Hard working Mother's Day!

One of my favorite parts of Mother's day and my Birthday is the opportunity to spend time with the horses (or whatever I want) guilt-free. This morning I was sent out to the barn early by my husband to go ride. :) After feeding, I got Rocky out of his stall and trimmed his back feet (I did his fronts earlier this week). He is a big boy (1300 lbs or so) and it is hard on my back when he is silly, so I will do fronts separately to spare my muscles. After his toes were beautified, we went for a ride in the ring. I longed him first at the walk and trot, which gave him energy for when I mounted up. We had a very nice trot with lots of circles & changes of direction. He remembered that we cantered last time, but I did not feel like pushing it today - I really was there just to enjoy the ride. (Rocky enjoyed the carrots!) We also practiced backing (which he is getting much better at with the smallest of cues!) and turns on the forehand. He does the first half of the turn very well (with his front feet in one spot) but then wiggles a bit for the second half of the turn. Something for us to work on. He sure loves his carrots!

Next, I groomed Crystal - who absolutely loved all the scratches everywhere. I had not ridden her in a few weeks, so instead we went into the ring to longe - and she did beautifully at the walk and trot! She is going to make someone such a nice horse! Crystal had more energy (I think mostly due to her being healthier) and kept the trot going on the longe better than she has to date.

Love was my next project - her toes were starting to break up and against my better judgment, I decided to trim her as well. Thankfully, she is much lighter than Rocky so her gymnastics don't bother my back much. I looked on her health record and it said that she was good for her first 2 trims, but the last one she was pretty silly about. I don't have more info than that, but I wanted to make sure it was a good experience. As soon as I picked up her LF, she started leaning and then wanted to hop around while I held the foot for no particular reason that I know of. We went slow, stayed calm, and she did quite a bit of "hopping," but we got the foot done. She was much better about bringing her foot forward to be rasped. The RF was similar, but she relaxed after not as much hopping, and we got it done quickly. The rears she lifted up super high at first and hopped again, but the second time she settled in nicely to let me rasp her foot. I will work on trimming the backs later - she seemed pretty worried about it, but we did beautify the edges on both of them to help with the brittle breaking typical of a horse that has had poor nutrition for some time. Love appreciated the carrots after each hoof was done, and especially all the grooming afterwards. I put some more cream on her hock scar and Crest on her sarcoids, and at that point I was worn out and it was time for lunch. :) But I feel great - I accomplished so much and was able to ride, too! Yay! Happy Mothers Day to all those wonderful moms out there!