Feet and Teeth

The farrier was out to do Stinker and Cowboy, which was good because Cowboy pulled two shoes between Saturday morning and Monday morning.  I pushed his cycle longer than I would have liked so that he and Stinker would be on the same schedule and simplify things.  I had the farrier start with Cowboy, because I was unsure how he would do.

He is a little fussy about his feet as in he will yank them away if you hold them for what he deems as too long.  I have been working on it, but his manners are not to where I like them.  Apparently I have high standards because the farrier was quite pleased with Cowboy.  Not to mention he was hot shod and since I have minimal history on him, I wasn't sure how he would do.  He was really good and only got a little jumpy when he smelled the smoke.

I had to laugh a little when the farrier looked at Stinker.  Initially when I told him Stinker needed a five week cycle he thought I was wrong, but went ahead and scheduled it since I was a new client.  He was very surprised to see that Stinker had long toes and not much heel in the back.  The farrier thought that he would see more heel growth, but unfortunately we have been unable to get much heel growth.  He changed things up a bit, so hopefully next cycle there will be a bit more progress.

Nope still no heel

The vet also came to give shots and it was the first time I met her.  I also wanted her to check Cowboy's teeth because he has strong opinions about bits.  Right now I have my mom riding him in a pieced together hackamore.  It is black and brown and looks terrible and my tack ho self cringes every time I look at it, but Cowboy is quite happy in it so I turn the other way and don't take pictures.

Cowboy is a terrible drunk

Part of me was hoping it was a teeth issue and not a behavioral issue, because the teeth would be easier to fix.  Unfortunately, after very heavy sedation the vet determined that the teeth were not the problem.  It is a behavioral problem that I am going to have to tackle if I want him to go in a bit.  I think that will be on the back burner for the winter, and I will probably just invest in a better hackamore because I really really want a purple hackamore.  The vet also really liked Cowboy, which was nice to hear since I picked him with zero input from anyone.