Thursday - Carla and I rode in the afternoon. I rode Jazz and she rode Faith - taking her out for the first time for Amy. We just did the Dutton Loop. Jazz led to start, and Faith did pretty well. She was totally fine with traffic, cars from in front or behind didn't bother her at all. When she is not sure about something, she stops and won't move. Carla had to really work to get her going. Once we got on the dirt road, Faith started calling for her horsey friends - of course we were too far away for them to hear. After we rounded the corner and headed downhill she picked up the pace a bit. It is a lot more open at that stretch of the road, with fields on both sides instead of woods/houses, and I think she was less worried about that. She ended up leading most of the way home, Jazz just took the lead a couple of times when Faith wasn't sure about something. For her first time out she did extremely well - yea!!!

Friday - A rainy day... I went to Cheshire Horse in Keene and picked up stuff for Carla, Amy, and my horses. I got a new bit and some peppermint flavored bit wipes for Jazz, a couple of new cinches, a new crop, some buckets, gloves for cold weather, and a bag of vanilla flax treats. On my way home I stopped in Westmoreland and visited Sparkie. Of course I had to open the treats to give him some! He looks wonderful! He's in great shape, his feet are the best I've seen them, and his coat is beautiful. He was in when I stopped because of the rain, he had been out during the morning. He has a little pony friend named Blackberry. She is about half his size and they get along just fine. Most of the other horses there are riding horse size, but there is one cute little newcomer. I don't know his name but he is a little buckskin mini stallion. Oh my gosh! Talk about cute!!! (No, I am not going to go buy a mini now!) No pics today, but I'll try to get some soon...

Saturday - Carla, Julie, Amy and I rode, Ziegy, Dolly, Faith and Tapper. It was Amy's first real trail ride with Faith, and it was Tapper's first time out since she was hurt. Tapper was very stiff and limped a lot when we first got on the road. I was thinking I would get off and lead her home but she started to walk out of it as her muscles loosened up. Dolly was being very poky - Julie needs to get after her more when she's like that. Ziegy was doing fine, and Faith was being great! We did the Dutton Loop so she had already been around it once and did not have to stop and look at half as many things. When we got around to the Tenney Rd. trail we split up. Tapper had been out long enough for a first ride after injury, and Faith was getting a little ouchy on the stones, so we continued around the loop and home while Carla and Julie took the Tenney trail. Faith wasn't happy about us splitting from the others and she called for them several times. Tapper was fine with it, I think she just wanted to get home! Faith settled down, and took over the lead from Tapper and led the rest of the way home. Carla said that Ziegy led through the trail and on the road home - good for him!

Sunday - Carla and I rode Scotty and Jazz. We meandered through a bunch of trails and the boys did well except when we had to go around a downed tree and they both tried to rush through the brush/trees instead of giving us time to find the best route! Scotty kept trying to rub his face on Jazz's tail and was getting a bit annoying about it. Carla had to be in his mouth a lot to hold him back but he didn't want to lead and he wanted to be right on Jazz (I think if he could have climbed in the saddle with me he would have!) I think next time she takes him out we will try Jazz's double twisted wire snaffle with him and see if he listens better. Carla has light hands and won't be in his mouth unless needed so it will be fine. Jazz tried out his new bit - a full cheek snaffle with a slow twist. He did really well with it! It's less harsh than the double twisted wire so I'm happy that it works for him. If Scotty smartens up quickly (which he probably will, he's a smart boy), he will be able to go back to his slow twist snaffle. The trails were beautiful, the foliage was lovely, and the weather was great. The pics below are a few of the things we saw along the way...

Sunday afternoon/evening - Kathi and Gail had a lesson and were concerned because Scooby was lying down and rolling. He tends to do that a lot so I wasn't too worried but I figured I'd check him anyway. By the time I got to him he was up and standing fine. I haltered him and tried to lead him back to the barn but he didn't want to cross the stream - too many rocks I think. He had been very ouchy on his feet for the past few days and I was giving him bute for that so I wasn't surprised. I was standing down in the stream and he was above me and I noticed an area on his right front, just above the hoof, that looked sore. I took a closer look - it's an abscess! So I led him back to the barn by going the long way around (through the riding ring, around by the ponds, up past the round pen). I crosstied him and filled a big rubber bucket with warm water and Epsom salts, then got him to lift his foot, dragged the bucket under him, and put his foot in the bucket - not easy to do by myself! Scooby likes soaking his feet so once he's in the water he usually just stands there. We did it a lot when he first came because he had a really bad abscess on his left front. While he was soaking I figured I would check him over - I didn't want to miss a colic because I was focused on his foot. So I listened for stomach sounds - none on either side (not good), took his temp - normal, his gums were pale, he wanted to eat, he was not dehydrated, so I just wasn't sure. I called the vet. My vet is away at a conference so I got a call back from the vet who is covering for her, it was about 5 PM. He said I was doing what he would do for the abscess. He wanted me to give Scooby 3 grams of bute and call him if the stomach sounds and gums didn't seem better by 6:30. Do you think Scooby would eat the bute??? Of course not! It was even the apple flavored kind and he wanted no part of it! I tried it in sweet feed, with molasses, in an apple - nope! He did eat a little, maybe half, before he figured it out but he needed the other half. So I took his foot out of the bucket (he'd been soaking for about 1/2 an hour) and then Carla was kind enough to come back up and bring me some of her home made applesauce. We put the bute in the sauce, put it in a dosing syringe, and squirted it right into his mouth - SUCCESS! By 6:30 it was obvious he was not colicing, so I did not call the vet back. He called me about 7:30 just to check in and make sure things were OK which I thought was really nice of him. He said to keep on with the bute, 2 grams twice a day, and continue soaking each day, and to call if I had questions or needed anything. Scooby is feeling much better this morning, the bute helps with pain and inflammation. He ate his breakfast, I dosed him with more applesauce/bute, and he is hanging out out back in his run. I blocked off the hill so he can't go up it but he still has plenty of room to move around. He'll get his foot soak later this afternoon. Hopefully the abscess will clear up quickly and he'll be back to normal soon!