Lyrical Equine: October Wrap Up

	Ben	Butterball	Goggles
Training rides	0	1 – Dressage	10
Lessons	0	4 – 1 XC, 2 jump, 2 dressage	0
Hacks	1 - Ponied	8 – 1 in hand, 6 bareback, 1 with Goggles	1 – with Butterball
Ground work, lunge, long line	4 – 2 lunge w/ Equiband, 2 lunge	2 lunge	2 – 1 lunge w/Equiband, 1 block 1
Flat rides	3	5	7
Conditioning rides	0	3 – Watermelon pond trot and canter, 2 aquatred	0
XC school	0	2	0
Shows	0	0	0

Ben: On the 31st, his barefoot trimmer and I came up with a new plan for him. He's only been keeping wraps on for a couple of weeks, which is frustrating for everyone involved. After the wrap came off, he had chipped up his left front toe beyond the point she said she would have taken it back to. But he did have enough heel that for the first time she had to remove a tiny bit. Overall we both feel like we're making progress. He isn't lame at the walk at all anymore, and back in May he was VERY sore without the wraps and lame at the walk. But he's about 90% when they're on and about 70-80% when they're not.

Right front, has come a loong way from May

Left front wanting to be a teeny tiny foot, but still a much better shape and with more foot than back in May

After chatting with her, we decided to forgo the wraps, start Copper Sulfate spray on his front feet 2x a day for a few days and then Hoof Armor, and try hoof boots for riding. A loooong way down the internet rabbit hole, I decided on Scoot Boots and have pictures in their app, waiting for them to tell me what size to order.

He saw his favorite sports medicine vet partway through the month and she was quite pleased with him overall. She isn't normally a barefoot person, but she understood my frustration this spring and said it was worth a try. She feels like it is working pretty well for him because his condition and muscling look great. And other than the feet, everything seems to be good for him these days which is great.

So October wasn't really the month he returned to three or four work sessions a week. Instead we averaged two. Partially because if anyone is going to get pushed by lack of time, it's him, and partially because he had better and worse days and I am not pushing him to do things if he's not feeling great on his feet that day.

Goggles: Kiddo was fully launched back into a program this month and spent two weeks down at JT's with AT doing 2 days on, 1 day off. He had a few trials and has been a perfect angel for each one. The type of people who think they need a five year old TB is absolutely wild, but I'll leave it at that.

He's headed to the recognized event at Majestic on November 9th to put a second USEA event on his record. After that we'll just continue plugging away at things as we would have if he weren't for sale. A mix of training rides and me riding him, XC schools, etc etc.

His coat is looking absolutely lovely right now

The "arena" is this area. The woods provide lovely shade in the afternoons. But they also house a LOT of animals right now. And it is breezy. And everything is rustling. There were deer for the entirety of my 30 minute ride with Butterball a week ago. They finally went crashing away at the very end. Least helpful, thanks. Shocking no one, Ben is having the hardest time coping. Slightly shocking, Goggles is actually doing the best. Butterball contents himself with tilting his head and trying to counter bend whenever we're close to the woods. But Goggles is pretty content to trust me that it's fine and just work. Good boy!

Butterball: As shown on the chart, we did a looooooot of hacking this month. He's gotten a few compliments on his fitness, so I think it is paying off. And as discussed, hacking him just delights me. He had five days off in October, which fits with the six day a week schedule I was told worked best for him. His activities this month have definitely been the most written about, so I don't have a lot to add.