On A Scale of One to Ten,

I'd rate my horse an 8 as a trail horse.

This is a picture of My Boy and I next to the "Big Blue Monster." He's finally building some muscle on his spotted hiney!

On the trails we ride, there is a huge piece of machinery. It looks like a blue metal ramp, possibly used to haul logging equipment. It has not been moved in years and has alder trees growing around and through it. Every time we come out of the wooded trail and into the small cleared intersection where the Big Blue Monster is, the horses always look at it with extreme interest. I've rarely seen a horse just walk right up to it. Usually they snort a little, move sideways, and generally expect the thing to leap up at them at any moment.

Last week, as we approached the blue monster near the homestretch of our ride, I was shocked that My Boy curiously walked right up the blue monster when I asked him, even smelled it when he got there (no doubt thinking there might be something to eat on it.) I even side-passed him up next to it for a picture. Credit for the helmet and the "lemonade" in the water bottle goes to Paint Girl. She is loaning me her helmet to try, since I came to the conclusion that mine was giving me headaches and that I might want to opt for a lighter-weight style than I was planning on purchasing. Actually, credit for the "lemonade" should go to my aunt The Desert Rose, the "lemonade" queen. A little liquid courage never hurt on the trails, but that is a different post!

My Boy is a little annoyed he's hasn't been front and center in the blog posts of late, all this talk of a "mutant monkey" has him stamping his little steel clad hooves. Speaking of which, he got new shoes on Saturday. It'd been about 8 weeks since his last shoeing, and my farrier said his hooves were "good enough to go on a horseback riding trip." This was good to hear as scheduling farrier appointments around a horse trip is tricky. We have one next month and I don't want my horse to be "due" the week after the trip as that might be pushing our luck, yet I don't want him to be too freshly trimmed so that he's tender. I'm just hoping My Boy can keep his shoes on! I noticed the farrier put in an extra nail in each hoof this time.

At first, My Boy was a little stinker for the farrier with his hind legs. I think our recent miles under saddle on the trails have him a little sore, we have been hiking up and down some serious hills! I should have given him a little horsey aspirin and the thought crossed my mind. Sorry spotted pill!

I am happy to report the sarcoid is looking better. It still has suspicious looking tissue, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is scar tissue from the sloughing. I heard Xxterra can cause scarring. I'll take a scar over a resurgence of the bump any day! At this point I'm going to keep an eye on it and as long as it doesn't change for the worse, I do not plan to have the vet out. At least not until after our horsey trip, as any biopsy or surgery to his face area could prevent him from being rideable for a few weeks.

Last but not least, I remember my Cowgirl Dreams book giveaway post? Nobody pointed it out at the time, but My Boy was in the pasture and not wearing a halter! Shortly after that, it went back on, until the sarcoid healed and we got through the 4th of July firework ruckus. However, when I turned him loose after his farrier appointment last weekend, Paint Girl and I talked about it and I decided to leave the halter off. He has been meeting me at the gate every time I call him, and even when I remove the breakaway halter and put on his normal one, he hasn't been goofy or pulled back.

My Boy walking down to meet me from the back of his pasture.

I decided it was time to start working with the catching a little bit again. If I know I have to catch him for a big ride or event, I will leave on the breakaway. But I'd like to get it off of him as much as I can. So, we'll see how the catching game goes this time around. Keep your fingers crossed!

I hope you all had really super great weekends!