Mustang Saga

Yesterday was a big trimming day.  I did hinds on Bob, Pedro, and Scout.  I had already done their fronts.  Having learned that Bob and Pedro will just walk off if I try to leave them loose while I trim, I tied them up next to each other instead.  That worked perfectly.

The guy I bought them from said his farrier didn't show up for their last trim.  I think it's fair to say this kind of overgrowth doesn't happen after just one missed trim.

 

Considering that donkeys often pile on excess sole, even after I trimmed down to the sole there is some excess there.  They also don't grow hoof as quickly as a horse, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's been a very long time since they were last trimmed.  I had to go around the hoof and trim it twice, my nippers just can't handle that much hoof.  The dogs got some great chewies out of the deal!

It was pretty funny, while I was finishing up Bob's hooves Pedro untied himself and started grazing.  That really made Bob jealous!  He didn't do anything bad but he made it clear he didn't think that was fair.

 

When we were done I turned the boys out into the pasture for the first time.  I had been waiting for some rain to rinse some of the sugars out of the grass.  When it's dry and hot, the grass is stressed and not growing, and it may look dead and worthless, but it can really make a horse fat.  It's a definite founder risk.  Donkeys are even more sensitive so these guys have been in drylot this whole time, and their previous home was basically a big poopy corral.  I think it's been a couple years at least since they've had this much room to move.  I wondered if they'd take advantage of all that freedom and choose to avoid me, but they didn't.

Here comes Pedro to say hello:

 

Happy boys:

 

Then I put Bella and Scout into the round pen and trimmed Scout's hooves.  He was such an angel, just stood and let me trim him with no halter.  That's pretty normal for the other horses here, but he usually likes to see if he can wander off or eat grass, and this time he just stood nicely.  Maybe he's growing up?

Not long after that the farrier showed up to pull Bella's shoes.  He really wanted to put some wedges on her instead, but I'm not ready to commit to that.  When I can afford it she'll go to the vet for a full lameness exam.  For now she'll go back to being a pasture pet.

The longears came in voluntarily and I gave them their daily supplement and closed the gate.  They had only had about an hour or so of grazing.  I'll turn them out for a little bit longer today.  We had a lot of rain overnight, and with the heavy overcast and the warm weather the grass ought to be safe.