Sliding Backwards

1. Ashke has gotten very lippy and nippy again. This behavior had almost completely disappeared until this weekend. Now it is back in force. Nothing like having your horse lunge for your hand with his mouth wide open . . . .

2. Only able to work him in the round pen for 10 minutes last night before he was beginning to stumble and slow. J said he was paddling with both front and back feet. I know he is toe-first on his front feet, because he's not breaking over. Very frustrating, because I told the farrier I thought he needed done at six weeks (last week) instead of eight, but the farrier insisted that eight was soon enough. You'd think that if I was willing to pay, he would be willing to come.

3. I feel that the set backs to our progress are outweighing the progress. I am doing less with him now then I was three weeks after he got here. It feels like the more time goes on the less he is able to handle. I wonder and worry about his mental state of health and how able he is going to be going forward. He is so smart, but doesn't seem to have any mental toughness. I don't know if that is because he hasn't healed mentally from the lack of food and neglect, or if it is part of his personality. I don't know how to determine that, but I do know that a lack of mental toughness will doom our chances of riding endurance. I need a horse that doesn't know how to quit, instead of a horse that has mentally quit before he gets started.

I also wonder if I shouldn't find him a new home and find a horse better suited to the style of riding I want to do. But then I think that perhaps I am being a bit hard on him and should give him more of a chance to adapt. I need to decide a realistic time frame for his recovery and when I am going to give up and cut him loose.

4. Ashke did not enjoy our grooming or bathing session as much as he has recently. He reacted the same way he did when I first brought him home. Again, a severe loss of progress. I guess I should be happy that he wasn't pinning his ears, lunging at me with his mouth open or threatening to kick like he was behaving on Sunday. All I can do is proceed like normal and hope that my consistency brings him back to himself.

5. Ashke did whinny loudly and a couple of times when he heard me in the aisle way and seemed genuinely happy to see me. Hopefully, the grumpiness of his colic time will pass with time.

6. I'm not ready to give up on him yet. I want to get his feet straightened out and get some work under him before I make a decision. However, I never wanted a horse that I could only ride in an arena for 45 minutes a day and then we were done. I want a horse that wants to go, has no quit and has the heart of a lion. A horse that enjoys trails and riding alone and with other horses.