Went to the yard for 9am, which for me is early, to help apply a new poultice. The first thing I saw was Filly with no poultice on standing in her box. It had managed to slip off during the night. I was very worried by this as standing in manure with an open wound did not sound like the best method of infection control. I rapidly gathered halter and lead rope and lead her out of the box, at which point Rick appeared. We decided that the hoof now needed another bout of salt water bathing. Today she was really good about this. She stood for a good ten minutes in the bowl without a murmur. Applying the poultice was also easy and we made sure that it could not come off this time and left instructions with the yard girls to regularly check and hit the panic alarm if it was missing.
I returned to the yard this afternoon for another poultice session and was met by Ritchie who suggested I ride Bonitao. More circling game with my eyes shut on a bareback pad to improve my balance. Felt much much better today.
After playing with Bonitao it was time to play with Filly. Just because she is in her box does NOT mean that she cannot have training continuing. Today I put emphasis on "orifice training". I am trying to prepare her for any future vet work that may be needed. Vets love orifices like nostrils, mount, anus etc to poke, prod and inspect. Reading Dr Millers book not enough people prepare their horses for this until it is too late so I decided to buck the trend preempt the problem. Approach and retreat is the name of the game, especially with the udder I found, which currently results in a cow kick. I'm sure the female readers will empathise with her !!
We also did some training with the bridle and bit which is becoming a non-event but will be kept up in any case.
The evening poultice was very very easy. Rick says that she is just getting used to it, possibly not realising the hours of foot training I am putting in in between sessions. Oh well, it is the result that matters !!
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