Vet update

The vet came out yesterday to re x-ray Finn. X-ray's looked good, and vet recommended either a Sigafoos shoe, or a shoe that's called a flip-flop, which is basically a thick rubber pad that covers the whole bottom of the hoof, and then half of a shoe nailed to the front of the hoof, over the pad. The vet recommended we try the flip-flop shoe, before trying a Sigafoos. I can't find too much info on them online. My farrier ordered them, and Finn will be trimmed and shod on Tuesday. After shoeing, I can ride at the walk for a few days, then at the trot for a few minutes at a time for a week. If he is sound and going well, I can start to slowly put him back in regular work. Today we walked under tack in the indoor, and then worked on going in and out of the wash stall. He was an angel about everything. He was also very sweaty after a 20 minute walk under tack in the indoor, even though it wasn't hot out today-- someone is VERY out of shape!

OF COURSE he's sticking his tongue out!

I also got to ride Ben today-- my first non-lesson ride on him. I really wanted to work on getting him lighter. He is SO heavy, and the lesson kids that have ridden him have let him be heavy. We worked on a lot of trot-halt-trot, canter-halt-canter, transitions, lots of circles and figure eights, trot leg yields, extending our trot down the long side, and collecting it in the corners. He felt pretty stiff, and I don't think anyone's ridden him since my ride last Tuesday. We also played in the field and jumped a few of the jumps. My next ride, which will be Sunday, I definitely want to work a lot more on getting him to really use that hind end, and release the tension in his head and neck. A few pics from our ride: