Rei cribs. Ugh! She's a cribber! I even hate saying it. :( So now I'm stuck trying to find some way to fix it. I want to try one of those bitter sprays to discourage her grabbing the paddock fence... and I suppose if that doesn't work, I'll be stuck buying her a cribbing collar. So depressing!
BAD, BAD HABIT! Bad horsey! No!!
And just for clarification: She doesn't chew wood; she windsucks. She mostly does it after she eats, I guess, but she does it in her paddock. My BO says she may stop when we get her a companion, because she's alone right now. The paddock is big, though, and she's out 24/7, and is finally getting free choice hay and breakfast/dinner with lots of nutrients and proteins and all that good stuff. The only stressors for her right now would be a new place and not being out with other horses, although there are horses right next to her all the time, so she can talk to them, see them, touch noses, and grump at them when they're around and she's eating. And the fact that she's underweight and out of condition and such.. but I'm working on that! But yeah. Ugh. Cribbing. Yuck.
I'm now wishing I didn't procrastinate and not write about yesterday, because I was feeling so good about us yesterday! But really, apart from the cribbing, she was a very good girl again. She's still eating well, walks up to me in her field, is very easy to work around. She gets a little grumpy if you get too close to her mare parts or stick fingers in her ears, but she's totally fine with everything else and stands like a pro.
Yesterday... yesterday was Reina's first farrier visit! Our farrier is also our BO, so he's very convenient. He does teeth, too! I feel spoiled! Haha. Anyways, yes, I held her in a stall while he trimmed her feet. She's barefoot, and I'm hoping to keep her that way. She was a good girl. She wiggled some, but not much!
The bad news: He found an abscess in her right hind. Eep! He said her back feet looked totally neglected, but her front feet weren't as bad.
The good news: it was old, and had healed over on itself. There was no way of knowing it was there - she was 100% sound - and when he went to trim the foot, BAM! abscess ick! Poor girl. She wiggled, but not too much, she was so good! He said it should heal up fine, and he's checking it regularly to make sure there's no heat and she'll be better in a few days. He also said she has great, hard feet (especially for a TB!). Yay!
So I fed her in the same stall afterwards and groomed her really well.
Poor girlie looks so thin in this picture! I'll fix her up, though!
Lookit how sweet! Coming to say "hi!" in spite of her feed being in front of her nose.
Isn't her halter stylish? Purple is SO her color. I did good!! :D
It looks like she has some rain rot on her back, so I curried her really well, and I'm hoping it'll solve itself with her new, healthier diet and lifestyle. If not, I'll have to break out the disinfectants here in a few weeks! Beware, rain rot! You'd better get yourself gone off my horsey!!
Yuck! This is the worst spot of it, though, thankfully.
She looked so much shinier and healthier after I groomed her. I was proud. :D And! I brushed all of the tangles out of her mane, tail, and forelock. I know everyone says if you want your tail to grow, don't brush it, but... I'll worry about that later. I can't stand having tangles like that. I'll stop brushing it when I get some nice leave-in conditioner. I'm still looking for my leave-in conditioner of choice.. will keep you updated!
It looks longer in the pictures than it actually is. It only goes to the point of her hock, about. It's kinda frazzly around the top, but it's surprisingly thick elsewhere. I think with her new nutritious diet, it'll start growing long and even thicker! My goal for this tail: be gorgeous and long come summertime. Can we do it!? I hope so; if not, I'll fashion her a tail-wrap with a built-in fly swatter so she's not miserable.
That's all we did yesterday, though. Bonded over feeding, grooming, and our first farrier visit together. Yay! She was definitely sore, but she was walking okay by the time I left.
So! Today! Nick said she was running around like an idiot in her paddock today; he thinks she wants to be out with the other horses. We'll get you a buddy soon, girlie! Hang in there! I think all of her running made her footsore; she overdid it. Horses!! *rolls eyes* She was super lame when I went to see her, and Nick was confused because he checked her over that morning and she was totally fine. Silly horse ran herself lame. Doesn't she know that she needs to take it easy if something hurts? Geez.
I introduced her to clicker training today. She was so cute! She was starting to understand the targeting concept, but I didn't push it too much, as I didn't want to overface her. But she's a very eager clicker student, and she's going to be a lot of fun. I plan on working with her more tomorrow, so stay tuned. (And she does, in fact, like carrots!)
Cuuuuuteness! That's my favorite picture of her yet, with her halter and matching lead rope (I really did good on the matching front!) and pricked ears and hay wispies in her mouth, lol! She looks is just as sweet as she looks here!
I had to walk her across her paddock to get her to her feed. She was almost three-legged for the first few steps, but she was walking okay on it by the end. You could tell it still hurt, though. I felt bad for her, my poor little horsey. But I'm sure she'll be fine in a few days. Just no more running around like an imbecile! Sigh. :)
Good news: even when she was hurting, she let me touch her ouchie foot and pick it up. She didn't like it, and took it away after a minute, but still. She trusts me that much, at least! And she let me lead her with just her lead rope around her neck to get her moving to get her feed. She really is a doll.
Now that I've written all this about her, I don't really remember why I was so discouraged. Cribbing is controllable in 99% of cases I've seen, and abscesses are common and will more often than not heal up with no lasting issues. In the shape she's in, I'm really lucky this fixable/preventable stuff is the only stuff she's faced me with. Crossing my fingers that this is it, and she continues to improve! I think I worry too much...
Winter fuzzies!
I'll just pray that after this, she stays sound and continues being sweet, loving, and trusting. I think she's starting to look forward to my visits; she always pricks her ears when she sees me! Yay. :D
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