Friday, January 30, 2009

I had an awesome day yesterday! The weather was gorgeous, perfect for a long ride. But I didn't ride for long. I tried out a different bosal-type thingie on Tonka. It has a rope nose so wouldn't have been my first choice but it was available to borrow so I thought what the heck. He seemed to like it, although he was a bit confused at first about whether to tuck his nose or turn his head. He was in a good place yesterday, I didn't have to touch my reins to stop him, his backing was superb. His steering could have been better, but it was a new thing and he was worried about "his" baby that we left in the pasture.

I've known for a while that his sheath was bothering him, he's been rubbing his tail. Never when I was looking, so I thought Scout was chewing it off, but it was too much in the area where they normally rub if they're itchy or irritated. When I unsaddled him I ran my hand under him and when I bumped his sheath he really flinched. I felt bad I let it go for this long. The weather has been mostly bad, but I could have done it on one of the nice days we had this month. So I went and got the Excalibur and thawed it out and gave him a good cleaning. He was a very good boy. I couldn't get all the gunk out, there was so much of it. How long do I have to wait before doing it again so I don't over-irritate the area? Anyone know?

Then I rushed to get ready to go to Spokane. Went to a couple feed/tack stores. The price of hoof rasps has gone up a LOT! Either that or this was an expensive store. I haven't bought one there before. But it was fun to browse around and I got the dogs and the kids some little toys.

Then I picked up my friend Laura and we went to see Lyric. He's looking good. I wished I had brought my camera.

When we were done there we headed out to the Inland Empire Mustang Horse Club meeting. Talked about all the fun stuff we're going to do this year. No exact dates yet but I'll let you know as soon as dates are set. We're going to do Mustang Days again, with an open schooling show to draw in more people. An overnight trail riding trip out near Odessa and some day rides but not sure where yet.

Today I think I'm going to set up an obstacle course and get Scout out and play with him. Maybe work on trailer loading. Maybe get Bella out to play too. It will depend on how long I can stand it out in the wind. It's warm today, but the wind is pretty fierce.

5 comments:

Linda said...

I wanted to go to the meeting, but it's hard to do anything on school nights. Shiloh was having a melt down about a speech she has to give this morning. (She gets horrible panic attacks). So, we spent the evening preparing her. It's always something when you have kids. But I hope to do something with the club this year.

That sheath cleaning has never been my strong point. What is the Excalibur?

Andrea -Mustang Saga said...

Oh how awful! A speech! I HATED those. I'm glad you're there to help her out.

Excalibur is a gel that you use to clean the sheath. (The name cracks me up!) It smells like tea tree oil and it's supposed to be non-irritating. Although I'm sure anything is irritating when the skin there is already irritated...

gtyyup said...

I would thing you could clean again in about a week or so...see what his reaction is...whether he's sensitive or not. Poor guy. It's funny how some are really clean and some just get filthy.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your inspiring posts - our weather's been awful, but you make we want to get out and work with my horses!

Lady Of Chaos said...

You could try just warm water and the orignal blue Dawn/Ivry dish soap if you can find it. I don't use Excalibur on my boys at all. I'd wait a week and see if there is any reaction or improvement and then clean him again.