Horse status report

Couldn't get into this blog yesterday for some reason.  Glad it's back in working order today.

Spent yesterday working with the mares again.  Bug is doing really well.  Using that long line was a help.  When she stopped before, she would turn her head to the outside and her butt in toward me.  Using the line, I could get her to stop and turn to face me.  (Tonight we'll see if that's still the case once I take the line off.)  It was also helpful in transitions.  She will increase her speed at the verbal command "up," but it takes a slight jiggle of the line and not just a "walk" command to get her back to a walk at the moment. 

Janet came by after I finished working Bug and we tried some more bits on Lizzie.  All those exotic bits she's tried, and in the end she seems to do best with a plain ol' medium port curb bit.   But you know, now that I think about it, I'm kind of wondering if those white hairs on her muzzle might be from her having been ridden in a hackamore in the past, rather than from a too-tight halter as I originally thought.  Hmm.  I don't have a hackamore, but they're pretty inexpensive -- maybe I ought to at least try her in one and see if that's what she prefers.

But first things first.  As we were working with her yesterday, Lizzie's feet appeared to be sensitive or sore for some reason.  Nothing acute - no actual limping.  She just seemed to want to kind of tip-toe around instead of relaxing into her gait.  So the vet from LSU is going to come out later this morning to take a look at her and see if she can identify the problem and, I hope, come up with something we can do about it.   Zoilo, the guy who does their trims, said Lizzie tested sensitive on at least one front foot when he trimmed her last (while we were in Ohio).  And she does have pretty flat feet, so they may be sore from all that gravel Al has everywhere since the monsoons this winter.  If the vet doesn't come up with anything else that might be causing this, Zoilo said he can trim her more frequently (every 3 or 4 weeks) and try and get her toes shorter and her heels longer over the next couple months.  In the meantime maybe I'll look into some boots for her that I can put on anytime she seems to get a little sensitive.  We'll see what the vet says.

We got baseline x-rays last fall when we first got her, but unfortunately the doctor's portable x-ray machine was just repaired and hasn't  been re-inspected yet, so she can't use it today.  Probably not THAT big a problem since things often don't show up on x-rays until they get really bad.  Still ... it would have been nice to be able to compare them and make sure nothing has changed.