Hurricane.... yeah, right

So much for that hurricane we were getting all these warnings about turned into a big fat nothing.... big surprise.  It rained.  That was it.

Horses have been in for a few days because of all the rain.  Princess is fine, but I'm sure The Mare is displeased.  She doesn't like being stalled.

I was going to make Riv a pretty big batch of beep/falf pellets.  I filled a tupperware thing at home and added some hot water to presoak on the way to the barn.  You know, it's hard to judge volume with differently shaped containers..  The tupperware thing was full to the top by the time I got to the barn, and that was with not-much water.  Dumped it into two 8qt pails and added more water.  By the time it was done-ish, both pails were almost completely full to the top.  Plus grain.  So River's breakfast consisted of about 2 gallons of feed.  Probably about 3/4 of that is beep/falf, the remainder grain.  Yeah... kinda made more than I was planning...

Haven't ridden in a few days, just been too busy.  Maybe tonight, but not sure.  I think I'm kind of sick.. I keep getting lightheaded and just feel out of sorts.  Probably not ideal conditions for riding...

O. M. G.

Rode Princess Wednesday.

He was being fairly good at the trot, so I said what the heck, we'll try a canter, even though I hadn't really planned on it.

He picked up a left lead canter promptly.  He held it around the ring, on THREE 20 meterish circles, and around the ring again.  What!!!!  Once he settles into the canter, I feel very comfortable and secure.  The first couple strides aren't great, but after that it's good.  I feel, as my beloved George Morris would say, tight as a tick.

Because he was being so very good, we changed direction and asked for a right lead canter.  He did it.  Yes, River/Riv/Princess/Mr. Rd./River Mountain Rd. successfully picked up a right lead canter.  On the first attempt, no less!  It was crooked and unbalanced and uncomfortable and only lasted down the long side (he broke as soon as we got to the corner), but he did it!!!

Then we went back to trotting and being good, which he did.  He's really getting it, but mostly on a circle.  Straight lines are apparently tricky.  *shrug*

I worked the poor boy half to death....

He was very very sweaty.  And yes, he's wandering loose in the indoor.  He was supposed to stand quietly while I took a picture of his sweaty self, but he was not cooperating.

I untacked him and let him wander about in the indoor for a few minutes while I put my things away.

He doesn't really get the point.

Also Wednesday:  Pulled him out of the stall, and what do I find?

I know it's a bad picture.  For some reason, pictures at the barn taken with the flash never turn out well.  Anyway.  He's missing a bell boot.  And I kid you not, on the way to the barn I was thinking "wow, he's been wearing those bell boots nonstop since May and they're still holding on great!"  Hah!  Dumb boy.

Super-awesome farrier came yesterday.  I brought Princess and The Mare in to wait and went back out to find the missing bell boot.

In the round bale pile.  (That's the remains of the old round bales.  Not the stuff they're expected to eat.  Although I'm sure they do eat it because they're dumb like that.)  Silly me, looking in the mud by the gate and water!  Obviously he'd pull his bell boot off on dry, level ground!

Super-awesome farrier arrived without his trailer... he kinda forgot that Princess has shoes.  It worked out perfectly, though, because I was going to ask about pulling his shoes and having him barefoot for the winter.  Neither of them were long enough to really trim, so I got a shoe-pulling lesson.  Super-awesome farrier will be back in a couple weeks to trim them up, unless Princess has problems without the shoes.  Not only did I not I have a write a big fat check, I got some trimming advice, and Riv gets a couple week trial without shoes to see how things go.

Eh.

Rode Princess last night.  It was so-so.  He wasn't really bad.... but he wasn't really good, either.  I tried him in a drop noseband, so maybe he didn't care for it.  I've never actually used a drop before and may not have adjusted it correctly.  Probably should have taken a picture for input.... ah well.  I never claimed to be all that smart.  He also hadn't been ridden in a few days, so maybe he just needs a ride or two to get back into it..  Yeah, we'll go with that excuse.  He does seem to be getting a little more supple, so that's something.  We didn't canter, just walked and trotted.

