May 31- Rides # 105,106,107

On 5/4 Sherlock came in from the pasture cut. Again. Inner LF, just below the knee. Shallow, swollen only in inside of cannon bone. Bute in grain tonight. Asked them to keep in for me tomorow morning.

5/5 Leg still swollen a bit but not lame. Grain, turnout.

5/7 Leg still swollen but walking perfectly sound. Grain with BL solution.

5/8 ride #105. Grain, rode 30 minutes, walk/trot. Nice quiet ride, poles, turns, contact. Practiced emergency dismount.

5/9 ride #106. AM fed grain, no pasture turnout due to rain. PM rode 20  minutes bareback, walk, turns, whoa, back. Sherlock especially enoyed biting my foot today.


5/10. farrier AM. I was running late and din't stretch him first and he was pretty stiff. Geldings galloping out to pasture very distracting. Not good. Got through it but had some arguments.Wear patterns uneven- growth on RF and LH, the others didn't grow. She couldn't take mush off and he was sore afterwards. Put sole toughener on. Grain w/ Cosequin/ BL solution. Cut looking good, no swelling. Called Dr. Deb for chiro work.


5/13 1PM Dr. Deb Chiro appointment. Neck OK, hips needed work,  SI, T1, R hock. Well-behaved and quiet for adjustments. I told her the farrier admitted she thought I was crazy the first time she saw Sherlock (and the second and third as well) and Dr. Deb said she also thought I might have gone round the bend, but that I had ended up with a really nice horse once he relaxed and didn't have pain.

Preparing for lesson

5PM Ride #107 walk only lesson with Amy. Contact, 20m circle around x, wide hands, bending/counterbending, spiral in/out. Sherlock did very well- after  learning to counterbend he promptly used it against me to avoid going nto the corner. Now that I've taught him this I have to remember how to reverse it.  Archery work at halt and walk. Need guideline for distance, like a ground pole, he kept getting too close. Arrow bounced off edge of target and hit his shoulder- he didn't care. Good boy! No spookiness with new quiver.


Lots of rain and tender feet this week. Hand-grazing along our little road for calories and desensitizing. Be sure to check my next blog post about the Samurai exhibition- lots of horsey stuff there!

5/20 Rode in from pasture in the PM. Bareback with rope halter. Other geldings decided to come in too and galloped by, but Sherlock held up well. Some racehorse jig but settled nicely.

Yummy tall grass.

Muddy. Sherlock's R hip looked sore and stiff when turning.

5/25 Ears itchy, esp. Left. No unusual dirt, looked down in w/ flashlight...

5/26 Rode in from pasture. A little spooky at muskrat swimming in pond but handled it well.

5/28 So rainy lately, it looks like Sherlock has lost weight. Might just be that he's getting unfit again.  weight tape #874

5/29 weight tape #902. Rode in from pasture. Used emergency dismount due to Remington crowding the gate area. Sherlock was very good. Groomed, fed grain, found 4 tick bites on tail bone. Brushed out and applied scarlet oil to all. Ointment on leg, that cut is almost gone.


5/31 Good deep grooming and grain PM. Tickbites medicated and we grazed on the roadside again.