June Wrap Up

Goggles: The obvious big news of the month was Goggles' super adventure at the Florida Horse Park where he decided dressage was sorta kinda chill (or he was reallllly tired from schooling the day before) and then jumped two beautiful, rideable, clear rounds. 

Photo by BNB Photography 

Every time I look at this picture I think that this is a horse for a 6 foot tall man. I'm 5'6". LOL. Photo by BNB Photography

Photo by BNB Photography

Other notable fun moments include ponying his big bro off property (in the bareback pad no less) and having a pretty nice little hack from the farm. 

Definitely no pictures from the hack itself, but a post picture

The yearling from the barn accompanied him to JT's one day when he was getting a training ride. He was VERY in love with her and VERY concerned when she left him to go explore. Whole llama here. 

Then he was spooked by the ice boots drying on the ground

But AT put him to work and still got some really nice stuff from him 

There's soooooo much body to put together at the canter

And he even did some really nice stretchy trot at the end, Good BOY!

 

	Ben	Goggles
Training rides	0	1 – flat
Lessons	0	3 – two jump one flat
Hacks	2 – ponied from Gogs	3
Ground work, lunge, long line	3	2
Flat rides	1	3
Conditioning rides	0	0
XC school	0	1 – FHP
Shows	0	1 - POP

Ben: Ugh. The experimentation in being barefoot is not going that well. He had both wraps on for all of two weeks before losing the left front and then the right front. The right front is his low foot and is the one that gets sore more easily. It also started raining which meant that his feet have started crumbling. I've started him on biotin, a Zn:Cu supplement because some reading made think that the very high iron content in our water here might be causing a relative deficiency in Zinc and Copper. I also applied Hoof Armor to his hind feet at the end of last month and they looked really pretty good until a week ago. So once both his wraps fell off, I went ahead and did his front feet. They were already pretty torn up though; I'm not sure it will stick as well to very chipped up feet, but who knows. The barn owner had a new barefoot trimmer out who she really liked, but Ben really does not have enough foot to take anything off at this moment. I'm not sure how to break the cycle either. To even put shoes back on it looks like they'd have to be glue ons right now. 

He did go for a few lunges, one ride, and the two hacks ponied off Goggles when he was having good days. So he's still doing a few things, but not much. It's REALLY FREAKING HOT so if he stuck to a normal horse schedule he'd be having a few weeks off around this time of year anyways. But as I've lamented before, he doesn't like to do that. 

I cringe posting these pictures because I know they look awful. What I don't know is what to do about it. 

Hinds look a bit better

I did give him a summer hair cut though, which I think he likes. Honestly he just enjoys being fussed over in general. 

Summer hair cut! I did it with scissors because there's no electric at the barn. It could be worse. 

Once a week we're doing acupuncture for his feet and for ulcers. He loves the attention in the stall under the fan. It certainly works well for his local muscle soreness from his feet hurting, but I don't know if it is having an effect on the foot pain itself. 

He and Goggles are also going out together mostly now. It's... okay. They LOVE having each other to hang out with, but Goggles is kinda (okay, really) an asshat. He goes after Ben for no reason. Not with real vigor, so when he's in work Ben is quick enough and gets out of the way. But when I went out of town I came back to a very bit up Ben. I split them up when I went to NC for a few days at the end of the month to try to save Ben's hide. The bites are right on that fine line between doing enough damage for me to want to separate them and just removing fur... They are happier together and go off and eat and stand in the shade and such, but Goggles is really pushing it close to the point of me separating them again. 

I don't usually post life updates here, but... (slightly graphic photo to follow)...

24 hours in the hospital for cellulitis was fun... I have extra sympathy for the horses. It didn't hurt too much unless I tried to do ANYTHING with the hand. Can't imagine how that works when it is your leg.  

Don't get bit by Chihuahuas ya'll, they seem to have teeth like a cat (small punctures with lots o bacteria) that had this whole thing swelling up within three hours and then leaking puss within eighteen. The lymphangitis running up my arm was what prompted me to go to the ER. Fortunately it turned around pretty quickly with IV antibiotics. 

To not end on a gross note, here's some NC shots. 

Young(ish) bear from the porch! Eek!

She went with me to NC because she loves it up there

But she does hate being in her carrier for the car ride, poor mittens