I think he's putting weight on.  I hadn't seen him without a sheet on since Thursday, and he seemed to be a bit fuller across his ribs and topline.

Another boarder had bought beep shreds for her horse, and then decided he was too fat and gave the beep to me.  So Princess and The Mare got extra beep last night, AND beep this morning.  (I do morning chores on Tuesdays.  It's yucky and rainy, so I left the horses in.  I wouldn't normally give them beep in the morning because it takes too long to eat, but they have all day to finish it.)  The nice thing about shreds is that the soak in no time in hot water.  They each got a 2 gallon bucket about 2/3 full of soaked beep this morning, plus grain and oil.  They'll get more beep and falf and BOSS and oil tonight.  Porky ponies!  The Mare is looking good, so I'll probably start cutting her back soon.

Things That Annoy Me

I don't have much to say about Princess.  He didn't get ridden Friday because someone was taking a lesson and I didn't want to intrude or hang around for them to finish.  I didn't see him at all on Saturday.  Sunday, I brought him in and fed him, and that was it.  Actually, Sunday was a pretty horrible day.  I work 6AM - 12 at the gas station/convenience store.  Then I have a 30 minute drive to a barn to do 14 stalls... and of course there was almost no bedding, so that sucked.  Then popped over to the baby's barn to pick out a couple of stalls and put those horses out.  Then 30 minutes driving to Riv's barn to do stalls and night chores there.  On the bright side, two people had already done their own stalls, so I only had 10!!  But still, night chores take me a good 2.5 hours.. and I watered the indoor, so that's another hour or more.  It was about a 15 hour day, and it sucked.


So since I don't have much to say about Princess except that he's alive, I'm going to talk about things that annoy me at work.

Things That Annoy Me at the Gas Station/Convenience Store

1.  "I'd like $10 on pump... uh, that one over there." Seriously?  You can't take 2 seconds to look at the really big number on your pump, and then retain that information for another 15 seconds?  I don't know what pump you're on.  I don't know what car you're driving.  And when it's 6AM and still dark outside, I can't see out the window to guess.  Know what pump you're on, or risk being punched in the face.

2.  People who throw money at me/people who ignore my outstretched hand to put their pennies on the counter so I have to pry them up.  It's incredibly rude.  Don't do it.  I don't throw things at you, please return the courtesy.

3.  People who are talking on their phone or to another person in the store and therefore completely ignoring me.  Hi, see me here, waiting to help you?  Guess what?  I have other things to do!  When you stand there ignoring me, I can't leave to go do one of the other 18 things I have to do, nor can I take care of you.  Please don't be rude.  Don't waste my time.  If you're too engrossed in your conversation, wait until you're finished to approach my register.  If you're on your cell phone, hang up.  You're not that important.  The person you're talking to is not that important.  Don't be a douche.

4.  People who paw through the stack of newspapers.  What's wrong with the one on top???  There's one guy who does this EVERY SINGLE TIME, and I'm about ready to ask him what makes the paper he selects so much better than the one on top.  Thanks for making a mess of my carefully arranged stack, I appreciate it!

5.  People who insist on filling their coffee to the very top, and then refuse to use a lid so they walk through the store trailing drips of coffee all over the floor.  Jerk.

6.  When people put their purchases on the counter as far away from me as humanly possible, so I have to crawl across it to scan them.  I usually respond by picking up said item(s), scanning them, and putting them on the counter as far from the customer as possible.  How do you like it?!

Double Negatives

-5 x -5 = +25
I don't have no horses = I have horses
Unbalanced River + Unbalanced River = Balanced River

We tried cantering last night.  Actually, I'm going to take a quick detour...

