How's Speedy?

The speedy pony has not made much of an appearance here of late. There hadn't been much to report. Speedy had a hole in his foot, and all I could do was check daily for lameness and see how much progress had been made in the closure of said hole. Finally, there's something to report.

We're looking at the large circle in the top right corner. Yep. It's a hole.

While the hole hasn't filled in entirely, Speedy is 100% sound on it. For the past several weeks, my soundness checks have progressed from can he walk a few steps?, can he walk down the grass?, can he trot on the grass?, can he walk down the driveway?, until finally, I asked him if he could trot in the arena. Last week, he finally trotted out sound in the arena on a circle going both directions. Progress!

When I felt confident that he was sound, I added my tack and a lunge line and asked for walk/trot transitions. When that looked good, I added some cavaletti poles which he thought was the most fun he'd had in months, which it was actually. And when I asked him to canter the cavaletti poles, he about died and went to heaven. Yesterday, I rode him for the first time, and his good mood evaporated. Oh, yeah, this is work. We finished up by trotting the poles which reminded him that he is (almost) a Third Level horse.

He really does like me.

A lot has happened in Speedy's world recently, which bothers him immensely. He really doesn't do well with change. Besides suffering from multiple abscesses, that would wreck anybody's mood, his pasture mate, Willy, moved away which left Speedy alone in his large dry pasture. While he loves the 24/7 turnout, he hates the alone part. 

He has all of this plus a large area to the left where he has a covered paddock.

He's not actually alone. A lovely mare lives in the large sandy pasture adjacent to his. Changes though. Her side of things are being worked on. Freshly composted dirt has been added with an updated sprinkler system. Grass should begin growing shortly. In the meantime, she has moved to the neighboring small pasture that has grass. Speedy can see her, but he can't touch her. He thinks he's going to die.

She is quite lovely and worth pining for.

Of course, adjacent to her pasture are two more friends, Winaro and the mule. While Speedy can't touch them either, they're all within chatting distance. And let's not forget that Izzy lives across from him in his own large dry pasture (although not so dry right now).

Izzy has all of this plus what's on the other side of the cross fence. There's a gate that allows him to use both sides, which he does.

Speedy doesn't care how many horses live in his neighborhood. He wants someone to live with him, and if that's not possible, then someone, preferably a hottie like red mare, should at least live where he can breathe on her. Since none of that is happening, he has decided to live at the gate. And by at the gate, I mean RIGHT NEXT TO THE GATE.

The gate is open in this photo, but this is as far as he will go - this little area.

His decision to confine himself to this small space has driven everyone at the ranch nuts. We've had to move his feeder here, but the most annoying part is that he is now standing in mud. He has a HUGE area to roam, but since he only stands HERE, the ground is getting all mucked up.

The pit he has worn away.

Living at the gate has caused one last problem. As he paces and whirls, he has carved a substantial pit. In its farthest corner, the hole is more than a foot deep. As this is the gate used for the tractor, this has made things a bit awkward for Reggie who takes care of dragging and spreading manure. If Speedy doesn't quit being such a jerk, he's going to get us all kicked out. Just kidding. I think.

So now we're all caught up on Speedy's life. Hopefully we can get back on a riding schedule and tackle those flying changes again. As I look out my window this morning - it's still dark, I see rain. What's one more day?