Sunday, June 23, 2013

June 23- Good morning

June 23- Good morning

Daren recognized my voice this morning, or perhaps the aqua bucket, which again disappointed by being full of water. He tried a carrot slice but didn't think much of it. He had drunk a lot of water but not eaten much of a big tub of the "magic mixture" of beet pulp, oats and minerals.


He was quiet and calm, watching horses being ridden on all sides of him. He was interested in watching the trot poles. I couldn't find my good bath sponge but I rinsed him all over with a wet cloth, which he really loved, esp. face and neck.  I went a little too hard in the flank on the blind side and he stomped and then shied away. I told him I wasn't mad but went back more gently and he really relaxed. Cleaned his feet, he has toe grabs on the back so those REALLY need to come off before he can go out in a large paddock. I hope to move him to the small paddock with a calm companion tomorrow. But he may need to have the back shoes off before he can be with anyone, if you got kicked with this it would really cut.



We worked on the pre-basics of lunging- walking with me on each side. Very unhappy with me walking on the good side, he really likes having the handler "guarding" the blindside. But he did some very nice yields of both haunches and shoulder, stepping over well both directions. I really wanted to do gate work and walk the outer arena, but there were lots of riders so I just let him loose. I went over with my curry and brush and got one side really clean, and he lasted most the of the other side before he wanted a break. Talked with R some about Jack and lunging the one-eyed horse.

I got a fresh bucket of water and topped the magic mixture up and gave it a good stir, and he came and ate more of it. More people wanted to let their horses run so I backed out. Their horse Byron was pretty wild today but Daren was careful of the fences and never even really got galloping today. Still he got some strong trotting in and met a more dominant horse very calmly with no backing down but no fighting either. After they were done I gave him a little hay and he was keen for that and didn't get upset when I left.
Watching the other horses run





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