28/03/2024
Azir, April 3rd - June 30nd 2022:
On April 5th Azir saw the farrier again. This was unsedated and with only the few days of handling I had done on him. He was living in his pasture with a 'catch halter' on at this point. Though I'd sit with him daily and practice 'catching' him with a rope halter and releasing him. We also worked a bit on his feet, but it took extra work. The farrier was patient and consistent, and all 4 feet got trimmed.
April 9th 2022 - It was Vet Day at the barn. I had my personal horse signed up for shots, and Azir signed up for Dental. The vet didn't check the notes and double-dosed Azir with the shots. He had his chance with the needle once, and after that Azir wanted nothing to do with him. He blew through the vet and handler and refused to let anyone near him except for me. We called it quits on him and I was fine with having more 'homework' to do with his handling. I believe at this point I had tried to de-worm him, and also was met with head tossing and absolute refusal to let me near his mouth. I took steps back with that and add touching his mouth and lips with just my fingers and hand to my work list. In the long run, this worked great. I was eventually able to "deworm" him with apple sauce, though he disliked it being inserted in the corner of his mouth and preferred to eat it straight and lick it up. That was a bit of an issue with actual dewormer...
April 16 - First "ride". I sat on Azir. I was informed he was broke and well behaved and he was! He neck reined and moved beautifully off of my leg. We did one lap in the outdoor arena in each direction at a walk and called it a day.
May 8th - I had a PEMF appointment set up with our local practitioner for both my personal horse, and Azir. He tolerated it okay on his body but didn't love it on his neck. I wanted to focus on his feet as he was 'off'. There was no routinely obvious lameness but turning in to the left he didn't seem right. Unfortunately he wanted nothing to do with the PEMF plate and we could only get a few seconds of treatment done on each foot.
May 11th - Our farrier came out to balance and trim him some more. We talked about his feet more and agreed that X-rays would be wise and we could work from there. I rode him outdoors for a bit longer this time and hand grazed him out by the pasture. I looked forward to being able to turn him out to the grass.
May 15th - Another riding day! This was the day we had our first canter. I had some photos taken of us riding. His canter was very upright and collected. Nothing like I'd ever ridden before. I continued to try and find out why he seemed off in his front end. It seemed to be in his shoulders, but also could have been due to the lack of trimming in so long. He had a vet appointment coming up and I was looking forward to getting some answers.
May 26th - I turned him out in the small pasture. It took some time to catch him again after, but it was nice seeing him out with the older mares. He was a happy boy!
May 31st - I scheduled the vet out to do Xrays on him (and teeth). Both failed. He wouldn't stand still again for the xray machine even though I'd been practicing having him step up onto 'strange' objects. He still didn't trust other people, and the vet didn't believe sedating him would work in our favor with his needle reactivity and hyper awareness. The vet left without doing much with him, unfortunately.
June 15th - Azir was lame. I don't know what happened but it was an obvious soreness in his front end. So he was left to heal on his own, with a farrier appointment scheduled again soon.
June 21st - I tried Trazadone (as prescribed by the vet on the 31st) to see if he would settle enough for the farrier. We had a great trim! He was easier to work with than my personal horse. At this point I had decided to de-worm him with the Safeguard Granules. He gobbled it up with no problem.
June 28-30th - On the 28th there were minimum signs of lameness. A couple of young girls who helped me keep the pasture clean rode the boys around at a walk in the arena. I was able to turn out Azir and Argo in the pasture together for some time and they did wonderfully. Argo (the personal horse) came when called and Azir came up to get caught after!
On the 30th my personal life had a traumatic event and I spent the day at the barn. He didn't show any signs of lameness so we went out together on the 'trails' on the property. A short loop of woods and hills. He did absolutely perfectly and soothed my heart in ways only doable with a horse.
June 31st - I had turned Azir and Argo out in the big pasture with other horses. Argo broke through a fence and fortunately was the easier to catch for strangers of the two. Azir seemed to have gotten in a bit of a pickle and had swelling on his chest and a cut on his hind leg. I kept an eye on it, and put ointment on both the cut and the lump, it looked to be a sting of some sort.
There are more photos being added to his album:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556335843233&sk=photos_albums
