Pre-purchase vet exam...

Curly was so good today! He calmly waited for Dr. Kress, the vet, to examine him and then continued to stay calm as he was poked, stretched and prodded. Dr. Kress concluded the exam by saying, "Go ahead and write a check for this guy!" He didn't have one negative thing to say about Curly's soundness or general health.

Now we wait for Emily's decision...

I've been learning all kinds of horse stuff this week. Like the fact that you can use baby sunblock on them to prevent sunburn on their tender noses (Curly's is susceptible to this because of his markings). Today I learned that to maintain weight the general rule of thumb is 1 lb. of hay per 100 lb. of horse. So Curly should be getting approximately 10 to 12 lbs. a day.

Later in the day....

Emily had another riding lesson this afternoon. She said it was really good - he even smoothly reversed directions while trotting. Curly is beginning to understand her leg cues. He's so smart!

Before she took him into the round pen the farrier showed up to trim his hooves. He's seen Curly before and was quite happy to find him at the horse barn being ridden. The farrier said that with a regular trim schedule, Curly's feet would be in top shape again. Especially since he is now being ridden regularly and is beginning to drop some excess weight. The horse was wonderful yet again, standing calmly while the farrier clipped and filed away at his feet.

On the ride home tonight I asked Emily her thoughts about the horse and she really wants to work with him now. Yes, he has a lot to learn and will be challenging but she can see that he is a truly good animal with a big heart. There's lots of reasons to love this guy!

All looks wonderful....

Note from Emily...
I think that Curly is getting better every day. yesterday I had to kick him hard just to get him to walk, but today I barly had to touch him. Smart horse! It's easier to ride him with other horses in the areana because then he knows which direction we're going! Although it's not as easy, mom says that I should ride him alone sometimes. That way he'll learn to follow my signals.

I'm starting to wonder if we'll be ready to ride at a 4-H meeting? there's a lot of horses there, but it's always fun. I'll find out on Tuesday!