Weekly wrap up

Saturday: 

• Hip stretch- this was challenging for him on the stretching out to the side part. We persevered though and made it through 20 seconds after a few tries. 
• Shoulder stretch down and back- definitely liked the release it gave him. Leila was very one sided, probably due to her neck issues and would stand with her left leg back all day long after I put it there, but wanted to move the right one immediately. Yoshi was pretty quick to move both back to a normal position and pretty slow to release the shoulder down/back in general, so definitely a good one to keep working on. 
• Removed fly wraps because he had some irritated skin on his left front and right rear and it was supposed to rain all day + Sunday + Monday. His fly mask had actually stayed on for more than 12 hours for once and he had some fantastic bed head forelock.

Ridiculous forelock + his latest battle scar... At least he missed his eyeball

Monday:

• Lifting the hind legs- he found tapping on the hocks or hind legs surprisingly not stimulating at all. Leila was highly offended and therefore did the exercise very quickly. I felt like I was borderline beating him with the dressage whip on his hind legs before he lifted them. Given his lack of understanding of the exercise we settled for a few half hearted lifts with a light tap and loads of praise. On the plus side he didn't try to kick me, which I was a bit concerned about. 
• Pelvis tucks- we do this one fairly frequently while grooming so it was a cheap cop out exercise. He's very sensitive across the sacrum so he tucks up and under really well. I just have to not overdo it so feet stay in one spot. 
• ToH he did really well. We're still using the fence as a block for backwards movement, but he was correctly crossing the inside front in front of the outside front. 
• Fly gear back on. We'll see if the mask stays this go round. 
• I groomed him while he grazed in the barnyard since their hay bale was gone... Completely... Again. It let me use the SleekEZ block on him though since he was so focused on noms he couldn't be too offended by it. His rain rot is completely gone thanks to the equiderma. Now it is just a light application near trouble spots when we groom to maintain. Well worth the money on that one. Especially because I'm trying not to get him wet too often with his clogs. 

Wednesday: 

• Shoulder stretch down and forward- pretty symmetrical on this, very good boy with letting me manipulate his legs. 
• Lifting the hind legs- since he didn't really get the concept Monday I wanted to go through it again. The left hind leg was very easy and good. After getting two really nice, quick lifts we switched to the other side. Then trouble started. He nipped at me after I praised him for a tiny lift of the leg. I think it's because he was expecting a treat. I got after him and then after that his mind was too busy being hurt about being yelled at to be able to figure out lifting the leg again. We'll keep at it. 
• Even with a new hay bale (after being out for 48 hours... Grumble grumble...) he still walks up to me in the pasture when I call him. So cute. 
• Clipper work continued. Storing them on top of my grooming supplies is definitely the best way to remind me to keep at it. It doesn't seem like anywhere other than near his head will be a problem. Near the head is still very much a problem. Hard to handle clippers, treats, and lead rope. So I dropped the lead rope. This was fine. He only protested by sticking his head straight up in the air, not by moving his feet. 
• No effusion in the left fetlock!

Thursday: 

• Shoulder stretch down and back and pelvis tucks. Ones I know from memory because I stopped by the barn on my way home from my overnight shift and overwhelming my brain is easy on such mornings. 
• We took a step back from clippers to just focus on touching around his poll. Taking the easy way out (see above about no brain power, also typically I am much shorter on patience with no sleep than one should be for working with any horse especially a relative baby...) I just stood with my hand as close to his poll as possible after putting his alfalfa cubes + grain in his feed tub. He went forward and back and sideways and up with his head to avoid the touch but then eventually got it figured out and even kept it together while I removed my hand and replaced it. Interesting that the clippers uncovered this hole in places he can be touched. 
• Removed fly wraps+mask again. We had a nice cool front come in and the flies shouldn't be too bad. The wraps are rubbing the lateral sides of his front fetlocks. Le sigh.
• Back to mild effusion in the fetlock.