The land of the furries....

We're out of rawhides.  Zack does not understand the concept.  He's definitely convinced that he can will them into being.  But he can't.  He can only will me into driving over to Harris Teeter and picking up some.  Which he usually does.  Darn the adorable nub wags (Zack has a docked tail) and sweet-talk (Zack also "talks".  I've got to get video of this sometime.)

Haley just wants to snuggle.  Unless there is a ball, in which case she doesn't care if you have a porterhouse steak in your hands JUST THROW THE BALL!!!  Haley hasn't changed much.

Only bummer is that both of the pups end up limping around the house after a fetch session these days.  We've been limiting the fetching and doing more trail walking at Mint Springs, the park across the street.  And of course by "we" I mean the hubby...but that's for another post.

Pony-butt is ok.  She will sell her soul to you if you'll just take off the g***amn grazing muzzle.  She will shove it in your face so her request is loud and clear.   She'll rub it up and down your back if you turn away.  She will stand at her gate and glare balefully.  But I have a heart of steel and will not give in, as she's holding her rather high weight perfectly steady, even with the muzzle on.  Lucky for her horse cookies do fit through the tiny hole in the bottom.

Bad news:  A couple days after a longer ride to Mint Springs, during which Dax was very happy and forward, I put her on the longe line.  She was slightly lame on her bad leg (the one with the cyst).  It wasn't hugely obvious, but clearly there.  Then, this past week the farrier came to trim her hooves.  When a horse has to pick up a single front foot, most of their weight is transferred to the diagonal hind foot.  Well, she was fussy when he was working on her right front, meaning she wasn't thrilled with adding weight to her left hind leg - the bad one.  Of course I'm super bummed about this, but a good friend (and horsey expert) mentioned Dax's 'lameness" could partly be due to her favoring of that leg for so long.  Getting muscles and tendons back into shape in a way they haven't been used in a while will certainly make one sore.  Adding on top of that favoring a particular side....it's hard to say.  The really unfortunate part of all of this is I've simply got to do the very slow, easy rehab and push her until it's clear she's truly lame on that leg or not.

As of now, with moving to Blacksburg seriously looming now, Dax is on extended recovery/vacation.  This is actually not me just being a slacker - I found a peer-reviewd publication on the efficacy of steroid injection into bone cysts compared with surgery.  In the paper, they evaluated the horses after 6 months, not 60 days.  The 6 month mark for Dax is in the middle of June, probably right around when she's moving to her new digs.  Anyway, so factor in some settling in time, and she'll be ready to try riding again, with the benefit of being at a barn with an arena and a 1/2mile grass "track" for exercise.  Speaking of the new digs, the place is called the Stable at Hoge Pasture, and they've got a website if you've got time to kill: http://www.hogepasture.com/Home.html

Oh, and I shaved the dogs and Sam just in time for a serious heat wave.  They are sooooo much happier, and we have the bonus of laughing our butts off constantly.  I will share pics as soon as I can find the cable for my camera :-)