Riding/Horses

He Is My Doofus. Find Your Own.

roamingridersite

Eeyore has been a pleasure to get to know so far. He is now out all day with the others and in at night. He is handling the big pasture fairly well though he has yet to figure out his feet when he goes trotting up or down the hill. I know the last place was a flat paddock and who knows what he lived in before but ours is hilly and undulating so he will have to figure it out eventually.

(I still can’t figure out captions on my phone so instead you get this. Eeyore tried to trot around and ends up nearly face planting a lot. I think some trail time is in our future)

He has also stopped being so ADD about all the space. At first he would not stop moving. He would begin to settle but then notice an interesting rock and go investigate. Then notice the arena and check that out. The Old Farts put an end to that real quick as they got over following him on his mini quests and began to ignore his movements. He decided staying with them was more important.

(Waiting for the farrier is boring. Making funny faces helps to pass the time)

His only flaw so far is when the others come in first for dinner. He doesn’t mind coming in when they remain out or staying in when they go out. In fact if he sees me enter the pasture he comes trotting over to say hello every time. But when he is the last one out he freaks and begins cantering around all idiotic like. I could take him in first but he needs to learn to chill about that. Also I give deference to Gem and Pete due to seniority. He can wait and come in for dinner last.

(But this is taking forever! I’m bored.)

He lost a hind shoe almost immediately after being out in the big pasture. I’m sure I’ll find it with the bush hog. Thankfully my farrier is awesome and had already agreed to squeeze me in Wednesday evening at the end of his day. Eeyore was at the end of his shoe life anyway and his foot balance was all sorts of wonky. Low heel left, high heel right and medial to laterally imbalanced as well.

(I heard a bunch of banging and went to see what on earth he was up to. He was playing with his water bucket so hard that water was splashing out between the wood boards. )

He wasn’t that well behaved for the farrier which is always embarrassing to me. Gem and Pete pick their feet up for him and nearly fall asleep during their trims. He can do both horses in about 25 minutes. When we had Nash he reared, struck out, bolted and tried to bite which was another reason he got sold. Eeyore wasn’t that bad but he did continually rip his legs away and that was very frustrating for all involved. I’m going to start doing stretches twice daily when he comes in for feed and see if I can’t get him behaving for the farrier better.

(He also crosses his front legs to scratch. I’ve never seen a horse do this before and didn’t quite catch it in the pic fully but it is so odd)

I did decide to pull his hinds and will see how he handles that. The farrier was complimentary on his feet noting that he has great frogs and nice soles all around. I know the vet wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of him being barefoot but she was a bit weird and I think I may try barefoot all around eventually. I didn’t want to change everything all at once on the guy so he got a nicely balanced trim and front shoes this time and we will see where we go from there.

(Wyatt didn’t like the banging of the anvil and Eeyore kept wuffling his neck to let him know it was ok)

I have one more thing to check of the list of his general care before hopping on up and starting the fun part!

Published by roamingridersite

32 thoughts on “He Is My Doofus. Find Your Own.”

  1. He is such a character!!! He does not live up to his name bc he is to happy to be Eeyore!!! 😜 hahahahaha. Love the picture of him snuffling Wyatt, he’s like “it’s ok little buddy! It’s just a non scary noise, all will be well”

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  2. Hahaha he looks like he loves Wyatt! Amber won’t stand very well for the farrier either. She’ll rip her feet out of his hands if she can, and I’ve asked my farrier on many occasions if she was better for him (because I’ve been working on it with her) and he’ll just say “nope. she was the same. She’ll do it for you but she just doesn’t want to do it for me. some horses are that way.” And I could be standing there and just watch Amber be rude to him after all the work I put in. My poor farrier. Maybe that’s why he’s moving….lol But I’m glad he’s getting settled well and is having a good time having Pete and Gem there. Such a character! He just seems like an all around fun-loving guy 🙂

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    1. Him and Wyatt have been getting along super well. He isn’t as careful with his feet as Gem and Pete are so I’m not letting Wyatt lead him just yet.

      Not being good for the farrier is sooo embarrassing. I keep reminding myself that Gem and Pete were not great when I first got them and to give him time.

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  3. i agree with leaving the hinds off. Remus only has front shoes too and does fine. If you end up having to put them on again so be it but let him have a break especially with your soft footing there in rain from hell land (we have the same).

    I love him. he is a Doofus. but such a cute one 🙂

    he will get better with the farrier. Remus falls asleep now but used to be a busy bee while having his feet done. now my farrier does Remus on crossties and i dont have to be there but oh boy I did at first 😉

    Fun times…..I love seeing Eeyore photos it makes my day 🙂

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      1. He can always be worse. Ask me how I know! Subi used to have to be drugged. For years! He’s super easy now thanks to my current farrier but… it used to take us almost 2 hours to do 4 shoes. He’s barefoot now and has no issues other than being sore.

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      3. There was a situation with a horse fly and a farrier throwing a rasp as his head (all before I owned him), but still… I’m still not sure how he’d react to anyone other than my current farrier. We don’t use stands, no cross ties, he always has a buddy near him, and he gets his feet done in the field now, even when a barn isle was available. That and a lot of talking and taking it slow was what desensitized him from trauma.

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  5. I’m glad he is settling in well. The farrier thing is time and temperament. I’m sure working with his feet more will help settle him.

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  7. I meant to post this a few days ago, but he really has just the prettiest head!! So pretty!!!

    And agree; Eeyore he is not. He’s just too happy!!!

    Sounds like he’s settling in.

    Zurkh doesn’t like standing for his feet to be done either. I need to do more work with him on it, but, I tell myself “For everything else he is SO amazing about, as long as he isn’t attempting to KILL my trimmer, I’ll let some of it slide….and maybe give him some dormosedan to knock the edge off.”

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    1. He is! I haven’t found anything yet that scares him: toddle antics, dogs, the tractor. So far he is proving to be pretty level headed and more curious than scared which is a great sign for future adventures

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  11. I used to have a pony who would cross her back legs to scratch them. I was once in a showmanship class with her, and every time I stood her up she would cross her legs, rub them together, and stretch her neck and her lip because it felt so good. I just laughed my way through that class (and I knew the judge who giggled when I presented my itchy pony to her).

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  12. He sounds so adorable. And a typical gelding. I can just picture it ‘guys look at this, oh hey what’s that? Hey guys check this out, come over here guys, let’s run back, ohh who put that hill here?” 😀

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