Words, words, words

On Thursday Scout got to see the equine chiropractor (who is also an experienced equine vet). He watched Scout move, then checked every joint and adjusted where he was stuck. Which turned out to be all over the place. Jaw, atlas, neck, wither, rib, pelvis. Scout really enjoyed being fooled with, and after each adjustment his eyes would get all dreamy and he would lick and chew.

He took a good look at Scout's tail and confirmed that it has no feeling at all and he did break it. He is pretty sure it will never have feeling again and will always just hang there. I was still holding out hope. :(

We are cleared to ride! I got him out yesterday with that intention but his stifles were popping so loudly I decided to introduce him to Luc and then walk him instead. We need to slowly build up fitness, I think. Without circles!

Luc is doing just fine. So far he isn't loving halter training. Sometimes it's smooth as butter and he just follows me, and sometimes he really wants to throw a fit. I thought it was funny a while back when I was reading up on donkey and mule training, that so many people pointed out that they naturally push/pull against pressure, unlike horses. Not a good comparison at all! Horses do it too, in the beginning.  I think people don't see that because horses learn so fast to give to pressure, and many people have never started a horse from the very beginning.

When Luc gets willful I try to keep a happy medium of enough pull that I don't lose him, but not so much that he completely freaks out. And if he's just feeling adversarial we take a long break. Most of the time he gives to a polite request, but after a bit he gets frustrated. He is a baby who hasn't learned to deal with duration yet. Mind you, we only just started hooking on the lead rope yesterday, so we ought to just keep getting better and better.

Today I have great plans for horseplay and fence mending! What fun!