You *want* my foot in a bucket?!

I'm not really sure it's scratches, but probably. Baasha has these little sores on his heels that have remained unchanged for 2 weeks now. Today I got out the Betadine scrub and really cleaned them. (I'd just been using desitin and I think I should clean them too sometimes!)

I had this warm bucket full of Betadine and water, and I thought, well, his frogs are so bad lately, it can't hurt to ask him to soak feet in the bucket too!

Then I realized Baasha has never stood his foot in a bucket in his life. I very carefully placed his foot in the bucket, and he immediately thought, "This is just wrong!" and he tried to take his foot away. Yes, having a foot in a bucket is not a nice sensation unless you're a trick horse or baby horse, always getting into things for fun. I just told him, "Baasha, I would really like you to leave your foot in that bucket. I know it's odd." and he went, "oh geez, OK then." and stood like a statue, not blinking, not eating his hay anymore, not even breathing, for as long as his foot was in the bucket. It was only about 2 inches of water, max. I had a rag in there so his foot wouldn't slip around. That was not planned, but turned out really helpful, I think.

Then we did the other foot, cuz I thought he'd probably need to learn it with both of his brains. Again, he stood there almost paralyzed, wondering what on earth might happen, with that strange sensation.

So, our first few minutes of soaking lessons have begun! I'm gonna have to soak his feet in something stronger, soon, cuz that thrush is not going away even with the medicine I've used faithfully for almost 3 weeks.

As I dried his heels and rubbed medicine on the sores, I thought, how boring it would be if he didn't have any little bumps or cuts or bacterial issues of the feet. I spend hours in the barn with him, just fussing over him. He loves it cuz he gets some alone time from the herd (which are still driving him around too fast, meanies!), and he gets to munch in peace on whatever I make him. (warm mashes, mmm)

We took a nice little 1.5 hour ride today and met with some horsey friends at the riding school. The owner's mare hung her head over the fence and beckoned Baasha to come touch her nose, but he stood just out of her reach, 2 feet away, and stared back at her. They just stood there, forever, unmoving, just staring at each other. That mare was at my wedding! I wondered if she remembered me.