Grooming 101

Algore & Chopper have received lots of special care and attention this summer: Wormings, dental appointments, baths, sprays, and supplements. They have been stalled during the day and turned out at night. As our 30 day count down approaches, I hope they look good enough! They are finally both eating their grain and coat conditioners. (The container says 30 days to a shiny, glossy coat guaranteed!) The guidelines say they will be judged on their "change", not their confirmation or length of mane/tail. I hope that's true. Chopper's tail and mane are very course and unruly. I am sure they were both chewed in the pens at the BLM facility. Algore has a nice texture to his but a patch was chewed or rubbed out prior to his arrival too.

Finally today Chopper is loping around making nice, controlled, SLOW circles. (He was struggling with the slow part.) He is not quite canter departing, but is getting closer to that. He definitely has a nice stop. Sometimes he likes to initiate it on his own. He is quite the character. We have been practicing trail obstacles and I hope he doesn't plow through them all at Ft. Worth. He is definitely not scared but neither his he careful! Today I also rode him bareback for the second time.

Algore had a long workout today. He ponied horses back and forth from the barn to the cutting pen. He also brought cattle in. Zane tried to get a picture of him this morning. He was laying down grazing a circle around himself. By the time Zane got back to him he was finished.