Baby gets a new pair of shoes..

Well, after much soaking, no abscess has come about. Pate's feet are fairly flat and short, so it might just be that he has tender feet on the gravel. Highly unusual for a mustang, as they have pretty hard feet. But Pate was born in captivity, so maybe he has not developed the hard feet mustangs are known for. Up until now, he has been on either rubber mats or sand. So both the vet and the farrier decided that it might be best for Pate to wear shoes to help with his soreness. Melinda, my ever patient farrier, worked with Pate to make his first trimming and shoeing a pleasant experience. He was a very good boy. I was able to drop the lead rope on several occasions to take pictures. Sorry Melinda, but I was capturing your best side! :)

The shoes seem to be helping, as he is walking sound now. I was planning to take him camping with me over the weekend, but Dr. G. suggested I leave him home. I did not want to sore him up too much out on the rough terrain, so I agreed.

You can see from these pictures, that his face is healing up well!

Still lame..

Pate is getting better, but is still lame. I am spending time brushing and hand grazing him. We are also working in walking around the property (gimping is more like it), looking at stuff such as propane tanks, porches, hot tubs, picnic tables and a bubbling pond. He's having fun just hanging out and eating grass with no expectations put upon him. He and my old man, Jedi, get to graze out in front of the barn for several hours each day. Now, if I could only keep them away from my blueberry bushes! I finally have blueberries and I want to eat them! I'm not growing them for the horses! I have apple trees for that!

The vet and farrier will both be out this afternoon to check out his foot and reassess.

Can I get a new Mustang? This one is defective!

If it isn't one thing, it is another! Pate has decided, or rather, Pate's foot has decided to pop an abscess. Now, if you are not a horse person, this may sound pretty bad. But actually, I would have taken an abscess over his poor ripped open face any day! An abscess is basically a blister or pocket of blood inside the tough exterior of the horses hoof. Once drained, the horse usually heals up quick and stops being sore on that foot. They can be caused by a number of things, but most likely it was caused by stepping down hard on a stone.

Once again, Dr. G, as I affectionately call him, was called out to the homestead. After much probing, pinching and nerve blocking, it was determined that Pate's right front foot was brewing a horse blister of epic proportions. Well, maybe I exaggerate a little, but he sure thought it was painful. The best part? That Dr. G could handle his feet, without a sedative and Pate actually picked them up for him! Hey! All this horse training is actually working!! LOL

The doc wrapped his foot in a poultice and it is my job to keep it wet until he stops moving lame and the abscess comes to the surface. Well, with his foot wrapped in several layers of cushion, he almost immediately walked sound. Goodie for me, as the good doctor ordered him back into light training. He will survive! No rest for the wicked around here, as we have a contest to win!

Since I am a softee at heart, I gave him another day off to frolic with the herd in the pasture. Tomorrow is another day.

The new name is causing a commotion!

ok, ok, I hear you. I have had several people contact me to either let me know that they do not like the name change or that there is another Mustang in the contest with that name.

I guess we will stick with Patriot! Now, can I go back to training him??? Jeez. -smile-

The fireworks scared Pate a lot. I spent several hours standing by his side, stroking and talking to him. He stood like a stone, getting his emotional safety from me. If I left him for even a second, he would pace restlessly. I was afraid he would hit his face again, so I stuck close by. It was really touching to know that he trusts me enough to get comfort from me when under stress. At one point, he fell asleep, even though cannon like explosions were going off all around him.

Luckily, he was the only horse in my barn that needed me last night. My three other Mustangs were just fine even though the display went on past 2 am!

Happy July 4th!

Today is a day of rest for Reno. He worked hard over the weekend, so I turned him out with the herd to eat some green grass.

It's a war zone at my house during July 4th celebrations as ALL my neighbors find it fascinating to send up fireworks. My nearest neighbor bought $2800 worth! Jeez! So, I'm putting all the horses in rubber stalls tonight! :)

A whole lot of "Rothering" going on

Day 1

Day 1

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3 - Saddled!

Day 3

Day 3

Day 4 - First Tying

Day 4 - Tied at the trailer

Loading up

2 minutes into loading

4 minutes, he is in!

Just back from our four day clinic with Steve Rother. I clinic with him whenever he is in town, so I loaded up Patriot and another one of my young horses, Tai, and off we went.

First, Patriot has been renamed. A poll was taken at the clinic and the vote was for Reno! I have to say, I like that name better.

Reno has come a LONG way. He loads in a trailer, ties, saddles, leads out in the open, comes when he is called in a large arena, sends over scary obstacles and has had his first bath! He was exposed to many new things, like tractors, blowers, ATV's, other horses, a new barn and stall, concrete isleways, and hoses.

Other than that he was fantastic student, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Pate meets the vet

Patriot had a bad day on Friday. Somehow, between breakfast and dinner, he managed to open up his wound. This time, I called the vet. It was time for stitches! You would have been proud of me. Vet's have had to pick me up off of the ground during these type of procedures. Not this time. I watched every minute, assisted the vet and held my poor boy upright!

My vet is a patient and trusting man. I told him that Pate was handleable and that he would be able to give him a sedative. The vet had Pate literally eat out of his hands by feeding him yummy grain. After a "get to know you" session, he was given a sedative and promptly fell asleep. After many nights of sleep deprivation, my little mustang was snoring like a baby! It was a crack up to hear the snoring sound coming out of a horse!

It took about 1 hour to clean, flush, and stitch the wound. It was worse than you would have thought as first glance and fairly old. He had developed scar tissue and the skin was tough to get a needle through.

Pate "woke up" once during the procedure and needed even more drugs. That's one thing about Mustangs. They can be heavily sedated, yet literally run away. They have a high fight or flight response built into their genetics.

He got 17 stitches in two passes and his first exposure to the clippers. Hopefully, he will heal up nicely without much scarring. He's wearing his fly mask 24 hours now to prevent flies, dirt and further rubbing.

He is having some drainage and swelling, but he is no worse for wear. So I loaded him into the trailer and headed out for a four day clinic with Steve Rother. More on that later as I am still at the clinic and he is doing great!

But I did want to tell you that he loaded into the trailer for the first time in 38 minutes! We took it one hoof at a time.

I will try to get as many pictures and video of his progress as I can while I am here and post them when I return on Tuesday.