Some Progress
My farrier, Kyle Crawford, has been bugging me about writing another blog so I finally decided it’s time. After all, Kyle has spent the most time with Arrow these past several weeks. Even though Arrow was newly shod the day before we adopted him, he has thrown shoes on at least a weekly basis. Once, Kyle came and replaced a shoe, and less than 30 minutes after he left, Arrow pulled that same shoe again. The mud was a big issue, plus Arrow doesn’t have the best balance, and Kyle has had to figure out what is best for the hoof as well as how to keep the shoes from being pulled. I think they have finally come to an understanding. It’s been a little over a month now since I brought Arrow home from the MMSC and we have progressed in some places, and others we have not. We have figured each other out on the ground. His favorite place to be groomed is on his neck. He is a lot better after he has been turned out. He goes out in the field as a baby and he comes back in all grown up (most of the time).
He really enjoyed visits from the masseuse, Amy Crawford (Kyle’s wife), and chiropractor, Dr. Brisbane. Both mentioned that Arrow was extremely stiff on his right side and they want to see him again in about four weeks. In the meantime, I should work with him on tail pulls, butt tucks (on his buttocks :), and other stretching and suppling exercises. I also found out that Arrow’s favorite thing to do when he is bored is to play with his lips. (Shown below)<div class="player-unaailable"><h1 class="message">An error occurred.
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dAs for our riding, we are still trying to figure each other out. I’m trying to get him to go off my leg rather than the dressage crop or spurs and he loves to pop his shoulder. What’s good is that he is great at pole work, which is helping him track straight, and we have started cantering! He loves doing rubber band exercises (changes of rhythm in the gait) and reaches for the bit. A while ago, I wanted an arena (my caution tape arena blew down and stretched out after the first storm), but now I think it’s a good thing that we don’t have one. I hear stories about the transition from an arena to riding in a field with a young horse. Sometimes it’s kind of hard, but transitioning from a field to an arena shouldn't be a problem. We have started to load Arrow into the trailer and have made A LOT of progress! Instead of it taking 30 minutes to get him halfway in the trailer, it doesn’t take long at all! We can get his front hooves in and out 3 times in less than 10 minutes! Putting him all the way in and out is a different story though. He still doesn’t understand the step down and my dad still has to use his strength to push Arrow back out. We are almost ready for our first road trip around the neighborhood.
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