From the ground up...

Digby, yesterday, coming over to see me.

Digby is getting his hooves trimmed soon. It's been 4 weeks since his shoes came off but the farrier had left his toes a little long on purpose so he'd be a little more comfortable. When they get trimmed, I will be taking some photos just to compare. He's been super sound some days (darn you Digby! I wanna RIDE!) and then there's days where he isn't so sound. I don't think it has to do with the fact that he's barefoot really. He's been fairly ok with his shoes being pulled since day 1. I think it's just whatever he has going on in his left front. He's also due for a chrio/massage treatment. I hemmed and hawed about continuing these now that he's not being ridden but they definitely make him more comfortable. It's not that expensive and it makes him happy. The pain in his hoof makes him brace and create tension in his muscles, which explains why he's back sore right before he goes lame. Even though we're not sure how much pain he is in, he's certainly happy and if the massages make his muscles more comfortable even for a week or two, it's worth it to me.

I've been thinking that I'll have a lot of free time when I go back to night shifts in January. I'll be working hopefully 6 days a week from 4 pm till 11 pm foal watching and doing all the fun things that that goes along with. This leaves me with ALL DAY! to do fun things. I might start doing some ground work with him or clicker training. Digby has been clicker trained before and knows how to bow and say yes and no. I'm sure I could teach him some fun new tricks. I think he's bored and would like a job. Maybe it's me who's bored... I'm not sure! :) Either way, he's not the best horse to work with on the ground and does need work with clipping (ears only) and definitely with trailer loading/unloading. He's sort of irritating on cross ties because he does. not. stand. still! and thinks that pawing is acceptable, even though I tell him every single time he does it that it is in fact NOT ok. I've decided that this winter/spring without being ridden is a good time to work with him on that kind of stuff. Nothing else to do right? I've been researching the groundwork stuff and the only thing that worries me slightly is there is a lot of circling done and/or lunging type situations. I'm not sure I want to do a lot of small circles with a horse who is lame. We will have to see how he is doing then!