Girlfriend

But first, in the ongoing saga of Ashke and the shaving free stall, I have made some adjustments. First, I purchased a slow feeder bag to put his feed in since this is an ongoing issue with him rejecting and peeing on his hay. Second, I talked to the BO and we are switching him to the grass hay, which is much less stemmy. Plus, the first night we moved in he cleaned out the half flake that was in the feed bin without leaving a single blade. It may be the grass hay is better than the alfalfa. Third, they put a huge pile of sand and shavings outside in his run to encourage him to pee outside. Finally, I purchased what I feel is some really great hay (mix of grass and alfalfa) to supplement the three flakes he is getting at the barn. The first night we hung the bag, there was hay all over his stall but Ashke attacked the bag like he was starving.

 Almost a full flake of hay on the ground. 

Plus they added sawdust to the stall. I guess that is their version of shavings.

 Ashke loving the slow feeder bag. We could hear him banging the bag around as he was eating, so I figure it provides food and entertainment for him.

Hay Update: Ashke likes the grass hay at the barn better than the alfalfa. We talked with the BO and the slow feed bag isn't really convenient for their process, so we are going make a slow feeder grid to fit inside his large hay bin and then move the slow feeder bag to the outside fence. We have some wire in the basement, PVC pipe on the patio, and between the two, we think we can create a grid to lay on top of the hay the BO will feed that Ashke won't want to pull out of the feeder bin. The point of this is not to slow down his consumption, since he eats slowly anyway, but to keep him from throwing what he doesn't like onto the floor of his stall and peeing on it. 

Saturday was the day for Ashke's trim. Because we had moved him after we set time and date, we needed to haul him to TMR to meet with Kris. She does do horses in the area where we are boarding, but she does them during the week. We have arranged for that on our next trim cycle in December, but there just wasn't enough time to try to do it this time. So, J and I got up and out of the house by eight to haul him over for our 10 am appointment. 

When we got to the barn, the road back to the trailer was blocked off. I checked the barn for peeps and then called the BO. Told her we needed to haul out and the road was closed. Come to find out, they don't want anyone moving their trailer if the ground is wet. WTF? We told her up front that we haul out most weekends, 12 months of the year, and yet she still had us park the trailer in the back. Then she told me that if the ground was too wet we wouldn't be able to pull the trailer out. I was not happy. Luckily, the ground was mostly frozen still, so they allowed us to hitch up the trailer and pull it out. (Yes, we parked it in the front of the property on the roadbase they have for the cars when we returned.) There is no way I am going to risk missing the clinic or the weekend of riding we have planned for the weekend of Thanksgiving.) They property owners were nice enough about it; it just wasn't thought through.

When we got to TMR, Kris was working on Cali. As we walked up I hollered to warn Kris that Cali would not stand still with Ashke approaching. Ashke suddenly started acting like a stallion and Cali became a squirty, marey mess. Kris asked N if she was in heat and N said, "Not until just this minute."

Ashke loves this mare. 

Cali did not want to stand still, even with Ashke right in front of her. I was really worried about how Ashke would behave. He is always so good for the farrier that we usually don't have to do anything but stand there. Michelle would just stand him in the aisle to trim him and he would stand quietly until she was done. 

Saturday was not that horse. He absolutely refused to stand still. I finally asked K if she had any duct tape, which she did, so we duct-twitched my horse.

He was not happy and acted like a cat with tape on it's paws.  

He blew his nose so many times and tossed his head, but he stopped moving his feet.

Why? First you take away my woman, and then this . . .

You! You there! Come free me!

Kris wants me to get a Radial Rasp and start shaping his feet once a week. This is the same thing Saiph has wanted me to try for several months. I ordered the Rasp and will now be taking the flares down as they grow. His feet are getting better, but until we can control the flare, we will continue to have issues with his white lines. Kris also pointed out that booting him will be much easier if I am keeping the flares down. That would be the plan going forward.

We couldn't leave without letting them run.

This may be the final time they get to run together, since the rumor is N has her for sale.

I would buy her in a heartbeat, if I had the ability.

They are so happy together.

They don't act this way with anyone else.

This is what happiness looks like.

When they had finally settled down I clipped the lead rope on Ashke. Cali was standing with her forehead resting on his flank. As Ashke began to move away Cali moved to put herself between Ashke and me. She kept Ashke moving in a circle around me at the end of the lead rope, with herself between us. I finally got them to stop moving and N caught Cali. Ashke was very upset as she headed back to the barn. He did not want to get on the trailer. I had to use the come-a-long for the first time in months. Once loaded, he was okay.

We drove back to the barn, parked the trailer up front and then put him away.