Today was uncharacteristically cool for July (the high was only 90F and humidity was around 67%) so I asked hubby to go ride with me. Chrome and Rocky were both spooky as heck at first (more on that in tomorrow's post), but settled quickly once we got on the road. We went 1.48 mile and rode for 38 minutes. It was a quiet, walk only ride with only one big spook on Rocky's part and eyeballing from both of them. I finally bought me a new riding bat (the kind with the loop on the end to go over the saddle horn or around my wrist, that has a popper) because I'm so sick of Chrome's balking, but I don't want to carry my dressage whip all the time, since I only need it a couple of times. It took maybe two gentle taps to get his attention. It was so funny though because when I had it in my hand he had his head cocked to the side and that ear back, eyeballing it. It was hilarious. I promise I wasn't hurting him though, just using it as a gentle aid to get his attention so I don't have to keep kicking him. Anyway, here are the pictures.
Sorry they are unedited cell phones pictures... I was being lazy so I didn't even crop them.
Where did my horse's head go??
He was sniffing the pavement.
Rocky and Hubby went off the road for some fun since our neighbor recently mowed the ditches.
Chrome and I walked in the grass for a while, but his stifles kept giving out on the uneven ground so I got him back on the road. Even this short of a break is enough to mess up his stifles again ugh!
Their reward for being good boys.
I also noticed Chrome was rubbing his tail like mad, so I decided to do some investigating. There are three things that I've heard can cause tail rubbing.... worms, needing to have the sheath cleaned or ticks. I knew it wasn't worms because they were done recently (and that might be a myth, not sure). So I decided to check the other two. This might be gross to some people, but I have to brag because this is one of the reasons I love this horse! I brushed his belly until he dropped (he almost always drops when I'm grooming him because he likes his itchy belly brushed). Then I cleaned him up. He wasn't dirty at all and I was able to wipe or peel off the dry, crusty stuff that was there. I'm so glad he stays fairly clean in that area. There are a LOT of horses who won't let you touch their sheath at all, so the fact that I can completely clean him without drugs (or even a halter.. yes he was loose in the pasture) is so awesome!
So the last thing to check (because as soon as I finished that he started frantically rubbing his butt on the fence again) was his tail bone. Found the culprit!! There were four ticks in his tail. Hubby pulled them off for me because they gross me out, then I washed his tail with my anti-itch shampoo. He LOVED having me rub his tail because it was so itchy. After his tail dried I sprayed and rubbed my fly spray (that kills ticks) all through it and into the dock as best I could. What do you guys use for keeping ticks out of their tails? It's difficult getting fly spray all the way to the skin...
Well that's all I have for this post I guess. After cleaning his tail I put medicine on his sweet itch sores and covered him in his neem oil. Oh we did go to the store and I got them a sulphur block just to see if it makes a difference at all. It's mostly salt so even if it doesn't, I don't care. It's worth a shot. Chrome seemed to like it. I guess that's all. Check this blog and my other one for exciting news tomorrow!
I hate ticks. We have so many here too.
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