Packing Time

Farrier came out yesterday morning at 11, which really he was suppose to be there at 10, but that is a typical farrier move right? So no big deal, I had Dakota inside and decided to groom the hairy beast. His winter coat is never very long, but very dense and thick coat. Echo, just looks like a woolly mammoth with her long hair. Anyways, I'm grooming Dakota and realized how long his mane was. Since someone despises mane pulling and has to be tranq'd to do it, I just grabbed a pair of scissors and decided to hack it off like I always do. Also I'm fairly positive my grooming actually made him dirtier with the shedding and being caked in mud, it was a battle I was not going to win.

Farrier came and trimmed both horses while they were just tied to the wall - both were extremely well behaved - shocking. Dakota is usually terrible every other time and now twice in a row he's behaved to be trimmed. MAYBE he's maturing into his soon to be 13 year old brain? Doubtful but one can wish. Echo almost fell asleep while she was being trimmed. Such a well behaved girl. 

My older 'sister' Amanda was in Michigan from Texas for the weekend so she came to meet her niece Echo and pick up some stuff I bought her at the tack sale back in March. It was great to see her since we talk all the time but rarely get to see her. I free lunged Echo around a few times so she could see her movement in person. I got her A+ approval and agreed with me about eventually presenting her to RPSI to get her into a mare book for future breeding. She was a bit short on her front left from being trimmed - he had to take a bit more off in one area on her so I didn't push it too much with her, but got an ok walk, trot, and canter out of her.

I started the packing process finally. Thursday I took over two hours and cleaned my car out. Such a dreadful thing when your car looks the way mine did. It still needs to be vacuumed but I'll do that by the end of the weekend. Maybe I'll convince my dad to do that - surely he will be happy to help since he's all for me moving. Yesterday I pulled boxes out of storage that were in good shape from my last move that I kept. My goal is to fill the boxes I have already by end of weekend. Then Tuesday I'm going to go to the local liquor stores and take their boxes since they're perfect for packing. 

I also got my replacement screws for the Wintec saddle in the mail so tomorrow I plan on doing gullet surgery and putting the Wintec together finally. I just need to find a pair of irons to use on it and I'll be set to take it for my first ride in it - can't wait!

I mean.... he has muscle development issues already because of  PSSM but he really looks like there's no neck to the horse!

There's his neck! After being chopped and before I cleaned it up. Of course I didn't take a post clean up picture. I'll get one today or tomorrow to prove his mane really isn't a disaster.

In other exciting news, my friend George in Kentucky welcomed the addition of a healthy filly at 12:44am on Friday. The dam is Slewcy's Gale, who is by Slew City Slew and is a rare bridle thoroughbred. The sire is Into Mischief who has two runners in this year's Kentucky Derby. Happy day of birth sweet filly! Can't wait to meet you <3 My other friend Colleen in Kentucky has a foal due in the next two weeks so lots of baby pictures to come after I'm around the two little ones! Okay really three... there is a saddlebred filly at the barn too that's about 3 weeks old now. Click the images for bigger photos of George's girl!

Finally - I bought my cat's ThunderShirt's to help with stress of moving and stress in general with Abu. Has anyone used them on their cats or dogs? Abu really doesn't mind his, which is surprising with how finicky the cat is. He almost struts around in his shirt doing his 'look at me' routine. Holly on the other hand can't figure out how to walk normal in her's and has a 'omg it's squeezing me' look. I'll update on how well they worked when I use them for the first time traveling.

ThunderShirt to the rescue!