Horse, this isn't helping...

I trimmed Allie's fronts on Sunday. She was acting very weird. It's only the second time I have trimmed her, as she trimmed herself on the road when they got out and I haven't had to touch them. Funny how the road trimmed them with better balance than I had!

The first time I trimmed her she was generally well behaved until the motorbikes next door (!!) started up (again) when I got to her last hoof, then she just didn't want to stand still with one hoof caught in case she needed to make a quick get away from those monsters... This was about a week after I first got her home. She was very bad about picking up her feet, which I quickly decided had to change! She is a trimmer's horse now!


So back to Sunday.  She had about a half centimeter of wall growth so it was time for the rasp to come out. I started with her wounded leg (pics of healing wound to be posted soon, it's looking really good today!) and she was good... for about .3 seconds. Then she decided it was a good time to practice airs above the ground! She was leaping forward as if I was a lion and I had her leg in my mouth. So I persisted, and she persisted, until I decided maybe her bandage was cutting into the back of her knee with it bent? So I took it off, hoping for a better reaction... Nope. Same idiotic leaping forward and arguing about the fact I had her leg between my knees (and even when I was just holding it in my hands!).


So we had words, and she copped it (verbally, I don't think she has been growled at much before) and by the time I got to her other front hoof, she would stop struggling if I just said "AH!". It was more of a training exercise than a trim to be honest, but that is the beauty of trimming your own horses. If you need to, you can put the rasp down and try again another day, without having to pay another $50 for a separate trim! So that was Miss A.


Gracie was trimmed one day last week, can't remember when. She was, surprisingly, an angel! She just stood tied up, and she was being so good that I thought I would reward her (and prolong the good behavior) by giving her a hay net while I trimmed. Angel... couldn't have asked her to be better behaved. She has struggled in the past with how I hold her hind leg to sight the heels (holding it by the crook of the hock and looking down the back of the canon bone from above). She normally hates this and slams her hoof on the ground before I can get a proper look. But the other day, she totally ignored me. I trimmed her sitting on my little milk crate for heaven's sake! That is normally reserved for much older, calmer, safer horses. Naw, our little girl is growing up! I think she behaved because:
a. She has been trying to suck up to me ever since she kicked me and I chased her away the other day, and b. She has been wanting some work again! I think she is totally b.o.r.e.d. being a pasture pet at the moment.

Well, that is all about to change because tomorrow is a public holiday (Australia Day) and I intend on starting them both back on the lunge. I think the regime will go like this:


4 days in one week, 25-35 minute walk on lunge, Gracie with 10 minutes trot, Allie 5 minutes trot. Allie to wear chambon and depending on her sensibility, maybe a couple mils of ace. Gracie can go crazy for all I care, she is clever and knows where her feet are at any given time. Allie is a bit dumb and may well trip over her own galumph feet in her excitement at doing something other than eat.


Week two will consist of 5 more minutes trot each, then we should be sensible and ready enough for saddles and riding again by week 3. Hopefully the saddler will have found me a saddle by then, otherwise it is bareback for me!


How fun.