I made my rule about no horses unless I do work.  So Tuesday I skipped the barn and got some stuff done.  Wednesday, I decided I would cheat and do the barn first really really fast and then do work.  Except I got to the barn just before 7 to find out that every other Wednesday, starting that Wednesday, the arena will be in use by the 4-H dog club from 7-8.  So my cheating totally didn't work!  On the bright side, I got a lot done on my schoolwork.

So back to last night.  To recap, friend cantered and jumped him Sunday, I cantered him Monday, then he had two days off.  I wasn't sure if we were going to try cantering or not, but I figured, why not.  He picked up a nice canter to the left, we circled a couple times, went all the way around the ring, and came back to the trot like a good boy.

Because he picked it up so well, I decided to try the depart from the walk.  Well, he almost got it!  He took a couple trot steps and settled nicely into a canter.  Cantered a bit, came back to trot for a while, asked for the canter again.  He picked up the right lead, aka the wrong lead.  Sorted that out, then I decided, hey, since he's already cantered on the right lead, let's change directions and actually ask for it!

Um, no.  We tried from the trot.... left lead, every time.  Tried from the walk... got several nice (albeit green) left lead canter departs.

Apparently, River can only canter on the right lead if we're going to the left.  He can only do nice left lead departs if we're going to the right.

Talking to a friend, we decided that River is so unbalanced that when he unbalances himself further, he magically becomes balanced.  Like a double negative.

Dumb boy.


Also, the antibiotic ointment + diaper rash cream is working on the yucky scabby patch on his fetlock.  I don't know if it's treating the cause of the yucky scabbies, but it's at least softening the scabs so they come off, and it's not spreading.  It's progress.

OH.  I almost forgot the most exciting piece of news.....


RIVER UNDERSTANDS CARROTS.

Thus far, the only treats he's been able to eat have been peppermints.  *Maybe* candy canes.  I pulled a bunch of carrots out of our garden and decided to try a couple of the little ones on River, not expecting him to actually eat them.. he did!!  Without hesitating!  My goodness, he's such a smart boy!


And last, but certainly not least....  River's SmartPaks

 They can fit his whole name on them now!!!  He's no longer Princess Rive!

No Princess tonight

Unless I decide to work on my stupid IRB proposal and make enough progress that I can get to the barn before it's too late.  Which totally isn't going to happen.  But I am seriously considering making that my new rule.... no riding until AFTER I work on the proposal...

Today's interaction with Riv consisted of putting stuff on his leg and turning him out.  His leg... he's got this yucky patch of scabby skin on the outside of his RH fetlock.  It's very strange.  I tried treating it with MTG, but it didn't help.. if anything, the patch got bigger.  This morning, I put on triple antibiotic ointment and topped with diaper cream.  I'll see how that works...  No clue what it is, though.  If not for the location, I'd say scratches, but why would he only have scratches on his fetlock?  That doesn't make sense to me.  The patch is very dense--the area is entirely scabby and gross.  It's not very big, maybe 3" in diameter?  Maybe less...  It doesn't seem to bother him, except when I pick at it.  No idea what it is or where it came from..

And this, my friends, is why he is Princess.

A screw fell out of my saddle at some point.  It's a Collegiate convertible, the Diploma.  No words for how much I love this saddle.  If I won the lottery, I wouldn't upgrade.  But one of the outermost screws fell out, so the panels and bottom flap of my saddle is only attached to the seat and top flap with one screw and the stitching around the back of the seat.  And of course the easy-change gullet set doesn't come with replacements for THOSE screws, only the inside ones that hold the gullet plate in place.  How likely are you to really need a replacement for those?  Can they really come out when the saddle is together?  Doesn't seem likely to me.  Also:  who decided to call it the easy change gullet system?  Anyone who's tried to change the gullet knows it is anything but easy.  Very funny, Wintec/Weatherbeeta.  Well, anyway, I ordered the replacement screw pack.  Sadly, SmartPak doesn't carry it, nor are they willing/able to start carrying it, so I went to Victory Canter instead.  Bonus there is you get 5% cashback on your purchases and free shipping on orders over $40.

