Round Two ...

Now it's Gus's time to shine! Here's Gus's photo montage from the last few weeks.

As with the previous post on Gringo, I'm starting with Gus's hooves and working my way upwards. For whatever reason, I'm missing the photos from October 25th's trim, so the photos posted below are the most recent from December 20th, in their typical order.

J added snow pads to help Gus deal with all the snow we've been having. They are working great!

Body shots. I remember mentioning in an early post that Gus had dropped A LOT of weight in a really short period of time. We know now that it was due to the crappy hay quality that the BO had. Not her fault at all. It was some hay she had purchased from someone she routinely purchases from and it just had no nutritional value at all. Gus wasn't the only one to dramatically lose weight ... but I still felt bad for the poor boy, nonetheless.

These next shots are from December 2nd:

Absolutely no topline ... muscle loss on barrel, hip, hindquarters ... everywhere. Poor Gus!

His bony butt ... and lack of muscle.

Visible ribs... nearly all of them. Uggh!

Still a pretty face though.

 These next few are from December 17th.

This next batch is from December 23rd. Gus has, by now, gained a considerable amount of weight back. 

Uggh... still missing that topline though.

Much more filled out rump though.

Now, for some leg shots. Every year I get paranoid that something is wrong with Gus's left hind leg. The fetlock joint gets so swollen and basically that entire leg looks like a stove pipe. Fortunately, that's just normal Gus ... but it's ridiculous how grotesque it looks. I should really get some comparisons of the right hind, you'd be amazed at the difference between the two.

Even though I already posted these on my previous post, I had to share them again here. I'm just so proud of Gus (and Gringo) as they were both very GOOD boys. These were taken on January 7th.

Such a pretty boy!

I had taken a bunch of photos yesterday, celebrating Gus's birthday ... and I even uploaded them on Facebook, but I guess I forgot to upload them to Picasa? Sheesh. My brain is fried, I guess. Well, they'll just get uploaded at another date.

ETA: Got those photos uploaded ... So here's photos from yesterday. Mr. Gus turned 23! WhootWhoot!!!

Rocking the "tongue" and the "mohawk". Silly boy!

Gus, Me and Bowser ... He's totally NOT a Bowser. I think he's a  "Buddy" or something along those lines. Needless to say, one of the nicest strays to wander up to the barn.

Gus chowing down on his birthday "mush".

Anyways, last Friday (January 11th), Gus had a potential new leaser out to test ride him. Go figure that on that day, of all days, he was lame. I was so frustrated and embarrassed because just days prior he was sound. Looking back, I truly think he sprained/pulled something as it was extremely icy out that morning (horses in the barn weren't turned out until after 12p) and he's basically running around on ice skates (aka shoes).

So, after 2grams of bute twice a day from Friday until Tuesday, he's sound. I did call the vet on Monday to get them out to do another Legend injection. Today they'll be out to administer that. But thankfully when I was at the barn last night, Gus was sound ... or as sound as Gus typically is (or isn't).

I did call back the potential leaser (we'll call her K). So I'm hoping she and her parents will come back out to recheck Gus and hopefully have a real test ride. I think her and Gus would be a good fit. More information to come on how that situation pans out.

Picture Update Time!

Okay. First things first ...

Gringo.

Here's is a photo montage of Gringo's hooves from his last trim, on January 4th - not sure what happened to the photos from November 7th. They are in the "usual" order.

Alrighty. And here's what happens when, umm, the toes are left a little long and well the ground is a frozen, crappy mess. These were taken on January 11th, a week after the trim. Because I wasn't able to make it to the barn on Wednesday, I'm not sure exactly when this break occurred. But OUCH!

By the way, this all happened to the left front hoof. Which, of course, is the one that Gringo has the coffin bone fracture in. Go figure. Interestingly enough, he was 100% sound on this leg.  

And here's what the hoof looked like last night, after J (Gringo's J, not to be confused with Gus's J) was out to retrim him. She thinks a lot of the issues had to due with the ground being really hard, and while I agree, I do think that the long toe exaggerated things. Anyways, least now they are back to where Gringo likes them to be.

I guess he tested positive to the hoof testers, per J, but on the lunge last night he looked pretty sound. Least in typical Gringo fashion. J recommended treating Gringo for thrush as well as applying something like venice turpentine ... to help harden up his hooves. I think I've got some Durasole from when I was trying to toughen up Gus's hooves, so I guess I'll be digging that along with some mastitis ointment (Tomorrow) to help Gringo's hooves out.

Now on to some new(er) body shots.

December 2, 2012

These next few shots are from December 17th:

It's like "Really, Mom? You have to stand there an take photos? Honestly!"

Uggh. Crappy photo of me. Not sure how people get such cute self portraits. Any tips?

And now some body shots from December 23rd:

Look at that belly!

Yikes! You can totally see where he's absolutely FILTHY! Oh well. No bath until the temps are steady in the 50s-60s ... too cold otherwise.

