Looking Up

There are some horse-care-related things that I feel confident about claiming to be good at.  Example: grooming.  There are some things that I am passable at, like standing wraps.  There are some things that I still don't know how to do, like clipping.  And there are some things that I am very, very bad at.  

pictured: a duct tape boot that fell off within 5 minutes of Leo walking on it

Making a boot out of vet wrap and tape is one of the things that falls solidly into the category of things I am bad at.  Thankfully, Assistant Trainers A and L are very, very good at this, and have been helping me out over the last few days.  Leo's foot has been in excellent hands.

Soaking for days

Although normally a dick in the wash rack, the epsom salt soaks seem to be an exception to this.  He'll stand completely still for the entire 15 minutes, and probably would continue to stand for even longer if I needed him to.  There was a pony party on Saturday (when the barn is swarmed by many small children and their parents, none of whom typically have horse experience, for the event of a birthday), and despite the noise and abundance of tiny humans, he chilled in the washrack the entire time like it was NBD.  He got many, many treats for that.

foot soaking -> opportunity for interesting pictures to pass time

Soundness-wise he is slowly getting better.  We did pull the shoe on Sunday at the recommendation of my farrier, and said farrier was out there tonight to tack a shoe back onto a different horse, and had time to look at Leo as well.  My work schedule didn't allow me to be present for this, but Barn BFF E was able to hold him for me, and the farrier called about 30 minutes ago to let me know what he found.

Leo has a white spot on his stomach.
I owned him for about a week before I noticed this.

Farrier says...no abscess! But he did find a bruise and a large soft spot, so an abscess could still happen.  We're leaving the shoe off for a few more days just in case it does end up going in that direction, but he thinks that it'll clear up pretty quickly with continued soakings and starting to brush on turpentine.  He'll be back out on Thursday for a recheck, but he said that Leo really didn't look that off tonight and sounded very confident that recovery is near.  (I'm knocking on all of the wood as I type this because I don't want to jinx it!)  Also, he said not to wrap it any more, so I don't have to embarrass myself with my shoddy duct taping skills/begging for help any more.

Homeboy's opinion about the bute he's been getting is very, very negative.

So, that's all good news!  In further good news, despite not going to Rolex, my weekend won't be completely without fun horse things - a brand new equestrian center that's about an hour southwest of us invited my trainer to bring all the students she can find down on Sunday for a completely free show so that their staff can have  a test run before their first 'real' show in a few weeks!  They're doing hunters and jumpers and appear to have a CRAZY nice setup, and although I can't take Leo (because he may not be sound by then/may not have his shoe back on by then), I am taking my buddy Dragon to do jumpers and I am so excited!