Mmmmm....wormer paste

Yesterday I finally got around to worming both horses. And true to their natures, they were both highly suspicious of those little tubes of worming paste near their faces. :)

In the end, Monte was fairly easy. By now, he's probably pretty certain that we aren't going to do anything that will purposefully hurt him. Zoe, on the other hand, was a two person job. E kept her from backing away while I squished the tube o' paste as far into her mouth as I could.

I'm still sick, so no riding (waaaaay too tired), but E took each horse into the round pen for a bit of exercise. Zoe was quite the pill, kicking out at E several times. I'm thinking that she feels much better and friskier after the chiro visit on Tuesday...not that that makes it okay to kick at anyone. I had to work on her desire to rush into her stall (and to her food!) as well. It took several tries before I let Zoe go to her dinner.

Aching backs

Yesterday included a visit from the chiropractor for both horses. And it appears that this may have been Zoe's first manipulation ever - or at least she acted like that! My little girl was very tense and unsure of what this person was trying to do with her and was not the most cooperative pony. Stephanie commented several times on the horse's tenseness and on how she was holding her breath for long stretches of time. At any rate, Zoe had a hip out and was extremely stiff in the shoulders - there may have been a rib or two out as well, I don't remember.

Monte had a session with Stephanie as well. His problems were less severe (2 ribs out and some other minor adjustments) and totally in line with his current job as jumping pony.

After a chiro visit, we usually give the horses a day or two off, which made the timing of this particular visit unfortunate. Last night was our annual Halloween ride with E's 4-H group. Since E couldn't ride, she ended up leading all of the games for the other club members. The riders discovered that jousting with swim noodles, spoon & ball relay races, and flag races are much harder than they first appear! I think they all had fun, though.

Rainy days

Poor E! She had to muck stalls yesterday in a sideways-rainstorm. It was so miserable that the barn owner even came out to help her. I, on the other hand, stayed dry inside the barn, sniffling and coughing with my cold.

And then it was time for Pony Club. The rain clouds parted, the sun came out and the footing in the arena, while wet, was deemed safe enough. E, however, was cold and grumpy. And mean mom forced her to saddle up. She was not happy (to say the least!) to be going out. I soon learned that part of this feeling was being driven by memories of falling in a wet arena and having Curly land on her ankle.

But this was a different day and a different horse. Ultimately, she and Monte did just fine and even got in a few low jumps. I won't say she was a happy, smiley rider but she was at least no longer teary.

I just wish my cold would go away so I could ride my pony.....I'm tired of being tired.