Comparisons

These pictures were taken a week after I moved barns, out of the shit heap that didn't feed enough to keep weight on crapaloosas, much less Andy, despite me paying $400 for hay.





These pictures were taken today, a little less than two months after I switched barns.




What an improvement! Of course, he's still got some weight to gain, but he looks so much better. Thank God I moved when I did!

Mares

I much prefer geldings. I know this is a horrible generalization, and each horse is an individual, but it's my general feelings. Love Bug is great, but she sometimes has an attitude. We had a come-to-Jesus moment a week ago, when she found out that I can be the bigger bitch. Geldings are simple. Andy and I don't have battles of will. The barn staff actually think he is better behaved, because he actually listens to his handler. My barn owner told me he's probably the best-behaved horse in the barn, and she doesn't even like geldings (crazy lady! although the other gelding there is proud cut, so he's a bit of a jerk). Love Bug, however, embarrassed me by acting like a spaz and kicking the farrier in the shin. Oh Love Bug. She acts like a mare, and then comes up to me and cuddles into my shoulder, and I forgive her for everything. How can you not love a cuddly pocket pony?

I had such a good ride with Andy tonight. He was doing his floaty, almost extended trot that I love. I actually prefer riding him than Love Bug, which is surprising, because Love Bug use to be my end all favorite horse of all time. But Andy is so responsive, and his gaits are so lovely. He's got this big canter that is so much fun when it's collected, and I feel like I could ride that big, floaty trot all day. Love Bug is so heavy on the forehand, and much slower to respond to cues. On the plus side, her trot is much easier to sit, and I can canter her back back, which I am currently unwilling to do on Andy, as I like my ass on my horse, not in the dirt. She also has a better whoa. So they are both awesome horses. My ultimate goal is to keep Love Bug forever. She's 22, and I don't want her to go back to the polo team. They take care of their horses well, but I can just do it better. It's a money thing, and she deserves to be done with polo, and not be ridden by dozens of people.

Success! Sort-of. Andy had another vet visit, and one of his gums had healed up nicely. The other was trapping food still, so it had to have some work done. The vet used a burr on the power float to widen the space in between the two molars where the pit was, so any food that gets in there will just fall out instead of getting mashed up into the gum and getting infected. So on Saturday Andy gets to go back to his normal diet of hay, and he gets to go out on pasture again! Yay! He was such a good horse for the vet. Last time the vet tried to look in his mouth without sedation he threw a hissy fit and gave him quite a fight. This time he cooperated quite nicely. The vet was even surprised. I figure his mouth was probably hurting him before, so now it probably feels better and he's less fussy about it being touched. He's also taking the bit easier, so I bet he feels a lot better. From now on I am definitely getting his teeth floated every 6 months instead of once a year.

I looked in Love Bug's mouth this week to see what her teeth looked like. Hah! Teeth? 22 years of cribbing has left her with practically NO incisors to speak of, just gums. My mom was horrified when she saw it, but the lack of front teeth obviously isn't affecting that fat little pony too much.

I love my new barn. Seriously, every day I am thankful that I moved Andy! I'm paying maybe $20 more a month, and getting so much more. He's looking really good; definitely putting on some on the weight he couldn't gain at the old barn due to not being fed enough.

I am doubly thankful that I moved in now. I had his teeth floated last week, and they turned out to be in worse shape than I expected. His incisors were seriously angled and he had two periodontal pockets, one of which was really big. So his teeth are in as good of shape as they can be after one appointment with the vet, and the pockets in his gums are healing for the next two weeks. Unfortunately, this means that he can't have anything with a stalk, in cause it gets stuck in the pocket. This means no hay or grass. So he's on a diet of Senior mush and beet pulp and he gets turned out in the arena during the day. Poor Andy. In a little over a week he can have hay and pasture turnout again, and the vet will be back to see if the pockets healed. If not; well, we have more work to do and I have more money to spend! But I would be screwed if I was at the old barn, because I would have no way to feed him the 14 pounds of mush he needs a day, not to mention I couldn't really keep him in the huge barn all by himself.

Andy and Lovebug are in looooove. It's so cute, and slightly annoying. I don't really want herd-bound, buddy sour ponies, but they are so KYOOT together. They are stalled next to each other, and get turned out together. The new barn owners actually really like them both, but actually think Andy is better behaved! I am so proud of him. I was telling someone a while ago that if I love my kids half as much as I love my horses, I will be an amazing mother.