Time for a Trim

You know that lovely feeling at the hairdressers, when you are getting your hair done, and it is so relaxing that you could happily drift off into never never land??? Well Rocky played noddy's all morning during his foot trim.

Today it was Rocky's first visit from a farrier. I found David's details on the ATHRA site. And it stated that he was the Bare Foot Hoof guy, well as I had intended to ride Rocky bare footed or in boots I thought that he sounded perfect for the job.

I wasn't wrong he was terrific, so nice to chat with and very kind and considerate to our Rocky.

David checked Rocky's feet and was impressed at how good they are in general, strong healthy feet. WoooHooo, perfect for what we intend to do, trial and light pleasure riding with him and the paddock he is in is perfect conditions for a barefoot horse, a little rocky, a little unlevel and well draining.

My one concern proved an imminent problem tho, the day we brought him home to Kellyville he was a bit disoriented and racing around looking for me, and followed me down a rocky path, not even a path more a mountain goat track. Silly boy, he made a big chip in the middle of his near side hind hoof. As David worked on it, it proved that there was indeed a good size crack in it, which he filed and treated but suggested no riding until I get a boot for that hoof.

As you can see by the pics, he was a super good boy, very relaxed and only really protested when the tender area on the cracked hoof was touched. I had a chance for a good chat with David and feel even more confident that bare hoof and boots are the way to go. Once again I didn't get to ride, but will soon. David said that Rocky had had seedy toe on his rear off side hoof at one stage, and showed me the damage left by it, of course it will cause no long term damage and I will be sure to monitor for any problems.

Well Huelio should arrive this week, and it will be a case of getting the new guys sorted out and finding out what he needs doing. Dave will call me in about a month and see how the feet are going and then he does a re-trim again or in 6 weeks time depending on the growth.

I gave Rocky a dose of worm paste, not that he needed them with the property having been horse free for so long, but just in case and with Huels coming I don't want any problems for him either.

Huelio

This is Huelio being ridden nicely by Karleigh his owner. Tony and I met Huelio when we went down to Goulburn to meet Rocky. Huelio was a paddock mate of Rock's and greeted us when we went down to their paddock. Tony was taken by him immediately and thought that he was a really lovely horse. He kept saying to me, ask Karleigh if this one is for sale?
I finally emailed Karleigh about Huelio after I had paid a deposit on Rocky and the answer was, No Huelio will never be sold, well that is a pretty final answer, so I let Tony know that Huelio was not available and to look elsewhere for his horse.

Well Huelio is not for sale, he never will be and he is firmly a ABS horse. He is a lovely boy who loves people, loves his food and loves his chicken shapes and Icy poles. A saddle horse never having raced or even trialed, he does not like working in a frame and prefers to fang around a paddock or trail, so the perfect companion horse for Tony and I, so will he be moving to Kellyville and meeting up with his old pal Rocky?

Stay tuned.....

Horses help you trim down

Well yesterday was a down day for me, suffering from depression I do not know how each day will pan out.

I checked on Rocky as soon as I got to Kellyville, he was happily sunning himself and had had his breakfast early so fine if I wanted to ride, I thought I might ride, so got out all the gear ready for the day.

I took off his rug, which he is needing right now it is cool. Brushed him really well which he enjoyed and picked his feet out and popped some oil on his feet, still has that chip on the back near side, but I am watching it and think it will be easily filed out when the farrier comes.

I phaffed around a bit more but when I started to think about riding I talked myself out of it.

Dad was having some trees trimmed around the house, cottage and shed, chainsaws going and general noise happening. Rocky was fine but I decided to go up and help haul off some of the big stuff in the ute, to the dumping ground in the bottom paddock. Dad is 80 and had fallen over the dog that morning cracking his head and shoulder hard on a table so I really did not want him over doing it. Dad commented that if I helped out I could possibly loose another 4 kilo's (my weight loss to date), well if promises were horses.......ha, no I don't think another 4 kilo's were lost but at least I was not sitting on a couch stuffing chocolate down my throat.

By the time this was over it was late afternoon, time to rerug and feed Rocky, so the ride did not happen and I was really feeling like a total failure, despite the good days work I had put in around the property I felt as if I had let myself get out of riding and was wondering at my own confidence around Rocky.

Will let you know.

Well tomorrow is another day and I will try not to be so hard on myself, I do have Michelle coming on Thursday for a lesson and I will have to get on the boy and ride him, he has had several weeks off since my fall from him and I hope that I can overcome my hesitation and go back to being enthusiastic with the riding as I was before.

Purchasing Rocky has changed my life in so many positive ways, I have had to get out and about and do things, walking, fencing, riding, feeding, watering, and clearing paddocks, picking up poo, has all contributed to the weight loss. So for this my Rocky boy, you are a life saver, thankyou.

Kellyville at last

Rocky has now been moved to my parents property at Kellyville, approx 3 acres all to himself, well at least until Huelio arrives.

Just some photo's of the other weekend, in between rain storms and the bottom paddock was very soggy. Rocky didn't mind one bit, and really seems to like his new digs.

He has a couple of sunny spots he relaxes in, one not far from the feed shed and then another a little further down the paddock and with a birds eye view of the house deck, and the door Dad uses to access the shed, and the horse feed. Rocky has it all worked out, clever boy.

This guy is awesome, he is so easy going, however when he saw the horse float he went into his "athlete" mode and started to prance around and get excited, he certainly loves things to happen. He must have loved his racing career and have been very well cared for and treated well for it to have obviously been such a positive experience for him.

Floating is absolutely no problem, on he goes and says "yep ready, what ya waiting for, let's go!!"
He is totally into anything different so I can not wait to be able to ride him on the trail, I think he is not only going to be fun to ride but I think he is going to be bold and open to anything.