Bonnie also let me know that she's looking for another boarder. Bills have to be paid, after all! It will be interesting to have another horse in the herd and see how the dynamic changes.
She also told me that I better get a move on training Gobie to ride--since she's without a trail partner now. No pressure! Ha!
When I arrived I came out to say hi to the horses milling around the side paddock. I visited Honey to see how she was doing and gave her a treat. I could tell she was feeling a little sad--standing by herself in the field.
Gobie came over to stay hi, too. I figured we should probably do a little work at least so I got the halter on him and lead him to the work area. It was a looong walk because he would stop and refuse to move once we got nearer to the gate. I don't know if it was because he didn't really want to work (we got down to business last visit) or if he didn't want to leave Honey or if he wasn't excited about sharing a fenceline to Kahlua's resting spot.
Regardless, we made it to the paddock and I gave him a good grooming. His hair was looking pretty fabulous and messy. Unbrushed it looked like he had highlights in his forelock. Such a fashionista!
His hair is always a little wonky and flips on both sides of his neck. Ideally it would fall on just one side. I could probably correct it by shaving him a bridle path, or by braiding it all to lay on one side.
One braid, for funsies.
His hooves are looking fantastic. It's amazing what some consistent, skilled hoof trimming will do. He's got no chips or cracks in his feet at all now and his feet are so prim and cute looking. A little Peter Pan-ish even!
One thing that I wasn't excited about seeing--bot fly eggs! When I first met Gobie last Fall he had bot fly eggs, too. Basically there's a species of fly that lays its eggs on shafts of hair of horses, usually along their legs. This mostly sucks because if the horse ingests them--by rubbing their nose or lips on the eggs to itch--they can make their way into the horse's digestive tract and cause problems.
Our grooming routine included flyspray and scraping some of the eggs off. Gobie acted quite dramatically about the flyspray bit, but settled down about it quickly enough. I had a lava stone to scrap the eggs off, but they are super difficult to remove. He had quite a few of them, too, and it was nearly impossible to get them all off. I consoled myself by remembering that at the rescue he didn't have someone dedicated to getting rid of these eggs and he turned out just fine.
We did a little lunging just because he seemed to have a little bit of energy, but it was more of a token exercise to keep his memory fresh. Honey was also starting to call out--neighing all by her lonesome--so I figured it was a good time to reunited the two pals.
I hung out in the field a little bit more with the horses. I noticed that there were some pine branches along the fenceline in the field, where it looked like someone had trimmed them and let them drop where they may and then left them. I was happy to pick them up and chuck them over the fence so the horses didn't have them in the field. I'm sure they weren't a danger or anything, it just seemed like a productive use of energy.
Gobie thought the whole thing was pretty interesting. He came over to investigate and "help" by standing on some of the needles while I tried to chuck their branches over the fence. It reminded me a lot of Cinder, who was always right beside you as you worked around the field scooping poop or doing whatever chore it was.
Supervising.
Just another quality I really enjoy in Gobie: his willingness to just pal around and be kind of a pest. It's nice to be sought out, even if you are trying to get something done.
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