Kicking out?

Today was hoof checkup day and I'm dwelling on the fact that Baasha has been acting funny when we work on his feet. It appeared as if he kicked the hoofcare practitioner today, and had me very worried. It would be the first person he's ever kicked in his entire life, and that doesn't make sense, he really likes her. He was pressing his nose into her chest in a very obvious friendly gesture when she first showed up, so what's this?

Then later he kicked at the ground a bit - the stall mat, several times, actually, and I was like, WTH! I think he's stiff somewhere, or hurting somewhere, and when we work on his back feet, it bothers him. Odd, what really appears that the horse is kicking out at a person, I'm pretty sure is just a spasm cuz of his reluctance to give us his back legs, and his rapid stomping of the ground with the same back leg later. AGH, so I guess I'm not really worried that he ruined his reputation as a good boy, I'm worried he's hurting. Of course I'll still clarify to the trimmer via email that I really don't think my horse was trying to nail you, please don't write us off your list of customers! It's been rough sorting out exactly what I'm so worried about today! (Pic is of his club foot - I found it interesting how clear the growth band makes it, how the heel tends to grow faster than the toe. If you look at the pale band about halfway down, you can see the orientation of growth compared to the coronary band and how crazy that is on a club foot. Thank you Baasha for demonstrating hoof deformities! The blood on his pastern is from a bacteria here in the grass - no big deal compared with scratches. Not on my list of "things to worry about." Especially after both the vet and the trimmer were unconcerned. I joked to the vet that a vampire bat did it - you know how they feed on the ankles of cows and horses? That's exactly what it looks like!)

Nevertheless I rode him to the grocery store and he was fine, even wanting to trot when I just wanted to walk. He freaked out Arab style over some rolled up mesh fencing lying on the roadside. He almost convinced me that they aren't just bits of fencing, they're cougars disguised as fencing! Whirling, blowing, cocking his head and making a big show for a little old man in a window. I think the old man would be pleased at how I circled Baasha around and made him stand, approach, stand (praise) one more step, stand (praise), until he was right next to them. On the way home I was on foot, and I took him straight there and picked up a piece. He ignored me completely and tried to eat grass right next to it. So either he likes to play and bluff that things are scary, or I really did succeed in showing him how harmless it was. Who can tell.

I made a nice "coffee service" for the trimmer, with oatmeal cookies I made that Baasha thinks are poisonous, the way he spits them out. (I give up - no more making oatmeal cookies.) It's very German of me, the way I made the tray with tea, sugar, cups, spoons, and powdered coffee flavored drink. I was very proud of myself. Since all of this was sitting on the table in the stall, Baasha was a little curious at one point and started nosing the items. I yelled "NOT MY COFFEE SERVICE!" and he stopped. How could he know what variety of items I set on that table are for his use, and which items are not? hehehe it's not really fair, is it? (BTW, the big dish on the right in the photo is some loose salt - that item is exclusively his.)

His feet are great - get this - no more thrush at all! What a relief, but I'm hanging onto the cure (neosporin) cuz you know how thrush is - it waits til your guard is down and them attacks all over again. Thrush bacteria are smart that way. They wait til you think you've got em beat and then they say "Look, she's not watching! ATTACK FOOT!"

I was worried about his white lines - they're all so big lately they're catching small stones. What is that! But happily she said it's not really a white line issue, it's just sole shedding and protruding and making the white lines appear stretched. Interesting! I love how I'm experiencing all sorts of hoof issues in a row, all different, so I can learn from them. I tended to overcorrect on the issues from her last visit, so she told me to quit that now, just even things up normally. And best of all, she had an extra rasp to sell me, so I don't have to order one. I can't wait to use it. I really felt that using a dull rasp on him was really bothering him, really straining on him, and making it so uncomfortable he started pulling away from me, which pisses me off and then makes the whole experience unpleasant. My trimmer was very very patient with him today and showed me how I should react when he's stiff. Gotta learn that patience thing.

Yesterday my man and I caught two, no three trout for mothers/grandmothers day. We were complete amateurs, and really it would have made a funny film if anyone had caught it. (Pic is of one of our trout in a cake pan. That's a normal 9 by 11 cake pan, that I use for baking fish cuz it's the biggest pan we have. Isn't it amazing how big these trout are? They really shouldn't be so big.)

We're new at this fishing thing! One fish we hit so hard it, uh, nevermind, we had to throw it away into the field. The second almost escaped from us! After we whacked it a few times! We're incompetent! Embarrassing, the way we shouted at each other "HIT IT AGAIN! NO! GET IT! Where, oh no! It's gonna jump in the creek! I don't have gloves on! Is it stunned? Is it dead? Why is it breathing? Is it alive?" Man we need to work on that. Then we both didn't want to clean the fish out, but I refused to do it without him. It's really so gruesome for us, I'm not sure we'll be doing that again anytime soon. Cutting off the head - it's like I try to take my mind far away and avoid the reality of what I'm doing. They taste REALLY good, but it's so awful to have to kill them! They come jumping out of the water when they see us now, cuz they know us and they know we have (usually) food. And you should see how they all hide as soon as you drop a fishing line in the water. They like, must have a backdoor or something cuz suddenly there are no fish to be seen. Total stillness. Smart fish. Tasty, and not dummies.