Lunging and Apples

Sneak Attack on the Apple Bags

I crashed after church today and ended up taking a nap--again. Is this the new Sunday afternoon routine?

Later on, I went out to do something with the Boys.

I decided to lunge everyone. Tucker was first because he came right over to me when I went out to the paddock.

I made the big mistake when I finished with him and lunged Toby. That is, I left one of the inside stall doors open, which meant he was free to go into the aisleway of the barn and to explore the tack/feed room. This means sticking his long neck in through the doorway, perhaps stepping up the foot and a half to stand stretched inside where he found the two brand new plastic bags of apples I had brought over from the house.

Why is it that if horses find a bag with food they must destroy everything in the bag rather than selectively choosing one item to finish off before going after another? When I realized, too late, what was happening, I had two bags of almost applesauce. I salvaged about 6 apples out of the 30 or so in the two bags. Oh well, it just meant everyone had a handful or two of apple chunks as a treat.

The slightly bad news besides the apple attack is that Chance is off. Something just isn't right in his hind end. I suspect first a hock, and I suspicious of the right one, but I didn't see anything wrong or feel any heat. It's just that his trot is not even and he appears to be limping. At the moment, I am not too concerned, but I will give him a good going over tomorrow again to see how he is. I usually don't panic about something like this unless it lasts for more than a few days. He may have banged himself or twisted something just a little. It doesn't look serious as the moment, but be assured the vet will be hearing from me if it gets worse, or...doesn't get better.

In the meantime, I am now also pretty sure the Boys are not happy about the mosquitos. Toby in particular was hanging out in his stall when I went out to feed at around 5. He went back in after I lunged him and really didn't seem interested in going out. Chance spent about 5 minutes in the pasture and came back to the barn too.

Unfortunately with all the rain, the mosquitos will be thriving. Nothing New Jersey for mosquitos. We breed 'em big and hungry.