The screw set is about $11.  I also ordered a standing attachment (to try on Riv), a leather hole punch, a new pulling comb, and halter fleeces to cover up the buckle on Princess' halter that keeps rubbing him.  Grand total:  $40.05.  Am I good or what???

The only downside of Victory Canter is they are sooooooo sloowwwwwww.  I doubt I'll get my order before the end of next week.  Ah well, if I stick to my resolution, I probably won't be getting much use out of my saddle anyway.


Lastly, my baby has been being a brat.  Not for me, of course, but for other people.  Galloping by in the pasture and kicking out at them, that sort of thing.  She hasn't tried that stuff with me in a long time, now she knows attitude on her part is met with a solid whack from a crop or whatever I happen to have handy.  I've told the other people to carry a whip and use it, but I'm not sure that'll happen, so I'm trying to remind her of boundaries and manners.. she's already good for me, but maybe the lessons will stick with her with other people, too. 

Today, I took her for a walk down the road.  There's a pretty quiet side street that goes along one side of the barn, so we went down that.  It wasn't a long walk, probably no more than half a mile round trip, but it was her first time doing it.  There were quite a few cars... she was nervous but reasonably good.  I had her halt and stood between her and the car, keeping one hand at her head and one on her rump so she wouldn't swing into the middle of the road.  Thankfully, all the drivers were very good about slowing way down or even stopping and waiting for me to gesture them on.  On the way back, we jogged a little, especially practicing going from jogging to whoa.  I mostly want her to move on a hard surface, as what I've read indicates that that can help increase bone density.  A short walk with a bit of jogging on asphalt certainly won't hurt her, anyway.  Also, she's fat and needs exercise.  We're a good pair!  It must have looked silly, me jogging along the road with my horse in tow.

Hm, I suppose that's all for now..

Impending Apocalypse

Be warned!

I cantered River last night.  And survived.  Without fearing for my life at all.

I also rode The Mare.  She was... pleasant.  She didn't have any bitchy moments.  I can't even say how strange that is.  She's normally a complete, total, absolute bitch.  (Please note that I say this with love.  I wouldn't change her if I could.)

Obviously, this means the world will be ending.  Y'all should probably take care of anything you need to.  (Is it wrong that I'm from Buffalo and I use "y'all"?)

Back to Princess..  he doesn't really get the whole canter aids thing.  It goes like this:  trottrottrot, sit, ask for canter, TROTTROTTROT, steady, trottrottrot, sit, ask for canter,  TROTTROTTROT, steady, sit, ask for canter, TROTTROTCANTER.

We get there eventually, but it's not pretty.  I didn't use my whip, which is probably what we need... but I wasn't sure enough of him or me to do it.  Call me a wimp, but I didn't want to risk him doing something stupid.  Once we've cantered a couple more times I'll probably feel safer.  But we cantered I think 4 times, each going about once around the ring.  I must say, I really like his canter.  It feels big and forward without feeling out of control.  It's pretty comfy, too, which will only improve with better balance and when he learns to use himself properly.  We managed to canter a circle!  I wasn't sure he'd be able to balance on a fairly small circle--the arena is only 50' wide--but he did fine.  Thankfully, he's very easy to bring back to the trot.  Probably too easy, to be honest, but right now I'm happy with a horse who isn't inclined to run off on me.

I'd also like to note that my lovely ride on my mare--who I have ridden for ~5 years and owned for over 3 years and have jumped 3' on--did not include any cantering.  So we've got Princess, who I've had for less than a year and have only been seriously riding for less than two months.  And then we've got The Mare.  How is it my green OTTB is quieter, easier, and more sensible than my aged, broke mare?  Okay, yes, she is a chestnut Thoroughbred mare, but still...

Also, I finally got pictures from a show I took The Mare to about three years ago....

