Back to Reality

After the fun of playing ponies and having lessons last time, we've since had a bit more of a realistic week with horses. 

Buck's summer coat was getting faded and patchy and he just didn't look as great as he can. The vet agreed at his annual check up that it was worth looking into, so we did a blood panel and worm count just in case. The good thing was we are worm free, but then I had to learn how to say molybdenum, because he is somehow 100x over the recommended amount. It is a problem not so much because it is toxic on its own accord to horses, but because it blocks copper and zinc and then you get signs of a copper deficiency, despite supplementing them heavily. I am a little stumped. there are no shortage of horses in the area getting the same (quality) hay and feed I buy, we're on city water, this is not an area known for concentrations in the soil, and no one else I've talked to is facing any issues. The vet also hasn't ever seen a value that high.

He's a cob, and they can basically thrive on neglect, so it's not awful, but you can see the little patch of longer, faded hair on his barrel. Everyone got their feet done this week as well, so the signs of the old abscess and crumbly bits I was worried about are gone. He was a jerk for the farrier this time though.

I trailered Reggie in for a comparison test and we're currently awaiting that, hoping maybe there could be an issue with the original test. That was actually a fun excuse to take an afternoon off work, meet the vet, and explore the working equitation obstacles left up from the recent show. He made me proud, trailering quietly and confidently, and just being his normal self while we were there, standing for the vet, not worried in the least about the obstacles in the arena or the kid's summer pony camp occurring ringside. He needed a second before tackling the wooden bridge, but he was actually more concerned about investigating the puddles in the arena than any of the equipment.

Sand is also eternally fascinating

Little kids pony camp occurring just out of shot. I had second thoughts about doing anything with him and potentially introducing chaos to their day, but he was an angel and didn't even whinny at them, let alone try to show off any of his moves for them.

In the meantime, I've switched over to using only tested hay from an area that should not have any naturally occurring molybdenum and restricted Buck's access to the field (since he does tend to eat a lot of trees, etc the other horses don't touch and who knows, maybe there's something in one of the trees?). I'm doing that proactively since I had started adding an extra copper/zinc supplement to his feed thinking something was up, so even though those numbers came back fine now, something is probably amiss and there is a chance that molybdenum value could be accurate - he is getting about twice what he should need in theory and still on the low end of OK.

Switching to feeding more of the non local hay to the 'fancy' tested timothy hay meant a couple of hours stacking a delivery in the barn last night. Silver lining is I pay by the bale, but downside were they got a new baler and the bales are HEAVY this year - averaging 70 lbs, with some in the 75-80lb range where previously they're 55-65. I like to think I am a strong, independent horse girl but I was about done and ready to sell a horse or two after handling 60 of those bales in the heat.

Why even put it in the barn? she says.  Sophie and her crew would for sure love to help me clean up a few bales here at there.

I did do some more trailer loading practice with Buck this week. The guy is smart and with the trailer hooked up to the truck and moved, he realized the risk of actually going somewhere was dramatically increased, so he regressed and we had to start over. He got in eventually, and was calmly back and forth in and out but he was still eagle eyed waiting for any indications I was going to leave or close a door. We'll get there. For now, I'm grateful the other two are easy about it. The real worry is if there was an emergency. I am fairly sure I could get him loaded in a reasonable amount of time, but it would sure be nice to have him solid enough to not have to worry about such things.

 I think that brings you up to date - I'll be away vacationing much of August, but have been busy hatching plans for baby horse lessons (and Sophie) with my old coach (and some new opportunities too) this fall and winter. It's so fun that they're getting old enough for me to be able to plan ahead and sign up for more things.  I absolutely love the baby horse experience, but I'm ready to have some direction and goals and be back in the saddle again.