On September 30th, Holden's front feet were pulled. He had three days off completely - the first day, his front legs were swollen and he had heat in his hooves. He was wrapped on his fronts. On the second day, his front legs were fine but his back legs were the size of balloons (but no heat).
He really didn't want to move around. I took him out on day four and was like "you need to walk, even if you don't want to." He was a princess at first, but the more we walked around the indoor the more freedom in his movement became apparent. I think he was just not used to the feeling in his hooves -- and the second day he was still a little short but much better than the days prior. I think the change was abrupt for him, but I am happy to report after almost a week he is now moving the way he had moved before. I've just been hand-walking him for the past few days, and today was the first day I tacked him up to hand-walk.
I went to TSC to pick up Keratex and Alfalfa pellets/cubes and oats. They didn't have the Keratex. I bought oats and had to return them because they were contaminated with cracked corn and grain (wth?).
He was good today. We worked on walking across the diagonal and changing direction when the long-line aid was applied. He is back to walking normally. He was great for the "exercise". I spent some time after throwing the long-line around him and over his back etc. I think if I work on this every day he will eventually learn to deal. He's good with having the long-line draped all over his body, but if you move suddenly he is still a little unsure.
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| We switched our saddle pad up today! |
I spent some extra time brushing his face and his legs today. It looks like his scurf is finally making its exit. I think in the next week I am going to trim his mane and forelock. Today was also the first day the alfalfa pellets were introduced into his diet. I am not in love with his body condition - so I am going to up his grain and also feed him a quart of alfalfa pellets in addition to the 2qt alfalfa/timothy cubes soaked. Next week, I will add some oats. I just don't want to change everything at once.
