Thursday, both boys got their shoes re-done. Romeo is good as new, and the word is Ransom behaved like a true giant gentleman, and needs only a trim or two's worth of rebalancing. From everything I've seen of Mr Dale's work, I think the result will be great. Of the four horses that live at Les' house, I haven't seen one take a lame step following a farrier appointment. They all perform great, no matter how recent or how long it's been from an appointment.
Friday, Ransom and I went to see Dr. M for a full evaluation, shots, the works. I believe Dr M was a bit intimidated by Ransom, and Ransom felt it. He was apprehensive about going into the stocks and getting "tied in". He looked all around, listening to barking dogs, squealing cats, cows in the next door pasture, cars whipping down the highway outside. He was certainly a bit nervous to start the appointment.
Ransom got all his shots (Rabies, Tetanus, VEWT, Flu, West Nile)... Sheath cleaning (nasty large silver-dollar size bean removed.. YUCK-O!), and dental float (all good, though canines had been ground down pretty short, and when Doc removed the tartar, we expected a tooth to be revealed, only to see not much was there... they should come back over time). He got a mostly clean bill of health, though Doc recommended XRays "if and when I start jumping him". Doc pointed out his front left knee and back hind ankle, and said they looked like "old injuries that are probably nothing, but worth a better exam by someone more trained in performance horse evaluation." I was a little troubled by the whole appointment - Doc wasn't nearly that sensitive when he did the evaluation on Romeo, and I was pretty honest that I had high expectations for Romeo, and knew he had old scars and weird leg conformation. Overall, though, the appointment was good, and when Ransom's appointment was done (after Demosodan (Sp?) was given via shot for the float & sheath), I was a little worried how he might load-up to go home. Ransom took it all as if he'd done it a million times, and loaded up on the trailer like a baby doll. When we got home, he unloaded the best he's ever done, waiting patiently until the trailer door was open and I was holding the lead.
He seemed to be moving quite a bit better Saturday morning, and really good on Sunday. With all of his "appointments" out of the way for a while, we're set to play and ride, no worries ahead.
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