Bath Time

Well, it wasn't exactly hot today, but I decided it was warm enough to give Jetta a bath. Between the mud/crud that she came with, the medicines I've been applying daily for the fungal infection, and the shedding hair, I thought she needed a good scrub. She took it like a tough girl, cold hose and all. I half-filled a bucket of water, added a generous dose of both shampoo and Betadine. After soaking her with the hose, I scrubbed her really well and then rinsed her well, too. She stood still, although I could tell she didn't like the cold water! Poor girl. It was warm enough that she dried quickly; I kept her standing at the trailer while I trimmed Keno's feet and used the shedding rake on his winter coat. By the time I finished choking on all his hair Jetta was dry. And beautiful, I must say--very dark and very soft.

I won't be able to ride her for another week or possibly longer. Her girth itch is clearing up, but the skin is tender and new. The vet advised me to wait when she took a look at Jetta's belly yesterday. So, we have groundwork to do. She has obviously been sacked out before and is not overly nervous about things, but she is a little jumpy when being handled on her right side, so we worked on that. We also worked on the lunge line and on yielding front and hind quarters. She's pretty much got the hind quarters down, we're still working on moving the front end over correctly. It will come.

I went out to my friend's place to take Fly for a ride. He was full of it today! I can tell once a week is NOT enough work for him. He needs the consistency he is accustomed to, and he needs the arena work as well. We had a good ride up a long narrow rocky canyon and he handled himself very well. He's a fun guy, but I think I am facing a tough decision. It's hard to keep up with a horse that isn't at home with me for regular contact and work. I am used to making progress every week. I feel like I'll be lucky to just keep Fly at the level he is right now with our current arrangement, but I just can't get out there every day. Three horses is more than I can realistically keep fit, fed, floated, and trimmed!

Even though I haven't ridden Jetta except that first time, I think I have decided to sell Fly and work on turning her into my endurance partner. I really like her; I like her personality and her sweetness. She may be very green, or she may be fairly broke--I just don't know. I hope she is far enough along that I can just carry on with her training and conditioning, but if she is too green for me, I like her enough I am willing to send her to a trainer if I need to. That means Fly will need a new home. He's a fun guy and could do endurance, but someone else will have to continue his training. I does make me sad, but he needs to be someone's main project to finish his training and help him develop into a confident mature boy.