Around the Barn

Izzy seems to have recovered from his little stone bruise. Fortunately, it happened during the hottest days that we've had this summer. I guess it's even luckier that I am not doing any showing right now. If your horse is going to be a little off, it's best it happens when it's hotter than Hades and nothing exciting is planned.

Izzy only had one real day off during his recovery period. I saddled him up and rode him for 15 minutes or so each day except for one just to check his soundness. He was always sound at the walk, and even at the trot it was something I heard more than actually saw. I only rode him long enough to make sure the lameness was fading. By Monday, I actually did a bit of canter work because he got so sassy. Nobody's truly sore if he tries to let his inner dragon come out to play.

Since it was so hot here - I think we hit 109℉ two days in a row, I did more piddling around than actual riding. On Saturday, I went to the feed store and grabbed a few bags of beet pulp and a pile of fly traps for the ranch owner. Thank goodness she hates flies as much as the rest of us. She releases fly predators on schedule and hangs fly traps and fly sticky paper everywhere. She's strategic about it though so that the liquid traps are on the outskirts so we don't have to smell them. The sticky paper traps are near the horses but not anywhere they can touch them. I can just see Izzy walking around with sticky fly paper stuck to his nose.

Speaking of fly protection, guess who has actually worn a fly mask for several days in a row without ripping it to shreds? Yep. Big Brown Horse. I can't guarantee it will be on today, but so far it has been too hot to play around with the fly mask, so it is doing its job. He ruined a brand new one at the end of spring, so this is his last chance for the year. If he destroys this one, he's out of luck. I bought him a Kensington Fly Mask which seems to be holding up well.

Someone likes his fly mask now!

After our quick ride on Monday I tackled the rubber mats in my pampering station. I don't have a true wash rack, but the ranch owner let me use some discarded mats to create a grooming/washing station along one of the fence lines. I keep a basket filled with grooming/shampooing tools hanging on the fence, and I keep a Blocker Tie Ring attached so that I can safely wash. With such a long and wet winter, the mats had become covered in mud, and grass had grown up and around all of the corners making it a muddy mess every time I hosed off a horse. 

Reggie, who works on the property, helped me clean things up. I held the mats up while he used the shovel to dig out the roots and weeds that had grown under and between the mats. After hosing off the mud, I once again have a clean place for hosing off my horses.

Grooming/pampering station

The rest of the week should be a lot cooler, so hopefully I can get back to regular riding.