(Note how The Mare completely matches the horses on the standards.)
(Yes, I've gained a ton of weight since then... switching from barn work to a desk job and then being unable to walk for months sucks.  Granted, I've been as good as I'm going to get for like a year, so I can't use the cripple excuse anymore.)

See, I used to be able to ride!  Gosh I love my mare...

Cantering and jumping

(But not at the same time.)

First, River cantered under saddle on purpose for the first time today!  It took some work to get him into it, but once he got going it looked pretty nice.  Obviously he needs balance and muscle and all that, but I think we've got pretty decent raw material.

Because he was being good and I had a willing victim... I mean, rider... who is far braver than I am, Riv did some jumping..

I hadn't planned on putting it up that high... and by "that high" I mean "still under 2 foot"....  but he wasn't putting any effort into it lower.  He just trotted blandly over it..  which is a good thing, I guess, considering my horses usually see jumping as an excuse to run around like crazy.

He really was SUCH a good boy.  He didn't stop at the jump at all, nor did he rush it.  He did knock it repeatedly...  I don't know how to interpret that.  Is he sufficiently talented that little speedbumps like this don't even phase him, or is he so completely untalented that even a tiny jump is beyond his capabilities?  Time will tell, I guess..

OMG! How perfect!

A few posts ago, I said it was my 100th post.  Looking at my account, I realize that the total post count includes unpublished drafts.  So my *actual* 100th post was our first jump!  Is that perfect or what??

Why do I bother?

Sometimes I set up trot poles.  As in multiple poles precisely spaced for trotting.  It never fails, we manage to trot through once, maybe twice before he crashes through them and renders them unusable.  So I can either dismount and fix them or stay on and not go over the poles.  I prefer option B.  That's what happened last night..  He could really use the trot pole work, but we can't use them because he's a clod.  I suppose if I get my cavaletti, that would work--they're solid and heavy enough he'd have a hard time messing them up.  But they're solid and heavy enough that I don't fancy moving them into the indoor to ride and then taking them back out when I'm done.  So he gets a stay of execution.

Besides being a dumb boy, he was good yesterday and today.  Nothing special, just working on relaxing and giving.  Today he tried to stop by the gate, I whacked him, and he came very close to throwing a tantrum, but we managed to get through it without fireworks.  The next time he didn't stop, so he learned his lesson.

Pretty new halter got passed on to my baby today.

She's not quite 18 months old.  She wears the halter one hole smaller than River.  And, okay, it was a bit small on him, so she's like 2 holes smaller.  She's a half-pony yearling.  Riv is a 16.1hh Thoroughbred.  What??  In case you're interested, her withers are just under 15hh, her butt is 15.1 1/2".  *sigh*

I got braided her tail for fun.  I think it turned out okay considering I've never actually braided a tail before.  She's got the pony tail.  It is ridiculously full and thick.  She also has the pony metabolism.  No grain in months, just grass, and she's FAT.  I'm looking forward to winter so she can slim down.  She may get a grazing muzzle come spring...

Okie doke, that's all for tonight.  River is being cantered tomorrow for the first time!

We jumped again!!

See??!?!?!?!!

Sorry for the big chunk of dead space in the middle, youtube didn't seem to have a way to get rid of it.

Isn't he a good pony????  He cantered several times after the jump, but he wasn't stupid about it and he came back to the trot when I asked.

He was also REALLY good about relaxing and giving at the trot, though obviously it doesn't show in the jumping videos.  So so proud of the Princess!

Speaking of which....  funny story.  So I was at the barn and some people showed up.  I went out to get Riv and they were down by the paddocks looking at the horses.  A boy, maybe 8 or 10 years old, is talking to me, saying he rides, asking what horse I'm getting... very sweet kid.  I call for Princess and he comes over, I talk to him and the kid, and we head up to the barn to get tacked up.  Kid runs up to his dad and says "Dad, this is Princess!"  So I'm giggling to myself because the kid thinks Riv's name is actually Princess..  I clarified that he's really River, but I call him Princess because he's a wimp.

