Poor Dan! He's been living the Benign Neglect life lately. I've fed him... given him cookies... and hugged him (much to his chagrin)... but that's it. We've not done any ground work... no riding... no trailer rides... I haven't even haltered him since his last vet visit. So, today was a big day!
We had the farrier come in the morning. Luckily Funny went first and nosed at the hoof knives as if reminding Patrick that Dan might try to cut him later. Ha ha. So Patrick put them away and thanked her. I told him what had been going on with Dan and that he was basically going to be pasture rested until Thanksgiving... so asked if we should pull his hind shoes... or leave them on for support. He googled "patella fracture and shoes" and basically it said it wasn't going to help nor harm, so... we decided to just pull his hind shoes for this cycle. He's not going anywhere or doing anything... it'll give his foot a chance to decompress and maybe even help his NPA... and it'll save me some money. And honestly... he grows so much foot... he shouldn't even really be sore. And if he does end up retiring to the trail horse life... he may end up barefoot behind anyways. We'll see I guess... I definitely don't want him hoof sore for trails. But we figured that leaving him naked behind for one shoe cycle wasn't going to make or break him. So.. he's naked behind. We kept everything the same up front.
So then after Patrick left and I got cat food and Halloween decorations, I walked out to grab him to work with him. But then I decided to lunge Lyric first so I could tape him first. But then Lyric didn't get sweaty enough and he was right there at the gate demanding to come in, so I just turned her loose and grabbed him. We did some pillar work, which he mostly obliged me with because I had sanfoin pellets to bribe him with. Then we played with the single pole. He straddled it quite nicely. But when we tried to side pass over it, he was happy to go one way (I think away from that right hind) but didn't seem to want to try the other way. I didn't push it because... I'm trying to just entertain his brain, not stress his healing body. So then we were kind of bored and he was trying to chew the lead rope so I just took the line off. And then we played "tag". I showed him the treats and ran off a bit. Then I whistled and he eventually walked up to me. I fed him treats and then I showed him treats and then ran off and whistled. After a few times he got the hang of it (again) and started following me. I even "hid" behind the big plank jump. ha ha. He only trotted after me once or twice, which.. is okay. Just no cantering yet. So then we went back to the tricks. I tried to teach him to say yes by nodding when I asked him if he loved me. He can't quite get the hang of that one. He keeps doing the "say cheese" face. Which, is adorable so... he gets treats. Then I tried to teach him "High five" by picking up his foot. Then I decided maybe instead of picking it up, I should tickle him with the whip. He got annoyed maybe and stomped his other foot, so I rewarded him for that. Ha ha... I'm the worst trick trainer!! My cues are all so similar so I need to find a better way. Although I suppose he can understand words too. Endo the Blind does! So after that we played "tag" back to the gate and then I eventually got him to leave the arena.
I had pulled his halter off by then but he followed me back to the barn. I did treat him a few times because it was nice and because I wanted him to follow me so I could tape him. I put him in the cross ties and put hoof stuff on his tootsies and then groomed him. He wasn't thrilled but maybe not as angry as he usually is. So then I taped his stifle. The biomechanic way. I'm not sure I did it right and I definitely made my criss cross support taping a bit odd. My angles were off. And then I added the leverage taping to (in theory) keep his stifle more stable medially. So... we'll see. I'm a little paranoid that I'm doing it wrong and will make things worse but I also figure at this point... it is what it is. He seemed to enjoy it at first, but then it was hard to tell. Suprisingly the tape stayed on, so... I guess we'll see what happens in the morning.
I do miss him. He's just... fun. So... I don't know. I might be kind of looking forward to trying some ranch classes with him... some goose herding... some obstacle challenges... heck, maybe even some hunter paces or fox hunting... or western dressage. Or... just bareback hacks farting around.
No comments:
Post a Comment