New Barn - 1.5 week check in

I am SO SO in love with our new barn. I've also seen positive changes in Yosh. His rain rot? Gone. I would still 100% recommend Equiderma for those who are struggling with rain rot, but I am happy to not be slathering it on him every day! This barn uses fly predators and a very, very careful manure management program, so there are still flies, but there are not hoards of them. I gave his fly wraps to my friend still at the other barn, I'll eventually write something up about them, but again, I'm glad to not need them. 

Yoshi yesterday, free of bite marks and rain rot. 

We're still working on the turnout situation. The first intro to the herd... didn't go so well. I was spoiled by Zing for years and years. He would walk into the paddock or introduce himself over the fence with a definitive squeal and strike out. Then he would be in charge. Rarely another horse would try to pick at him and he'd put them back in line. He NEVER chased another horse, he did it all with a pinned ear or a look. Yoshi... kinda socially inept it seems. The barn owners have 4 horses all together. One is known for being a bully. And Yoshi runs from bullies rather than standing his ground. The top of the large 8 acre pasture is fenced with electric fence. At one point he ran straight towards it, veering at the last second. Not nerve wracking at all... he then got chased again and ran to the far end of the field where I went and rescued him. In the process of almost running into the electric tape, he also got kicked on the inside of his hind leg, just above the  hock. He was fine, but... yeah. While they are willing to set up fencing to divide the large pasture, it would really make life easier if he could get along. So he's now spent time in the large pasture with the three who are not bullies getting to know them and getting to know the pasture. We also trail rode the two horses together. Yoshi initially was reluctant to get anywhere near him but then started getting more comfortable. Hopefully these things make a second intro go better. The horse actually had his incisors extracted due to odontoclastic tooth resorption. Which means he really can't bite well. If only I could tell Yoshi that. 

Dressage arena in the large pasture. It's since been moved into... 

The arena with footing behind the barn. I didn't snap a picture of it after the move though 

The barn owners continue to be absolutely lovely people. I had a lot of fun trail riding with Ms. GY, chatting about life and horses. It's really nice to feel welcomed and like they care about Yoshi as much as they care about their own horses. Mr. GY asked me if I wanted to have his dentist look at Yosh. At his PPE the vet said his teeth had been taken down pretty aggressively, so I didn't think there would be much to do, but said sure. And oh boy am I glad I did. He had not had the back two molars done... ever apparently. The dentist gave him a pretty big dose of sedative because she thought that might've been the reason they hadn't done them, but he was actually amazing. The lower back molar was so tall that it was locking the upper molar in place when he went to chew side to side. This lead to masseter muscle atrophy - actually what Mr. GY had picked up on that prompted him to ask.

He does have a dainty face, but there should be more muscle just above the cheekpiece of the halter and in front of the crown piece. 

The dentist noted that he likely had a very nice soft mouth - she said she could tell by the way they mouthed her hand/the float while she was working. True and neat observation. She said he should be able to flex at the poll much better and this should help him work correctly through his neck and fill in the hollow cranial to his withers. I took mild offense to her saying this, the implication being he hadn't been working correctly. Well... he hasn't been working at all, but I didn't interrupt to fill her in on all that info. She also fixed his incisors which actually met in a diagonal line (ie longer top incisors on the left, shorter on the right meeting with longer bottom incisors on the right and shorter on the left). I wish I had pictures to demonstrate, but I was holding his head. 

She was big on the biomechanics of the mouth, not just taking off the hooks/points. She said too often people just go in, take those off, and then don't address WHY that happened. I asked her about his drooling. I don't think I've mentioned it here, but he drools at odd times. Often after eating grass, rarely after eating hay/grain, seems more common when he's nervous, but that may also be because then his head is mostly straight up in the air, making the drool face level for me. She said he was getting food trapped back there and that is irritating to the cheek, leading to the drooling. I'm really curious if he stops now that his mouth is kinda better. She couldn't take too much off, needed time for the dentin to fill back in and grow, so she'll be back in 6 months to work on him again. 

New mouth, new feet, new coat, come on buddy, please stay sound for me! The dentist loved him, the barn owners love him, if he can stay sound he'll be just about a perfect horse. Kidding, there's not really such a thing, but hearing people compliment him is nice but also makes me wish silently that he were a bit less lovely and a bit more sound.