really is.
It was such a nice day, I didn't want to just leave after my ride. I spent some time cleaning tack outside in the glorious sun, and spent more time with a bunch of really great people - the barn owner, manager, and fellow boarders. We make each other laugh, we help each other out, and we share in each others pain when bad things happen. I'm really happy I'm boarding at Crystal Farm.
An hour or so later, the vet came to do the second round of spring shots. Tico was of course an angel. :) He got the rest of the bag of carrots before I headed on home.
The barn is closed for Easter, so no riding today. A shame, it's a gorgeous day today, too. Yay, Spring may finally be here!
