Spring. No, Winter. No, Spring again!

OK, last week we had spring, but over the weekend we had a snowy cold blizzard come through. Five inches of snow and it was only 18 degrees when I went out to do chores this morning. Oh, well--it's sunny again now so I won't complain. I'm heading out to ride Fly tomorrow afternoon. Afterwards I will trim his hooves. Sharon says he is enjoying the social life out at her place and getting to know the herd-mates.

Keno came up lame on his right hind pastern. Three days on bute so far, and he is slowly improving. Poor guy. He has done this before, so I think it will get better on its own. He was in no shape to give a lesson today though!

The new girl, newly named Jetta, is adapting to her new routine. She seems very sweet, somewhat shy, but willing. She is easy to handle on the ground so far. I worked on her feet again this afternoon; they now look pretty good. Good sized and nice and round. She has a bad case of girth itch--the first I've ever seen. Apparently the owner's other horses have it as well. I'm treating it aggressively and have disinfected all tack, brushes, etc. that she has been in contact with. She has a snotty nose (likely due to stress) which is improving, but probably contagious as well. So basically she is quarantined for now, and I am watching Keno closely since he has obviously been exposed. NOT an ideal situation! I'm so glad Fly is out at Sharon's and won't be around till we get all this cleared up.

I do like this girl an awful lot, though. She has real potential even though she may turn out to be a bigger project than I expected. That is to say, I don't think her training has been any sort of real education. I think they just saddled up and headed out at speed on trail and at the track. She needs even the basic ground work, which is what I've been doing this week. Yielding the haunches, basic lunging, backing, softening, etc. She is smart and willing, once I get through the attitude, and she is a really nice mover. The next few weeks will give me a better idea, but right now I think she might be a keeper.

I don't know what this means for Fly. I really like him; he's so fun to ride. (Especially that canter!) I'm not making any decisions right now, but I will have to think about things in the coming weeks. For now, he's happy where he is and I can get out to work with him easily, and tomorrow is supposed to be sixty sunny degrees! I'm looking forward to a trail ride!