When you board, a good and caring hand who is somehow involved with your horses makes a world of difference. USUALLY that person is the barn owner. Sometimes it's the "jack of all trades" though. Shout out to our barn's "Jack of all trades" who is a caring and conscientious horse owner himself. He feeds the horses at the barn twice a day, rain or shine, 7 days a week. Grain if the owners pay for it, which can include separating a horse (like Strider who is the only one getting grain, but will happily give it to Socks should Socks demand it...and Socks doesn't NEED grain!), and then letting said horse back out to the herd. He also keeps an eye on the round bales, and puts one in the pen if the horses get low. He dumps and cleans troughs every other week. Turns the arenas. Keeps the racing track turned as well. If a horse is hurt and the owner isn't out, he'll doctor the horse and let the owner know. He's ever friendly and willing to help you out if you have an issue. He's a great guy. So, shout out to those people.
It's been raining all weekend off and on. I wasn't sure how it would be at the barn, but, I had committed to going out once a week to trim feet with Sunday being that day. It wasn't raining when I left the house, but the skies looked like they held the promise of rain. I had to swing by Home Depot to get some bolts for my hoof stand, so I ran in, did that and then scampered out to the barn, getting random sprinkles here and there as I drove.
I knew it was going to rain, so I didn't even load my saddle or any of that gear. Just grabbed a halter out of my trailer (which is currently parked at my house so Joe can replace the "leg/post" as my birthday gift!) and bolted to the barn.
It was a soggy mess when I got out there. I hate going into the pen after a rain. Right by the gate, it always bogs down, even though it's sand, it's slippery. YUCK!
Dakini was at the round bale, and I paused to say hello. The sad, pitiful eyes she turned on me made me laugh. "I'm sorry honey. I know you're wet. But at least it's cooler, right?"
Her eyes didn't seem to agree with my sentiment. So I gave her a quick hug and a kiss on the nose and went off to go grab Strider. Who insisted on using Socks as a body shield.
Are you effin' kidding me horse?!
So we played "Whack a Mole" back and forth a few times until he finally gave that deep "sigh" and stood there while I tossed the halter on him. Token resistance. Idiot. Life would be easier if you'd just give in and not do that.
Walk him out of the pen, set up my stand, grab my nippers...and the sporatic spitting water turns into a drizzle.
Okay. Whatever, we won't melt. I go and hose the mud off his feet, and get to work with my nippers.
So last week, it was hot and dry and his feet were like nails. After 2 days of wet, his feet are like soft butter at the toe, and I almost scream and cry as I fear I've cut in to the white line. What seems like, to me, a large "chunk" I bit off his toe. Oh no. NO NO NO!!! There I am, in the rain, trying not to have hysterics. Wondering if I should call my farrier in a panic and see if she'd send her son over to help me because I am dead SURE I've lamed my horse, cut him to far in, and he'll be dead lame, and just fall over and die.
Okay, not quite so dramatic, but I did honestly think of reaching out to my farrier to see if her son could come and guide me. But, I resisted the urge. She's on vacation. Leave her alone Erin. Leave.Her.Alone.
So I nipped and nipped. Don't go too far past 10 and 2. Well, maybe that's a little past, but, maybe we can rasp it and make it look less chewed and mangled?
FYI, nippers are slippery buggers when they're wet.
Get his foot up on the stand and start rasping. WHOA, it comes off quick when his feet are moist! Rasp and rasp and rasp. Well, it still looks hinky, but there's less toe. There's some bar on the back and his heels are high...but..we're ignoring that as per my farrier's orders. REMEMBER Erin!! Don't mess with it!
Okay, okay. Let's take some aftermath pictures. Oh my gawd, it looks hinky. UGH!!!
Let's do the next foot, okay? Just, do the next one.
Which I think looks even WORSE when I'm done mauling that one. I swear I can see the white line from the front of the foot. More tears and cursing my stupidity and dumb foolish choices. And then I admonish myself; "Self, you want to do boots, right? This is the ONLY way to make boots manageable for yourself. LEARN FEET!! You can't screw him up so badly there's no recovering right now."
More rasping, more cursing myself. More photos. Otherwise, I'll keep rasping away at his feet for hours trying to make them at least APPEAR nice from the front.
So, I left the barn, discouraged. Posted the photos to Facebook, knowing that I'd get people questioning why I'd done what I'd done, and telling me that things were wrong here and there. And, I don't mind. I honestly don't. It was a little stingy, but, I'm working with my farrier, so I didn't mind people asking why I had or hadn't done "X, Y, Z". Because I know they're trying their damnest to help me. And I appreciate it. It's how horsepeople should be!!!
My farrier texted me later in the afternoon to tell me I hadn't done as bad as I'd feared. Things will be fine. And to remind me to stop being so hard on myself.
With that reassurance, I stopped fretting I'd hurt him. I'd made sure to lead him up and down the alley between the pens at the barn, and he strode out confidently and soundly for me. So, I hadn't been in horrible tears when I turned him loose again, just mildly anxious. And my farrier talked me through some of my anxiety, told me what the goal and plan is for us, and I'm okay with it. I view those photos as something that will pop up in my "Facebook Memory" feed in a year, and I'll be able to laugh because, hopefully in 52 weeks, I'll be doing MUCH better at it!!
I did stop before leaving the barn and dropped off the 2 bags of the Nutrena Fuel I bought to switch Strider over too at a fellow endurance rider's suggestion. I paid $46 for 2 bags (simple math, $23/bag). Which FEELs ouchy, except before, I was buying a bag of Nutrena's Performance ($17.99/bag at Tractor Supply), then a bag of alfalfa pellets ($14.99/bag). I can now cut out the pellets and just feed straight feed. Double bonus as Strider isn't a fan of alfalfa pellets.
I have a friend at work who sometimes has coupons for Nutrena products, so I'm hoping she'll get some more to give to me so I can stockpile grain.
Actually, I'm hoping I can pull back a little bit on how much he's getting soon. The original goal was to get weight back on him, and he's just about where he needs to be, so I'm going to be backing him down where he gets half the grain ration he's currently getting daily.
The rest of the day was spent dozing off and on when I got home and out of my wet clothes. Rainy days make me lethargic.
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