Feet and an Earthquake

Last weekend Gobie had his feet trimmed, again. The farrier was due out on a Friday, but he got tied up so we ended up taking at Saturday morning to do it. We were going to try having Gobie trimmed on the driveway, where the rest of the horses are trimmed and shoed but he ended up being too nervy for that. So we moved him closer to the fence, and he was much better. Instead of giving him a bucket of feed to occupy himself with, I gave him treats. That worked pretty well, except to make them last long I was being a bit of a tease with them--holding them in my hand and making him work to get them out. At one point he grabbed a bit of my finger along with the treat! I got a little blood blister from it, but as soon as I let him know THAT WAS MY FINGER THANK YOU he let go. Oops!

Otherwise the feet trimming went great and they look beautiful!

It was also a good note that I should be walking him around the place to get him exposed to different areas. He's leading quite nicely now, so that's the next logical step. This way he will learn that following me and listening to my cues not only goes for in our usual work areas, but all around the place and in "foreign" territory as well.

That weekend I also made some exciting internet purchases (still waiting to arrive in the mail): a surcingle and a mustang nylon bitless bridle.

The surcingle I've used before and loved. It goes around the horse, where a girth on a saddle would go, and it can be used to train horses to drive (like a cart), and generally listen to left, right, back, and "go" cues without having a person in your eyesight.

I haven't used this particular bitless bridle before, but I thought I would give it a try because it was cheap! Cinder, my first horse, was broke using a Happy Horse Bosal which doesn't use a bit and instead relies on a horse yielding to pressure around the nose. But I don't think they're available anymore. I've never used a bit to train a horse, and I've only ridden other people's horses in a bit so I figured I'd better stick with what I know instead of trying to train us both on something new! We'll see how it goes.

The big excitement this week was the earthquake that hit the DC metro area. Normally I make it out to the barn on the weekend but I was sick on Tuesday, and then when the earthquake struck I figured I'd better check on Gobie. It wasn't a devastating earthquake by any means, but I wanted to make sure Gobie wasn't worried after the fact or anything like that.

I came around feeding time and was glad to see everything was where it should be, and the horses all seemed calm and happy.

 Doing what he does best: eating!

 Cinder, the old, crippled horses.

 I could just grab some mane and hop on, right? Riiiiight.

 Having a twilight nibble along the fence line.

 Silly lip! "Where my treat?"

 The 6-year-old girl in me thinks he's saying, "Follow me through the gate to a magical land!" here.

Bye!

This weekend is looking like it will be a rainy one as Hurricane Irene makes it up the coast. I don't know about you, but I'm sick of this crazy weather!