Good luck or good management?

The next installment....

Assegai passed his vet check with flying colours. Hurray! It was one of the most thorough and epic vet checks I have ever experienced. He was flexed and pincered and x-rayed and sedated so his teeth could be examined. Incredibly thorough (and expensive!). I was quite proud that he stood up to all the poking and prodding. A huge source of pride was the vet's comments about his hooves. She said warmbloods often have overly large hooves that have weak and splitting walls. (Interesting - I wonder how many are barefoot? I'd lay money on none to a handful.) However, Assegai's feet were in good proportion to his size and weight (680kg!!!), were very strong and showed no signs of disease or weakness. Now if that isn't a big affirmation of the benefits of barefoot I don't know what is.

So, the big teenager has gone off with his new family for a couple of weeks trial, but I don't think he'll be coming back. He has taken quite a shine to his new owner, a lovely quiet girl of 14, and I think they will be firm friends. For a horse that really doesn't like anybody much that is a great step forward.

And miracle of miracles, Tux, the Holsteiner I went and looked at with the supposedly locking stifle, also passed his vetting with flying colours. The vet rang me sounding quite exhausted, saying he'd done everything to try to make the horse lock up but just couldn't fault him. He said Tux is clean as a whistle with good bone and development, no soundness issues that he could find, and a temperament to die for. Bloody awesome. :)

Photos to come. They don't seem to want to upload at this point. :(

What a couple of days! Now the scurrying begins as I try to organise everything. Tux is shod (a little poorly - unbalanced and in shoes that seem too big), so I rang my new BFF Kirsten the trimmer and asked her advice. I want to compete at Berrima HT on 15/16 June so the obvious question was, shoes on or off? She firmly advised to leave them on until after Berrima (at which she offered to strap for me!) when we could start transitioning him to barefoot. Never having done this before, I'll be blogging about it like crazy just to track our progress. I've only ever bought horses already barefoot, so this should be a whole new learning experience.

And then there is the awkward moment when I tell Robyn the bodyworker that I went and bought the horse she said had a locking stifle. In all fairness, the breeder did come clean and say he had a bit of a problem as a four year old, so she certainly wasn't wrong. But apparently he's outgrown it, and with a bit of management I'm sure we'll be able to keep him sound.

So, Tux should arrive in a couple of weeks and in the meantime I've just got big Rose to look after with her rehab. She seems to be slowly coming good - lots of cross-hill walking and over poles, carrot stretches and semi-confinement all seems to be paying off. She still drags her hind toes a bit, but she seems a lot more comfortable using her quarters and has started stepping under herself when I turn her which is a major improvement. She would simply plant her back legs and swivel before!

The move is looming large now. We start the process the weekend after next with the first truck load and the yards will be built that first week. Then move the horses and all our furniture out the second weekend, with a final clean up of the old house the third weekend. I've been kindly given a lovely old mare called Persia who I may get one more foal from (she's 19 but fit as a fiddle). She's a gorgeous old thing, great bloodlines and a good mum. Even if she doesn't go into foal again she'll be a perfect 'camp mum' for the horses that stay behind when I go out to comps.