Was haben wir gekaufen?
Would you believe this is a nine month old weanling?
Jasper is moving along in his training. He now does something that actually looks like lungeing at the walk and we've added in a little bit of trot.
The surcingle was also introduced this week and he was concerned about it flopping on him. While he is generally unconcerned he is actually quite the sensitive fellow. The other day I was asking for him to drop his head down and he was dropping it as my hand was moving towards the lead and I didn't even get a chance to touch it! I hope to preserve his reaponsiveness while helping him learn to deal with scary stuff like harness bits wiggling and making noises and giant stacks of hay covered in tarps (big concern for him apparently!).
I'm giving Tru-D the week off. Her leg feels good and tight now and I didn't liniment it today. I plan on seeing how she lunges Saturday and go from there. She's feeling good enough to run around and be a goober with the other horses so I'm not too concerned. It might just be like that time Charm-N stepped on her. (Filly and nearly one ton mare trying to go through a 4' gate at the same time...filly does not win.)
Mac's bloodwork came back better and he appears to be staying hydrated. We are down to 15 gallons starting tonight. We have his eyes scheduled next week (Merry Christmas McLintock, you get new eyes!) and then he remains banished for another month before we do a final blood draw and see where he is at and perhaps attempt to reintegrate him with the herd.
If he can't self-regulate, or at least do well enough with a bucket in his stall instead of an auto waterer and not drown himself while turned out with the herd, we'll have to look for a home for Mac that can cater to his soecial needs. He peed a lot when we first got him and I suspect this might be an issue that he has had before we got him. Hopefully he will do better and be able to regulate his salt and water intake after this reset, but I can't have a nine year-old hkrse that is that high maintenance that he can't be turned out with the herd.