And then, there are the photos from our first ever outdoor pony ride on January 7th, 2013. What a great way to celebrate the new year! Both boys were good, despite all the new exposures. See blog post here.

Gus is telling Gringo that everything will be okay and that he needs to get his "big boy" pants on.

Seriously? Can't Gringo act like the Andalusian/Appaloosa he is, rather then the Thoroughbred racehorse he wants to be? No biting Gus on the neck ... especially when I'm on board. Really, boys!?!

More secrets to share...

Wow. Look at that dirty look. Sheesh.

Would be lovely picture except Gringo is sticking his tongue out at me. Silly boy!

Tongue shot ... again.

LOVE this picture!

Gringo sunning his bum after his "pony ride". Silly boy, again.

The below shot is of Gringo enjoying his strawberry-banana "mush" from Gus's birthday celebration. Gus turned 23 yesterday and to celebrate, both Gus and Gringo had a little extra something mixed in with their dinner - along with some much needed hot water. Both boys LOVED their "treat".

The wild outdoors

Well, yesterday was an amazingly NICE day for January ... kinda like a post I blogged about a year ago, if I'm not mistaken. It was in the mid-30s, sunny and just a slight breeze. So, I decided to be brave and ride Gus (no problem there) and pony Gringo. Boy was that a fun ride.

Gus was a saint and could've cared less that he hadn't been outside riding in months. Gringo, on the other hand,  was very insecure with himself and with the whole situation. Instead of walking up Gus's butt, he was even or just ahead of my leg and trying to eat Gus the whole time. Thankfully Gus is a very steady eddy and just kept walking, despite the fact that Gringo was acting like a Thoroughbred in the post parade. Sheesh.

I kept the ride brief ... it was probably 20 minutes total and almost all walking. Once I got the hang of controlling Gringo and his nerves had quieted, we did do a couple trot sets. Seriously, they were like three-four strides each. Gringo was REALLY good. As was Gus, but this was more of a "let's pay attention to Gringo and teach him something" ride then a Gus "ride".

When we were done with that brief ride, I put Gringo back outside and decided to do a few laps in the indoor on Gus. We worked mainly on a 20m circle because there was another lesson going on. But Gus was pretty forward and even, despite the fact I had no spurs or whip on me. Canter work was VERY brief, but we had a nice up and down transition both times. I'm proud of my steady eddy.

Gus may *fingers crossed* have a "date" with a potential new leaser on Friday. I'm trying to find someone to pick up my slack, so I've been advertising locally. Sounds like a younger girl may be interested, so we'll have to see if they end up coming out or not.

And, I did take photos... again, just need to upload them all. :-)

Expenses ...

Wow. Has it been a SPENDY first week of the new year. All totaled, I've spent nearly $750 on my two horses and dog (he had to go the vet yesterday for a recheck). Yikes!

So, to break that total down, board was nearly $400 for the two boys ... not a big deal because that is an expense that is already figured out on a monthly basis (and money is set aside to cover it). Then each had their teeth floated by Jim J on the 31st of December. I scored a bit of a deal, as he raised his prices $5/horse on January 1st. So for both teeth floats, it was $190. Then Gringo needed to get his hooves trimmed again, to the tune of $50. Plus factor in Tucker's (the dog) unexpected vet appointment = really expensive first week of the new year.

Backing up the week, on Wednesday I finally made it out to the barn again to ride. Because of some stomach issues (haha ... more to come later about what's causing that), I opted to work Gringo during my lesson and do a quick ride on Gus afterwards.

Gringo was a VERY GOOD boy again on Wednesday. His brain was functioning and firing on all cylinders. His attention span was pretty good too. Thank God. Sure beats what I was dealing with the last time I worked him.

After doing about 10 minutes of lunging, and not accomplishing anything, B decided to throw on Gus's Vienna side reins (sliding reins). Gringo put up with the changes really well (surprisingly) and finally started moving off like a horse and not the giraffe that he had been impersonating - quite well, I might add.

Once we accomplished a nice walk/trot/canter both directions (still having sticky issues on the left lead canter) we worked on long lining - which is slightly different then ground driving. In long lining, you work off the side of the horse, similar to how you work them while lunging. Where as in ground driving, you're working behind the horse. Anyways, with long lining, you can do lots more with regards to changing bend and change of gait ... you just have to be a bit more agile. Gringo and I eventually got the hang of it and managed to do a couple figure-8s at a trot. Success! He was a really good boy. Very proud of him.

Gus was a good boy as well on Wednesday. I opted to not lunge (tired of circles by then) and basically just hopped up on his back cold turkey. It's so nice having a horse you can do that with. We did mostly walk work, working on 10m spiral circles/figure-8s again then did the shoulder stretches. Trot work was kept short as my stomach was bothering me again, but in what little bit of trot we did, Gus was moving out evening and happily.

I'm hoping to do a snow day ride either this weekend or on Monday. It's supposed to be in the 30s on Monday. Whohoo!