September 9, 2008 – A work in progress

No excitments in Rory's life in the past few days. He's out in the big field with the other mare and foal and being a typical bratty foal pestering the other one to play, and bouncing of his mum. He is getting better at letting me pick up his feet and pick them out. Still pulls a bit as he tests to see if I'll let go today.

I stayed home on Thursday night and on Friday was astonished to see just how black his bum was as his foal coat sheds.  He's getting more dark specks in all the little scuffs and nicks from playing too. Saturday was rainy here, and when I went out to feed lunch I discovered a half coronet white marking on the inside of his left hind foot. It looks like it goes round the heel on that side. The wet leg combined with the darker hair growth coming through made the white visible. I'd noticed the hoof had a white stripe in the new growth a few weeks ago so it wasn't a complete surprise. I tried to get some pics of his colour changes, but with the rain it wasn't a good weekend for photos. By next weekend he'll be even blacker.

He enjoys being groomed and comes to me for scritches when he sees me - naturally I oblige.  I think he's grown a bit again. I was looking at his halter fit last night and thinking it's about time to make the noseband a hole larger.

He'll now eat a small handful of Developer pellets if I catch him at feeding time. If the others aren't chowing down on their grain he's not as interested in eating pellets.

This week is the week before Championships so my focus is on the brat and the mare. I'll admit that I'm looking forward to the end of show season so I'll have a bit more time to play with Rory. I want to take him for more tours around and get the leading thing more refined - he's very good, but very good for a foal is not the same as very good for my adult horses. It's a work in progress, and I am greatly enjoying the progression again - just as I did with the brat.