Zipzipzip

I took Zip out on a new ride today onto my neighbour's fields. He had to do gates for the first time and for a beginnner he was really quite good. I've never really understood why standing alongside a gate is such a big issue for a horse, but they all have the same problem when asked to do it so that you can get it shut and fastened. They swing their bums out all over the place, and make it difficult to grab the latch or rope that fastens it.

We had a canter, which he found totally unexciting. But he was very twitchy most of the time, looking at all the new things. He was reluctant to cross the stream I asked him to do, but he didn't take long before he was brave enough to give it a go. All in all, a good outing for him.

Jazz is absolutely hopping. He is so lame that he will not lift up his good foot for me to pick it out, because he doesn't want to stand on the bad one. I'm hoping and hoping it's his foot, because I can feel a slight bump I'm not happy about in his tendon. On the other hand, I've never known a tendon pull cause that amount of lameness in a horse without also causing huge swelling and localised heat. So the odds are high it's a second abcess.

Now is this just coincidence? I took Tetley's shoes off on September 25th and he abcessed in the heels of both front feet in January/February. Jazz's breathing was fixed on September 17th, leaving his feet looking like ones which aren't happy in shoes and have had them removed, and he has abcessed in the heels of both front feet in January/February. This seems too coincidental to me.

I do hope that the poor boy has a split or a boil tomorrow because he's definitely in a lot of pain. I'm asking him to pick up the good foot and he's offering me any one of the other three. He knows what I want, but he just can't face the pain of standing on that bad foot. I feel so sorry for him :-(

C.