Mustang Saga

You'd think with the kids back in school I'd have all the time in the world to blog, read blogs, eat bon-bons and lounge about in my pajamas. Somehow I haven't been spending much time on the computer though. Between cooking, cleaning, driving around, exercising, and reading my book, which is rather absorbing (Tolstoy again), I don't have a lot of extra time on my hands. Weird how that happens - no set plan for the day and all the sudden it's full of stuff to do.

I finally made time to play with Tonka today. I trimmed his hooves over the last couple days (the lazy woman's way to trim). I've also been medicating his rainrot (?) as best I can in the cold without clipping him. I think today was the third day I put Vetericyn on it. I talked to my vet about it and he said, "I don't know why that stuff works." Basically he doesn't put much stock in it. But it doesn't have to be rinsed, which is important in this cold weather. I just spot treat. The only area I "clipped" was on his flank. I cut it rather long with scissors, but short enough that I can get close to the skin more easily. His neck I can't clip in this weather, so I just do my best to find all the little bumps and get stuff rubbed into them. I still think it's weird that he got rain scald only on the lower part of his neck, under his jaw, and on the lower part of his flank. I never see him with lots of wet that stays long in those areas. It usually drips off before it gets there. But even so, my vet thought that's what it was (just a phone conversation, he didn't see it).

In this picture you can see where I cut his flank hair:

Anyway, back to the exciting fact that I actually got my horse out today. I think he enjoyed himself. We didn't do much, just some real easy circles to get him moving and then a leisurely ride around the field. He totally cracked me up when we were done. I had set my hat and his lead rope on the table and I was thinking I wished I didn't have to get off to get them (too low to reach). I rode in that direction and when we got there he picked up my hat, so I asked him to bring his head around and I grabbed it. No luck with the rope. He totally didn't understand what I wanted. At one point he picked it up but then he dropped it off the table. After that he tried putting his hoof up on the table to see if that's what I wanted (luckily it's sturdy and anyway he didn't press down). I got down and tried to make what I wanted more obvious, but no go. I'm thinking this might be something handy to work on though. Would be nice to have my horse hand me stuff I can't reach. But it might create a monster! He's already a mouthy guy.

I also got to put my new breastcollar and cinch on my saddle. I got a screaming deal on the breastcollar. It's the shape I like, with plenty of room for his shoulders to move, and it's the right color. The cinch was a gift, a wide string roper cinch, luckily without those pesky Smart Cinch buckles (they make it hard to put my cinch buckle in the keeper on the saddle when I'm not riding). But I did want to cushion the bite of the cinch rings, so I got these "Cincha Ring Safes" made by Colorado Saddlery. They're even better quality than the Weaver Leather ones, and they're the right color too. I got a screaming deal on those also. Now I'm having doubts about them though. They're bulky and when his leg moves back his skin and muscle fold over them. Here's a picture:

I'm too tired to think straight now, so I'm going to bed!