Apr 3, 2008 - Update

Just thought I'd post what Lily and Buck are up to these days.

Buck is so awesome!!! He has the feeding routine down quite well, and
gives his poor mother fits. When I call them, I hear him whinney, and
see him soon charging as fast as he can run towards me. Lily is then
behind him, in a full gallop calling after her baby. It's pretty
funny. I feel for Lily quite a bit ... anytime she leans down to eat,
he's biting her ears, mane, neck, butt, ect. He's also started
rearing back and putting his legs on her. You can see from her
actions that the kid is getting annoying. LOL True calling of a
mother!!!

Yesterday morning I noticed that Lily was favoring one of her front
hooves. When she would walk she would even kind of drag the offending
hoof on the ground as she walked. Last night I cleaned out her hooves
and wow were they packed with mud. It took a good 5 minutes just to
remove everything from each hoof. I hope that this was causing the
trouble. I found burrs and sticks wedged in the mud up next to the
frog on the offending foot. I found something on the rear feet that I
would like opinions on. Her rear frogs looked abnormal to me. In the
center of her frogs, for each foot, she had a deep valley running in
the center of the frog. It almost looked like it had cracked in half.
Do I need to do something about this? Is it normal? She walks fine
on her rear legs from what I can tell.

After cleaning out her hooves, I walked her a bit, and she looked
fine. She limped for the first few steps, but then stopped and
resumed walking normal. WHEW! So I threw the saddle on her, and
walked her with it. My wife was actually outside, so I asked her if
she wanted to try her saddle for the first time. So she hopped in the
saddle and I lead Lily around for a few minutes with the Mrs. on her
back. She did very good and seems to not mind this at all. (I think
she could do without her son rearing back at her, biting her tail and
butt, stopping right in front of her, etc. LOL)

Buck is coming along great. He is slowly learning that when that
halter is on, he cannot escape me. He lets me put it on without much
of a fight at all. He fought me for 10 minutes lifting up the first
front hoof. (having that halter on makes him much easier to hold!!)
About 5 minuts the second front hoof, about 3 minutes on the first
rear hoof, and he didn't fight at all on the rear one. As I reach
down his leg I always say "UP" as I begin pulling the foot up, hoping
to get him conditioned to a voice response.

Overall things are great. Having a colt is such a joy. I smile every
time I watch his crazy antics. I can't wait to see pictures and here
the stories as y'all have your babies come.

That is my book for the day. :) (I swear that it is the condensed
version!!!)