Bad news is, his pretty new halter isn't going to work.  His old halter was too big and rubbing the pointy bone above his eye, whatever that's called.  The new halter is too small and is rubbing the point of his cheekbone pretty badly.  Maybe his new name should be Goldilocks...  So pretty new halter will go to my baby instead, and maybe I'll just wrap the rubbing buckle on the big halter with fleece or something and call it good.

Really hoping to have time to ride tomorrow!

We jumped!!

Okay, so it's not much of a jump, but I don't care!  He jumped it and I didn't die!!  He was a very good boy about it, too.  The first time, he broke to a walk and awkwardly hopped over it.  The second time, I didn't really ride and so he was like "ummmmm.... let's go over here instead" but was good when I steered him back.  He got better every time until he was happily trotting forward over it without hesitating or making a big deal about it.

Then we worked on being forward and relaxed and giving.  He was okay.

Last, I decided to try halting and asking him to flex and soften his jaw.  He was confused at first, so there was lots of backing up and going sideways while he tried to figure it out, but after a few minutes, he got it.  He actually softened his jaw and relaxed into the bit, AND we were able to flex from one side to the other without fuss!  Such a good princess!

Because he was good about flexing, even if he was confused and wiggling around, I asked him to trot, which he did (while relaxing and giving!!).  We just went halfway around the ring--just enough to end on a forward note.

We had a very very good ride!

Oh dear.

Princess got longed in side reins yesterday so we could practice cantering.

He's gotten better about longeing.

Which is not to say that he's gotten good about longeing.  He's just less bad.

He's starting to understand that he must go FORWARD.  Stopping to face me and backing up are not acceptable responses.  On the bright side, he got a good butt workout when he did decide to back up... he'd backbackback, and then when I cracked the whip good and made him go, he'd spring off his hindquarters and move smoothly forward.  Or he'd spring off his hindquarters and buck to let me know he doesn't appreciate having a whip cracked at his rump.  I did end up closing the sliding door back into the barn so he couldn't see in.. otherwise he gets too distracted and hopes he can quit and go home.

Going to the left, he ended up being pretty good about going around and not stopping.  Asking to canter was tricky..  I don't think he really knows what "canter" means, so we'll work on that. 

The right wasn't so good.  Partly because he's an OTTB, partly I think because we spent a while going to the left and he was tired.  But he was a reasonably good boy.

I wrote on my friend's wall, the one who is willing to canter River...

Me:  So, cantering River this weekend probably won't work... we practiced cantering on the longe and there was lots of running around and bucking..

Her:  Let me know if he is still stupid later this week 
Me:  Just to clarify... you want me to let you know if my horse who injured himself bucking me off and has lumps of bone on his head from repeatedly walking into walls is still stupid in a few days.  Right. Will do

Tuesday morning is my AM chores day... walking my guys out to their turnout:

 Princess in his new halter.  Stupid weirdly sized head.  I suppose the horse size would have worked after all, but his previous horse sized halter was too big, so I went with cob. 

My 100th post!

Too bad it's not really exciting enough for such a momentous occasion....

I rode him Friday and Saturday.  It takes a while to get him figuring out contact and giving, but he was better the second day.

Saturday was pretty entertaining...  there was a lesson going on when I rode.  A western lesson.  The type of western where the horse moves as slooowwwllllyyyyyy as possible, and then a little bit slower.  Meanwhile, I had to dismount and ask the instructor to hold River so I could go get my whip because Princess was not moving forward or off my leg.  So you've got Mr. Slow Poke western horse jogging... and then me and River, probably looking like we were careening wildly out of control in comparison.  And me clucking and growling and smacking Riv to make him go MORE!  It's not a very big indoor, so it went like this:  Start trotting around, circle at A to avoid running up on western horse, trot on, circle at C to avoid running up on western horse, trot on, circle at A......

