Yearly Grind

Yesterday, I had the day off (finally!), and it was the perfect time to get some routine maintenance done on Charmer. His hind shoes were coming up on 9 weeks and needing reset, so Farrier came out at 9:00, and we kicked off the day right, with a new set of hind shoes (his fronts & hinds are on different schedules right now). Once he was done, he got to go back out in the pasture and goof off with his friends for a few hours.

Around noon, I went out and hooked up the trailer - which was pretty comical, because I could not get the ball flipped up in the bed of the truck. It took me like 10 minutes. When I actually got it flipped right side up, it took me less than 5 minutes to get the trailer hooked up, but man it was pretty ridiculous getting that stupid ball flipped around. Anyways, so once everything was finally all hooked up, I went to grab Charmer, and he looked at me all "again? really lady?".

At least he plays along with adventures
(also why does his BoT sheet look like a mini skirt on him?!)

He complied with me pretty easily, and I switched out his turnout sheet for his BoT mesh sheet for the road. He loves his mesh sheet, so it always makes him a little more willing to be a nice horse and do what I want. He loaded typically, for him, which means he approaches the trailer once and doesn't get in, and then I circle him around and he hops right up. Its weird. He always needs 2 tries.

Then the poor kiddo got dragged to the vet for a dental. He gave me profuse amounts of side eye throughout the whole thing, but he was really, really good. I told the vet up front - he is a total lightweight. So the vet went ahead and only gave him a little over 1/2 of the normal dose he would give, with the saying "we can always give more". We didn't need to. 

Charmer walked into the stocks easily, and was so good about standing for his teeth. The vet even noted that he was probably a little more awake than most horses when he is doing their teeth, but the vet said he seems to have kind of a "grit his teeth and get it over with" mentality. The horse is oddly stoic about injuries, needles, and getting his teeth done. Maybe not quite so stoic in the saddle, but he is all business 99% of the time when a vet has to do anything with him. 

His teeth weren't bad at all - he was due, but nothing too bad. A small wave in one side of his mouth, a few hooks, and an oddly sharp left canine, but all fairly routine. The vet and vet tech could not stop saying how much they liked him! I counted at least 5 times between the two of them that they mentioned, "I really like this horse". Always the Charmer wherever he goes (hehehe, see what I did there). 

Once we were done with his float, the vet and I chatted a bit about Charmer. I recently switched over to this vet, so he has very little history. We spent some time talking about all of Charmer's hind joints as well as potential injections. Charmer has had two lameness exams in the last couple of years, and both times he flexed the slightest bit positive in his hocks, specifically the left hock. Not enough that either vet doing them suggested hock injections were necessary, but enough that they mentioned it being a future point of maintenance.

Slightly drugged walks

Also, when I first got Charmer (over 2.5 years ago - how time flies!), my vet at the time mentioned that his SI joint showed some slight arthritis. It has not been a major problem for us, but something I always keep tucked in the back of my mind. We discussed injections for this as well, but we both mentioned it would be worth doing hocks first since those are far less invasive (and expensive) to do. It was a good conversation to have, and even if Charmer doesn't get injections for another couple of years, the vet was really helpful and great to talk with about it all. Who knows, maybe Charmer will be back in the spring for some injections.

On an unrelated note, we made some farm purchases this weekend as well! Including, but not limited to:

JUMPS!

An old friend of mine decided to sell all of her jumps and offered them to me. It was a great price, and most importantly, it means I don't have to build my own! They could use some TLC, but that will come in the spring. For now, I am thrilled to have the ability to jump at home. All in all, there are 20 standards, 20 jump cups, and a handful of poles. Once I get some more poles, I will be able to easily set up courses at home!! Pretty excited about that. If anyone has any fun ideas on painting the jumps, or any super fun jump exercises - send them my way! I love new ideas!!