By the time I was done with that N had shown up and suggested we let our horses run. When I rode on Friday night, Ashke was really stiff to the right and wanted to argue with me on circling at the canter. He wasn't lame at the walk or trot and didn't feel lame at the canter, just stiff. Back in the cross-ties I went over his right hind, thinking he was feeling the change in weather, but instead I found a large muscle knot on the right hind, about a foot above the hock. It felt like a charley horse and my guess is he was messing with Cali in turnout and caught a hoof in the muscle there. I treated it on Friday with Sore No More and figured if I let him loose with Cali I could see if it was bothering him at liberty. I had N feel the knot before we went out and she agreed it was most likely from them messing around.
As you can see, it didn't seem to bother him at liberty and since they continued to gallop up and down the arena even after I turned the video off, I think they were both feeling a little fresh. When I took Ashke back into the barn, the knot was almost completely gone, so the exercise seemed to help him work it out.
N scheduled a lesson with Michelle while the ponies were running, so she opted to hang out and watch us ride, instead of riding. I made her video tape us.
Already, I can feel a difference in our canter. It's not even officially winter yet. I can't wait to see what kind of progress we make over the next five months.
And to the right. The little punk kept breaking his canter as he went past the pile of jumps. I stopped and walked him over to inspect them. He really wasn't spooky, he was just being a punk.
And again to the right.
After our canter, N pulled out a pole and worked with our sidepass at speed. I cantered Ashke in a circle up to the pole, we stopped, sidepassed over it and then cantered off again. N tried to video it, but my phone had a different opinion and videoed her pocket instead. I thought Ashke did that pattern really well and look forward to continuing to practice it going forward. We really need to achieve a one step transition from walk to canter in order to do Level 2 in Working Eq next year.
I was happy and Ashke was warm but not sweaty (our winter fuzz came in this week) so I figured we could be done. I put him away with a small feed of TC Senior and about three pounds of carrots and left him slurping happily.
Cali left me window art on her way to the barn. N may be buying a watercolor set to see what kind of pictures she could create.
Right across the road from my place I saw this on my drive home. I turned around to double check.
It was a strong, independent, feminist, Wild Turkey.
(They are very scarce in Colorado and I have never seen one before.)
The rest of this post is specifically for Saiph, but anyone who is interested can peruse my hoofs. His last trim was five weeks ago. What do you think?
Left front.
Right Front
Left hind
Right hind.
Damn look at Cali and Ashke run! Love how huge the arenas are at your barn!
ReplyDeleteAshke's collected canter is looking lovely Karen! He definitely looks more relaxed and round!
Beautiful hoofers: thick walls, you can see where he's trimmed his own bars, his soles look like they're getting ready to exfoliate, and he has some awesome depth in his collateral grooves. His white lines are a bit stretched but they'll tighten with his next trim when his toes get rounded off again. :) How long are your trim cycles with Dan?
Dan does six week trims during the spring, summer and early fall. I think he does eight weeks during the winter. Michelle was always on an eight week trim even when I thought he should be trimmed sooner. It's hard to see, but the front feet are actually beginning to cup, which is the first time I've seen that on his front feet. His front usually look like platters.
DeleteOur next trim is on 10/14. Are his white lines an issue?
Nope; that should be fine. The worst that could happen is some chipping from the walls flaring out a bit, but it's not something that will hurt him. Lily's hinds were doing the same exact thing and I just trimmed her today. :) If you have time, you can try riding him barefoot at the walk on the sidewalk trails close to the barn: it will help him self-trim in the meantime and is also great for helping toughen up his feet even more. It will also help those fronts cup further. It doesn't have to be a long ride either: half a mile to a mile total tops once a week should be enough.
DeleteOooo his feet are lovely.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing prettier than loose horses! Nothing!
ReplyDeleteSorry your work area got dismantled. That sucks.
Dang do you feed them jet fuel?? They look like they could run forever! I wish I had an arena like that to video my horse galloping in. They always hide in the trees in the pasture lol.
ReplyDeleteLove your cantering videos too. You guys are looking great!