The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread 11

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I think your cold front made it here this morning. It’s really rather chilly:)

Becky

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I think his feet look pretty good, frog looks nice and fat and healthy.

Those are NB shoes on the hind?

Becky

[AnAmericanMother]

Oh, dear! That is very sad.

Hold onto the idea that she died peacefully, in her sleep, with no fuss, no fear, and no trauma at the vet at the end. That may well be the best way to go. And 16 years is a long, long time for a large dog.

Two soft little woofs and two cold nose presses from the dog friends here.

[MissTargets]

Good Morning.

Hot and humid today, as was yesterday. Storms tonight, then cooler this weekend. Hard to sleep when it only goes down to the high 70's. Furnace people will be done today.

[cjshapi]

I haven’t even been lurking much. Work is crazy.

Cindy - I’m so sorry to hear about your dog. Losing a dear friend is never easy.

Not sure if this was discussed, but Saturday night on ABC there’s a movie about the life and tragic ending of Ruffian. It’s based on a book by William Nack, who is an outstanding writer. I won’t be able to watch because I’d be too busy bawling my eyes out.

Disney has also just purchased the rights to make his great Secretariat book into a movie in 2008. That is a movie I won’t miss. I may sob through the whole thing because for some bizzare reason that horse always brings me to tears. He was my hero when I was 10 and he was racing and he’s still my hero today.

[tuffydoodle]

Good heavens, Cindy died???? I’m so, so sorry.

[AnAmericanMother]

Horses always look SO ridiculous when they're tranked up.

Very impressive shot of the mouth -- shows the lacerations from the teeth very well. I'm sure she'll be a lot happier with all those hooks out of her mouth.

I always clean my mare's udder every time we ride, and she seems happy for me to do it. It DOES get very gunky, especially since she was a broodmare and she's got "broodmare droop" there too. But she's certainly used to being handled and doesn't mind - although any time I'm cleaning the private bits I use warm water and moisturizing soap!

[AnAmericanMother]

Will you send some of that rain this way? < g >

Everything here is dry as tinder. We're not even going to grill over charcoal until we get some rain. . . . just one spark would send the entire woodlot up.

[FrogInABlender]

Man, those are good-looking feet! He does good work. The only thing I can see to comment on is that he doesn’t have the heels on the left front set as far back as the right front, but that may just be because that foot is slightly smaller but not small enough to warrent a smaller size shoe. But I don’t know that that matters. The distance from the point of the frogs to the inside edge of the shoes is pretty much the same on both feet and I think that’s more important. So I’ll say again, I think it’s a good job.

[FrogInABlender]

Great pics of the teeth floating. I haven’t had the vet out to do that to any of mine in a long time so I’m sure that it needs doing.

And that was funny about Bay running off on you, but you can’t really blame him. After all, the Doc was there and that usually means shots and all manner of uncomfortable poking and prodding. I’d’ve run too! ;o)

[FrogInABlender]

Aw Man Cindy! I sure hate to hear that. I know you’ll miss her like crazy, but she had the best possible death that any of us can hope for. She’ll be waiting for ya at the bridge, all young and frisky again and ready to play.

[FrogInABlender]

Beaker, ya got a good hoss there! Sounds like he really watches out for ya. You’ll have a blast showing him this weekend. And you WILL get somebody to take pictures, won’tcha?

[HairOfTheDog]

Those are NB shoes on the hind?

Well, I think so... NB hind shoes... Frog?

Thanks for the feedback... I do see what you mean about the shoe set... Hmmm... I'll see what the farriers say, thanks.

I will try to get a picture of him one of these times. With the bald head and the tattoos and his t-shirt that said "Are you going to COWBOY UP? Or are you going to just lay there and BLEED?" Heh... he looks a little tough, but he's very soft spoken and fairly soft with the horses :~)

[FrogInABlender]

...NB hind shoes...

Yep. I've got the same on Bob and Hope.

"Are you going to COWBOY UP? Or are you going to just lay there and BLEED?"

LOL!!! I LOVE that t-shirt! He sounds like my kinda guy.

[HairOfTheDog]

Heh...

Bay sure doesn’t like him. And Bay can be a little stubborn, I’m finding, when other people are concerned. When he was holding Bay’s rears up, Bay was absolutely rigid and stiff and leaning on him, and then he went up. The farrier actually excused it and thought Bay might have been stiff and fatigued from holding it up so long, but I went and lifted his rear and got it a lot higher, and his hock was loose and easy when I moved it all around. Bay was an angel about it. He’s just really tense around that guy.

When Mark was shoeing, Bay was the one I could drop the line on and step away if I wanted. They’d worn a groove and they were comfortable together.

This guy hasn’t done anything, intentionally, to make Bay not like him.... except for the rolly cart incident.

On the other hand, I will say that Cyn was on her best behavior with both farrier (she was OK) and with the vet. I’d say she was sweet with the vet. And I warned him about her attitude when he went back to look under her tail, no problem. “He said “this horse is a problem?” “She’s an orphan?” “She’s a lot better than other orphans I’ve handled” Heh... he has always had a really good bedside manner with animals... They just like him. That’s valuable in a vet.

[FrogInABlender]

Well, hopefully Bay will warm to him the longer he shoes him, given that there are no more incidents of course. I guess Bay’s one of those horses that you really don’t want to get on the wrong side of because he never really forgets it. BladeRider’s old mare, Queen, my Truly’s mother, was that way. When I had her, I was a little rough with her about getting in the trailer and she doesn’t like me to this day, and that was nearly 10 years ago. So hopefully Bay won’t hold it against this guy for QUITE that long.

About the shoes, I think I actually said it backwards about the foot size/shoe size issue. What I meant was that the left front foot may actually be BIGGER than the right, so the shoe that fits the right front is a little too small for the left front, so the heels don’t go back as far, but the foot’s not big enough to go the next shoe size up. Does that make more sense? In any case, I like the set of the right front better than the left.

[Beaker]

I'll do my best for pictures, though what I really want is video.

There's not a mean bone in Levi's body. He's pretty good at home, but when you take him places, he goes to pieces. He doesn't bite, or kick, or do anything mean. If he was aggressive there would be no way that we could keep him around because of his size. He's just afraid of his own shadow, and I'm always afraid that he's going to catch me off guard and dump me on the ground, or get carried away and run me down trying to get away from whatever scary thing that is going to eat him next. I was impressed with the incident in the barn, though. If he had decided to spook, he would have squashed me like a bug.

[MissTargets]

Oh thanks for the heads up about the Ruffian movie. I will sure to watch it. I saw that fateful race. So tragic.

[FrogInABlender]

Well, just try not to think about it. Remember the discussion we were having the other day about keeping negative thoughts out of your head and visualizing positive results. Negative thoughts tend to be self-fulfiling, so don’t even entertain the idea that he may spook. If you’re confident, he’ll be more confident. Just have fun and GOOD LUCK!!

[FrogInABlender]

Is that the one where the front leg broke so badly that it was actually flopping around all over the place and he kept on going? {shutter}