My boy is back to normal, and I couldn't be happier. I rode Sunday and today, and he felt really good. No lameness, and he was raring to go. Tonight I even had a few moments where I pretty much lost all brakes. That means that Andy feels good again, no more ouchiness! I think he was just really excited. He literally was a galloping fool, but I would much rather have 1000 pounds of GOOO than a pony with a sore foot. It all reminded me about how he has, and continues to inspire me to be a better rider. Like I've said before, Andy does not tolerate heavy-handed riders, so I've focused a lot on my seat, especially using it effectively to slow him down.

Andy has been very economical in terms of hoof care for me. Normally, horses are trimmed/re-shod every 6-8 weeks. Horses in very hard work, like race horses, or ones with hoof issues are sometimes shod on an even shorter schedule of every 4 weeks. Our farrier comes to the barn on Mondays, as long as there are horses to be worked on. I had her look at Andy at 7 weeks, and he wasn't even close to needing a trim. Then I had her check at 9 weeks, and he still didn't need trimming. Now, at almost 11 weeks he's barely starting to overrun his shoes, so I'll have them done on Monday. To make up for all the money I saved by having a long time in between shoeing I'm getting some regular vet work done on the same day (check-up, vaccinations, blood panel, fecal worm count), so that should take a sizable chunk out of my bank account, but it's all very necessary stuff to do!

Hopefully the vet work will also help me get a handle on bringing his weight up. He hasn't lost any weight over winter since I got him, but he certainly hasn't gained anything. I want him to gain quite a bit. He's very out of shape. I rode for maybe 30 minutes on Sunday, maybe 10 minutes of trotting and only a few minutes of cantering, and he broke a sweat. Before I do any trail riding or serious trail riding he needs a lot of conditioning, but I'm not really willing to do that until I get his weight up. So hopefully the vet visit will be very informative!