Farrier Visit #2

Well, the weather is really warming up now! I actually feel kinda overheated when I go out to the ranch and it's barely into the mid-70s. I guess I'm glad summers around here are a dry heat, but that's not much solace when it hits 100°-plus weather. x_x

Anyways, Badger is nearly out of the woods now, his eye is almost done healing and doing great (hooray!)

We're leaving the eye cup on him for just a few days more to make sure, but by the end of the week he'll be free of it. I'm sure this will come as a relief to him too; he's starting to get grumpy about only being put in the round pen for turnout. With the ground drying out, he'll get to run around in the big turnout area again, and I'm sure he's been wanting that for quite a while.

Interesting to note, now that his shoulder is pretty bald (yet more shedding...how much hair is he going to lose?) I noticed something I'd never seen before. He's got a shoulder brand!

I went back and looked and looked...but I just don't see it in his older photos. Weird. The farrier visited on Tuesday and told me it was probably a "quarter circle b" though I think it looks more like a half-circle. Either way, it's a freeze brand (the hair there is supposed to grow in white) of a little curved rainbow-like arch over a lowercase b. Really neat. Goes with his background, too. I got in touch with the folks who bred him back in the early 80s and they still remembered him, surprisingly enough. Back in his younger days, he apparently did cattle ranch work and team penning. Explains a lot about his agility and love of running, I think...and also his smarts.

I wonder if it will still be visible once his summer coat comes in? Now that I know it's there, I can look for it...or I guess watch it disappear.

Tuesday was hoof-trimming day, and Badger again was fine, if a bit lazy about picking his feet up. The farrier says he's making good progress and he's got very good hooves, especially considering his age and last year's malnutrition. He also showed me a few scars around Badger's coronet bands making the hooves look a little funny...but thankfully they're not cracks, so there's no problem for now.

This time I took a video...it's really interesting watching a hoof get trimmed. Or maybe I'm just weird for thinking that. But heck, it's a real skill, and I have no idea how to do it, so it's news to me.





I hear on draft horses, sometimes the hooves are so big and hard that farriers need specialized tools to do them...and some just won't do drafters at all. Yikes!

I thought it was interesting that the farrier thought Badger was a TB as well. He's only 1/4, but I guess since he comes from a line of racing QHs, I suppose they're pretty heavy in the "tall and TB-looking" genes. When I told him that no, he was a Quarter Horse, he lit up and said, "ahh, that's why he has that brand," and then explained to me what it was. Since it looks like a ranch brand (which it is?) I guess it would look a little strange for a full TB to have one.

Anyhow, lastly here are the most current progress pics for Badger's growth. The vet says he's pretty much done putting weight back on at this point, a few pounds would be helpful along his topline but it's pretty much up to his own metabolism and build to pad his back up any more.