Sunday

I'm beginning to rethink the whole leave-the-horse-barefoot thing. Ashke is tender on his front feet again. Just like last summer. I think between the rain and the constant pawing he does in his stall, he has managed to wear away the tips of both his toes. I got more foam core to go into his boots, so that he has a little bit of cushion when we trail ride, but I can't ride him in the boots if we are going to be in the arena.

Insert four letter word here.

So, today, I went to the barn with J. Liz was there photographing another horse, who was misbehaving, so she asked me if she could get some shots of Ashke at Liberty in the arena. I said sure, and took him out.

I could tell from the moment I turned him loose that there was something off with him. He just wasn't moving like he was last night when we let him loose with Cali. I thought maybe it was the fact that this was the third day in a row and he just really wasn't interested in running. I got him to move around and Liz got some nice pictures. Then, after I put his halter back on, he demonstrated his ability to jump a crossbar. After we did that a couple of times, I made the crossbar a vertical and he went over it twice more.

Again, the photos you are about to see are copyrighted by Elizabeth Lord.

He would trot right at her, all arched neck, flared nostrils and pricked ears, never getting too close.

I remember a year ago when he couldn't trot over cavalletti or jump a simple raised bar because his back and hips were so weak. He's still not sure about the timing, but he certainly was willing to try.

After our photo shoot, I took him in and groomed him. His right butt was sore. I'm thinking the little bit of jumping we've done in the past three days has made that right hip sore. I did some massage on it before saddling him up. He seemed eager enough when I got on him, but he was really short striding on the front and his trot was rough. I couldn't get him to stride into his walk. I asked him for a short canter and got this:

I stopped, took him back to the barn and unsaddled. I gave him a little bit of bute and some apple bites. We will rest it and see how he is on Tuesday night.

He was so sweet walking back to the barn from the arena. He kept reaching out his muzzle and just barely touching the back of my shirt. I think he was very confused by why we had stopped riding so soon.