I don’t have much of a riding update. We’ve been drying out down here, and I have mostly ridden in the field, if at all. State legislators could start pre-filing legislation on Monday of this week, and guess who gets to read basically all of it? I worked quite late on Monday night. I am hoping that this evening can be the start of my new routine schedule and also that the large arena has dried out enough for a decent flat work session under the lights.
But I am not without a little wisdom … if your horse wears bell boots 24/7, as I know many horses do, ALWAYS check underneath them every day you set eyes on your horse.
When I ride Eli in the field, he picks up grass seeds with his pasterns, underneath his bell boots. Sometimes, he picks up a LOT of them. And they don’t just brush out easily. For the past week or so, I have spent a good amount of grooming time after our rides getting these grass seeds out of the hair of his pasterns. They really get up in there and I can’t see all of them at the outset, especially on his RF that has the white sock. However, removing them all affords me the same satisfaction as popping bubble wrap, so I do not mind the extra effort at all, and certainly Eli benefits from not having grass seeds potentially irritate his skin under the bell boots. So please, check under the bell boots. Check for injuries, burrs, grass seeds, scratches, all of it.
One last thing–although the time change and my job have taken the majority of my sunset rides away, Sunday evenings are free and this past Sunday’s sunset wowed me. Pictures fall well short of the experience.
we have this stuff called cheet grass and it is nasty! Sticks to everything and how it gets into boots I do not understand…
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I googled that … even more annoying, it’s non-native
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It makes me sad that phones never seem to capture the true glory of a fantastic sunset (or sunrise!).
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I know! I think a longer exposure would help. Like with a real camera.
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Oh yikes! Poor Eli!
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Thankfully I don’t think it’s painful for him as long as I stay on top of it.
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Sunset rides are the best!!
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Yes!
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Annie wears 2 on each front foot and I have to remember to check under them because she always manages to still do something or get stuff stuck under them. Good reminder!
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I wonder how much they’d injure themselves *without* the bell boots …
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We had one horse at the barn whose owners apparently never checked…I was holding him for the farrier, pulled the bell boots off (velcro, obvs), and found this huge nasty open wound. Very paranoid about checking under them after that.
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Oh yikes! Good but also sad example.
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Sunsets are so gorgeous and it is so frustrating that pictures never do it justice!
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Right???
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