Starlett Woes and Mercy Fun

Oh Starlett. What are we going to do with you? Last week we had our farrier come out and reset Star's shoes way early. I think it was only over 4 or 5 weeks. Her hoof walls were just crumbling all around, so we had him out to smooth things out and reshape her hooves. Unfortunately, Star was super sensitive on all of her feet and our farrier had to reset nails multiple time to get her decently comfortable. Then, he nailed one in too deep and angled on her right hind. After getting some iodine in the hole, he finished the rest of the nails and shoes. Poor Star was really sore afterwards so we buted her up and let her hang out in her stall. This was last week. She is still off and now her hind right leg is swollen. This was yesterday morning:

And this was from this morning:

Her hooves don't feel warm anymore, but I'm thinking abscess. She is not sensitive on her leg at all, so that is really the only thing I can think of. And of course our farrier is on vacation this week, so we will just keep an eye on her and try to keep her comfy. Kinda hard to do though when I take Mercy out, lol!

Actually, on Monday Mercy and I had a great ride. We headed out to the train tracks, but before we even got started, we stopped to take these stunning pictures. The hillside looked like it was on fire. I love fall! After taking that quick break, we headed up the rocky hill and down the other side. At the bottom I grabbed an apple for Mercy and we continued onto the tracks. There was no one in sight so I pushed Mercy into brisk trot. And we trotted and trotted and trotted. We only loped for a brief minute just to check that she was listening to me. Then we trotted some more. Finally we reached the end and we broke to a walk. We wondered through the woods a little and made our way to our "running hill." This is the hill that my mom and I love to let the horses loose to run up as fast as they can. It was so much fun not having to worry if the other rider was ready or OK behind us. Just Mercy and me.

When we got to the top of the hill I asked her to continue. We loped for a little ways more then I slowed her to a trot for a weird dip on the trail. Once we passed that, we loped again and jumped a downed log. Mercy liked that! I had to pull her down pretty hard to get her to walk before the next one up ahead. Maybe that is her new calling?! Ah, too bad I down have anywhere safe to practice. Boo.

BTW, I was trying to make a 'paint' map of my trails so I don't keep saying 'this trail, you know!? The one?' but the paint program on my laptop is not working right now. So, I will need to do it on another computer and upload it later. Grrr.... Anyway, something to look forward to!