I hacked Ace out today and he sensed my lack of resolve and played up a little bit. On the way out he napped once, turning back towards home, but I turned him round again and carried on with no trouble.
On the way home he spooked at a stone on the side of the road, and when I tried to turn him away from home to go past it again, he protested quite strongly. Normally that would not bother me at all, but I still have the feeling of flying through the air on Monday in my head and I was wimpy-kid with him.
I did manage to summon enough courage to turn away from home twice more on the rest of the ride and he was better each time, with the last attempt completely protest free. I just need to recover my resolve, and give myself time.
Radar has managed to bruise his foot where he is missing a piece of sole, so he is not sound. The pulse is high but there is no filling, so I am sure his foot is not infected. And he is sounder today than he was yesterday so I think we can rule out anything more sinister going on. If he does not continue to improve, I will get a vet to see him. He could do with a hoof boot, but nobody makes them over seven inches wide :-) For now, I have taped the plastic lids of two pots to his foot to protect the weak spot from any more bruising. He does look sweet with a bright green foot. I am amazed that it stayed on all night, never mind being good enough to leave in place this morning.
I hope he will be OK to hack on flat roads tomorrow, the forecast is really nice.
C
I know exactly how you feel with Ace. I am the same way with Tucker. The upside for you is that you know Ace is much better tempered than my boy and will tolerate corrections. Just give yourself some time to build up some new confidence. By the way, breathing helps! *S*
ReplyDeleteToo bad about Radar's foot. I found only one set of boots so far that fit and stayed on, but then they chafed around the coronary band, so I don't use them. A friend I know bought some custom made ones somewhere. Useful in an emergency, but is it worth the money?
Getting some kind of bandaging to stay on during turnout is a real challenge. The best, but expensive, wrap is Elastoplast. Otherwise, lots of duct tape sometimes holds up for at least a while. Glad to know your technique succeeded.
It was still on tonight too! That duck tape is good stuff :-)
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ReplyDeleteduct tape rocks for feet....
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ReplyDeleteMagic stuff for all sorts of things :-)
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