which_chick (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
which_chick) wrote2023-09-10 07:17 am
which_chick) wrote2023-09-10 07:17 am
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Not much to report, here.
It was brutally hot this week so Bird got the week off. I don't think there's much point in trying to condition the horse in temps over 90F. Yesterday was better so I did take him out for 11 miles and change, mostly at the walk with some stretches of trotting. It was road shoulder, but, y'know, that's how it is in these parts. Road shoulder with rolling hills or mountains with rock.
I'm having a fit issue with the front boots. I thought they were OK and I'd modded them a bit (warranty schmarranty) as per the video for a better fit and as per not-the-video for a better fit and it was OK. But when I added some distance, it was not OK.
It's not horrible and I do think there is a fixability to be found, just I have to find it.
The back boots are fine and have none of the issues of the front boots which suggests to me that this is a clipping problem. (Clipping: when the flight path of the hind footies winds up landing on or nearly on the front footies, such that the hind footies can "step off" the front footie coverings. Also called "forging".) Clipping is a thing we gotta get straight. First off, it's fucking up the boots. Second it makes Bird trip, which sucks. Fatigue can influence clipping but so can breakover point on the fronts. And trotting downhill is not great for clipping.
Anyway. I've taken off another quarter inch of the rear portion of the front footies. (They're trimmable with nippers or a utility knife.) We'll see how that goes today. If it doesn't work, I can spring for straight up easyboots on the fronts. He fits front easyboots well and doesn't tear them off. They're just... hard to put on and hurt my wrist. Also I need new ones because he wore holes in the last pair.
I'm going to remeasure feet today and try out the re-modded front footies and see how things go. But as it stands, I have the back footies sorted and I'm working on the front footies. It's progress.
And, even though it was fairly warm yesterday and we rode from 1 to 3:30 PM, he handled the workload well and trucked along with only a slight lack of enthusiasm on the "I do not think you are going the right way" front. For the 11 miles, we had to try out some new routes that he hadn't seen in quite a while (years) and he was "This is ... not the way. Are you sure you are not lost?"
He figured out where we were around about Butch Otto's spread and perked up considerably at that point.
We did see lots of sights. There was an ATV on old 126, which was fun. ATVs are not supposed to be on real roads, but... Bird is good with most traffic but ATVs on the hard road look wrong to him. He's OK with ATVs on trails and logging roads. Also, rider had on a motorcycle helmet (full face in mirrored glass) and he might have been looking at that. It's hard to tell.
The people at Ruth Fletcher's place (sold, she died some years ago) have many sheep (he had not seen sheep before this) and a donkey (same). So that was fun.
The folks past Max's with the barrels and poles set up have a black gelding wearing a face/ear fly mask with a fringe on it who exploded out of his three-sided shed to come whinny at us and stuff after we'd gone by and Bird was WHUT IS WRONG WITH THAT HORSE?. LOL. But also, dude, two strand electric, hard road, barking dogs on other side of the road, there's two feet of shoulder, you need to chillax here.
Is it safe? Eh. I wore my bright orange reflector vest so that people could more easily see my body alongside the road. So yeah, it's safe-ish.
I'm having a fit issue with the front boots. I thought they were OK and I'd modded them a bit (warranty schmarranty) as per the video for a better fit and as per not-the-video for a better fit and it was OK. But when I added some distance, it was not OK.
It's not horrible and I do think there is a fixability to be found, just I have to find it.
The back boots are fine and have none of the issues of the front boots which suggests to me that this is a clipping problem. (Clipping: when the flight path of the hind footies winds up landing on or nearly on the front footies, such that the hind footies can "step off" the front footie coverings. Also called "forging".) Clipping is a thing we gotta get straight. First off, it's fucking up the boots. Second it makes Bird trip, which sucks. Fatigue can influence clipping but so can breakover point on the fronts. And trotting downhill is not great for clipping.
Anyway. I've taken off another quarter inch of the rear portion of the front footies. (They're trimmable with nippers or a utility knife.) We'll see how that goes today. If it doesn't work, I can spring for straight up easyboots on the fronts. He fits front easyboots well and doesn't tear them off. They're just... hard to put on and hurt my wrist. Also I need new ones because he wore holes in the last pair.
I'm going to remeasure feet today and try out the re-modded front footies and see how things go. But as it stands, I have the back footies sorted and I'm working on the front footies. It's progress.
And, even though it was fairly warm yesterday and we rode from 1 to 3:30 PM, he handled the workload well and trucked along with only a slight lack of enthusiasm on the "I do not think you are going the right way" front. For the 11 miles, we had to try out some new routes that he hadn't seen in quite a while (years) and he was "This is ... not the way. Are you sure you are not lost?"
He figured out where we were around about Butch Otto's spread and perked up considerably at that point.
We did see lots of sights. There was an ATV on old 126, which was fun. ATVs are not supposed to be on real roads, but... Bird is good with most traffic but ATVs on the hard road look wrong to him. He's OK with ATVs on trails and logging roads. Also, rider had on a motorcycle helmet (full face in mirrored glass) and he might have been looking at that. It's hard to tell.
The people at Ruth Fletcher's place (sold, she died some years ago) have many sheep (he had not seen sheep before this) and a donkey (same). So that was fun.
The folks past Max's with the barrels and poles set up have a black gelding wearing a face/ear fly mask with a fringe on it who exploded out of his three-sided shed to come whinny at us and stuff after we'd gone by and Bird was WHUT IS WRONG WITH THAT HORSE?. LOL. But also, dude, two strand electric, hard road, barking dogs on other side of the road, there's two feet of shoulder, you need to chillax here.
Is it safe? Eh. I wore my bright orange reflector vest so that people could more easily see my body alongside the road. So yeah, it's safe-ish.
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What is going on here is that I have, basically, what are effectively "horse sneakers" that go on my horse's feet just like people sneakers go on people feet. I am having some fit issues with the "horse sneakers" and I am modifying the sneakers to fit his feet better. I am not modifying his feet to fit the sneakers better. There is no horse foot trimming being done by me. All trimming is done on the horse sneakers, not the horse's hooves.