Saturday, December 13, 2008

Snow!

I know it is rather objectionable stuff, but it sure is pretty :)

Good thing CB doesn't demand a precise schedule! He's been rather cooperative about me going out to work with him in the daylight, or at 9:30 at night and with the snow tonight, I think it was more fun in the dark.

I know, I know, he's a (former) wild horse and can handle the weather and all, but I don't know if I can! He's thin, and it's even more obvious with snow frozen on his back and sides. I want to get him a blanket. Something cheap cuz he's just going to grow out of it, but just something that can keep him dry and keep that darn white stuff off! I mean, it'd help him put/keep weight on if he didn't have to spend calories staying warm, right? And it'd be a good training step to wear a blanket, right? So I can justify wanting to wrap him up all toasty warm?

On a good note, I stood on his right side while he looked at me for a moment before moving to put me back on the side where I belong, so I think we'll get there.

It seems that once I get that initial touch of the work session, he's pretty good about me touching him wherever with hand or rope (so far, gotta bring a blanket out or something, was too cold to use my coat!). I was able to rub all the way down front and back legs on his good side. He even sort of picked up his front foot when I kinda tickled his pastern the first time.

On a different note, I have this sweatshirt with a mare on it with her ears pinned back that says "Bad Mare Day". It felt like a day for a sweatshirt so I wore it to work. I got multiple comments on it today, both at the tack store where you'd expect to find horse people, and at Costco where two gals at the deli got a kick out of it.

I hope, over the course of working with CB and keeping this blog I will learn to be a somewhat better writer! Some of my posts sound more like lists than anything else.

4 comments:

FROG SENIOR said...

Hey nice to hear from you again, so you got snow. Carefull not to spoil him but from a rookie I think a blanket would be a good idea, I just looked at several horses here and they were all wearing blankets. But your brother and I did get a good laugh at your convincing argument on your behalf justifying a blanket for a horse that survived in the wild from birth to the not too distant past without human intervention but truthfully I would SPOIL THE HECK OUT OF HIM!!!
Glad to read your blog again,
Be Well
LU,
D.

gtyyup said...

Personally, I don't blanket my horses if I can help it.

It's part of their training though, so they know what they are. But, I want mine to have good, full coats for winter. But, that's just my preference.

When I show, I'll blanket after bathing.

Feeding more hay will keep him warmer too.

froglander said...

I probably wouldn't be considering it so much if he had more weight on him. It's only been a week and I'm feeding him lots of hay. And around here, since it gets so wet and then the wind can kick up, that cuts right through his winter coat. Then there is rain rot and a blanket to keep them clean and dry can prevent that.

Tracey said...

Well, you already know Steve Holt! is wearing a blankie. If you can get some clean, local grass hay it's a nice thing to just have sitting there in front of their faces all day. I'm going through 2 bales a day for my three (SH has his private reserve); I just divide it between the two stalls and they go back and forth, eating all day along.

Hope you're feeling better! No fun to work a horse in this weather, but especially if you're not feeling well.