I didn't write since last week as absolutely nothing has gone on... we had a pretty bad freeze and a bunch of snow last week which meant I had all three horses in for several nights and I'm still trying to dig out Seamus' stall where the wet froze with a bunch of poop in it *blegh* Luckily when it's (relatively) warm I can leave the girls out and switch Seamus between their stalls. I am in dire need of shavings, though, hopefully Wednesday I can get them. Gotta pick up hay again, too!
Today was warmish, it got up to 40-something and it was decent enough when I got to the barn. Not wonderful since today also came with some rain, but at least it wasn't "wear my coveralls" cold. While Seamus was eating I tacked him up for the first time with a bareback pad. I modified a cheap one last summer for use on my Paso Fino by cutting off those nasty, narrow stirrups and that useless slick nylon girth and adding western rigging instead- Hey, no slip!
Since Seamus is still wearing MTG on a regular basis, I also put a thin western blanket under the pad. Per usual, Seamus wasn't the least bit bothered and ate while I fiddled. Then I put my reins on his halter, pulled up a bucket and started leaning. Just like last time, he couldn't care less so I swung up on him and sat for awhile to see if he'd act any different with a girth on. Nope, still nothing. Let him finish up his feed and asked him for his head which he gave willingly enough and asked him for a circle in the stall which he also had no problem with. He actually responds to a side-pull action very nicely as I am only using some gaming reins clipped onto his halter. I doubt if he was really trained to give to pressure, but he seems to already do that well enough. He's reactive to pressure but not over reactive to stimulus so I think he's got a good brain on him.
I pulled him out for his weekly pictures but left his gear on him for one, yeah it's pretty red-neck but I use what works LOL:
Here are the in-progress pics for the week:
As you can see, Seamus is starting to plump up pretty well though he still needs a topline. At least it is finally starting to fill in a little up there and get some padding. That will be the last to come in and will probably take quite a bit of time and lots of exercise to build the muscles back.
And I dearly wish I had someone out with me to stand at this goober's head so I could get some decent conformation shots! He's a total wiggle worm on the tie right now, he just doesn't know how to stand still out in the barn aisle yet. He doesn't pull on the time, he just moves all over and back n' forth. Again, I know it will take him some time to figure it out :) Meanwhile I put a lead rope on his halter and use it to pull him back where I want him, hence the rope trailing out of all the pictures LOL
I'm also desperate for warm weather as I really want to be giving this horse a bath! With his condition I have not wanted to get him any wetter than MTG or fungal spray would make him and what he really needs is a nose to tail scrubbing to get all the dirt out. Come on Spring!
No comments:
Post a Comment