It was the first time I've ridden him with another horse since we moved and he was a very good boy.  At the end, I let him walk around and we practiced not stopping at the gate going back into the barn.  He really likes to stall there, apparently hoping I'll get the hint and put him away.  The first time he stopped, I popped him with my whip a couple times, and he tried to kick out!  Which got him a good kick back from me.  We circled past the gate a few times, with me carefully not touching him so he would be free to stop if he wanted to, but he was smart and didn't try to stop again.


Hanging out in the aisle waiting to go back in his stall:

Unicorn boy!

His enormous stall:

The pictures don't adequately show it, but this stall is huge.

Oh, and good news!  I have a volunteer to canter him for the first time!  Which means I'll have to longe him a few times and work on canter departs...

Hmm

I haven't posted in a few days, so I can't remember what's happened..

I rode at some point this week.  Tuesday, I think?  He was pretty good.  He's getting better about moving off leg.  We even attempted a leg yield at the trot.  It looked more like a drunken elephant trying to dance, but hey, he tried.  Not every horse can be smart or graceful..  Unfortunately, at the end of the ride, he turned up lame.  Not horribly lame, I think he just tweaked something being a silly clod.  Last night I took him out in the indoor to see him move and he was fine, so apparently whatever he did was no big deal.  He was trotting so nice and forward... he really has a lovely trot.

The ponies have actually worn clothes a couple times!  Just sheets so they don't get wet if it rains.  I'm almost looking forward to it getting cold so I can stop checking the forecast to see when the weather will call for clothes and when I'll be able to stop out and get them dressed.  They'll just have clothes on all the time, and that'll be that.  Much simpler.

Yesterday afternoon I stopped by quickly to say hi.

My poor, abused, overworked horses.

I ended up going to Tractor Supply and picking up some things, so they'll be getting an extra meal most nights.  I got beet pulp pellets, alfalfa pellets, and a cheap version of Omega Horseshine.  I have baggies made up...  1 cup each of beep and falf, and about a half cup of Horseshine.  Then I just have to dump the baggie into a little bucket, add hot water, and wait.  When it's ready, I add in about 2 cups of BOSS and a bunch of the extra grain I have in my car (Purina Omolene 500...  yeah yeah, NSC!!!  But it's 12% protein and 8% fat... they'll live).  Mix it all together, add in a generous splash or two of oil, and you have a yummy meal!  Well, yummy if you're a horse...  Last night I made one baggie and split it between them.  Princess can be a picky eater and I didn't want him overwhelmed with new(ish) food.  I may increase the amount of beep and falf they get, I haven't decided yet.  Hopefully a month or two of this will help get their weight where I want it and then we can go back to a maintenance level.  By the way, I have the hardest time spelling "maintenance".  I never get it right.

Also, my mare is a disgusting pig in her stall.  By morning, it looks like her stall was bedded down with nothing but poop and urine.  It's nasty.  I contacted the BO earlier in the week to see if I could put up a hay net--the mare isn't crazy about being stalled, so she fusses and paces and makes a mess.  I was thinking a hay net might slow down her eating and give her less time to be upset about being stalled.  My main concern wasn't really for her happiness, I just don't want the BO getting annoyed that my horse is a slob and is wasting bedding.... yeah, I'm not very nice.  BO responded that they'd noticed it too and were thinking about switching stalls, which is totally fine with me.  So now the mare is in River's previous stall, right next to a wee pony.  River is across the aisle in the biggest stall in the barn... seriously, it's got to be like 12 x 18 or something ridiculous like that.  They seem pretty happy.

So that's about it, I think..

I did trim a horse on Wednesday... Yikes.  It's going to take a few trims to get her feet in order.  I have to wonder if the farrier who's been doing her is purposely doing the worst possible job.  I'm not sure how it's possible to get feet so out of balance without really trying to do it..

Here are a couple before/afters.

Left front:

Right front:

That's all for now!