05.17.07

Today

Posted in Ian Chronicles, Daily Journal at 7:55 am by Kerri

I’m done doctoring Victor. It’s a relief to be done. Orie doesn’t act like she ever wants to foal, except she’s so big. It was wishful thinking to say her bag was coming on. Since Dacotah was about a month behind schedule, I’m thinking Orie will be too. In some ways, I really hope she is still going to foal, it’d be nice to have a pal for Victor, and I wouldn’t have to put her down til the fall. In other ways, I think it would be good to put her down right away, she’s in so much pain.

We tried to bend the hames last night to better fit Ian’s neck, and it didn’t work. There’s a hole in the hames right about where I need them bent (from the terrets I took out), and Scott was afraid to reef on them too much for fear they’d break at the hole. So, I adjusted the hames straps to make the top wider and the bottom tighter. I thought I had tried this in the past, without success, but maybe not. Anyway, my only worry is that the hames will pop off of the collar, but I think if I really make it tight at the bottom, we’ll be fine. Now, hopefully, the collar will spread at the top and he’ll be more comfortable.

After I got the harness adjusted, I ground drove him. I wanted to put him to and go for a short drive, but I was running out of daylight, and he was acting kinda spooky. Once we started, though, he was good as gold, with a forward walk (yay!) and turning well. He acted like I’d been doing it all winter. I’ll drive him today and see how everything works. I need to get a little driving in on him, so we can go to the Montana Draft Horse & Mule Association’s Spring Gathering this weekend. I want him to get used to the big hitches with their chains jiggling and everything. They are also going on a pleasure drive that I hope to go on, too.

Permalink