Hoof day!

The Barefoot Trimmer Sarah came today and what a lovely person she is. Honest, open and tactful with a great sense of humour. She liked B's feet and gave her a 6 on the Spectrum Score which means 'suitable for low level competition, racing on turf and fun rides'. Both B and Bertie have low level thrush which we will treat with diluted sterilising fluid, the stuff used for babies bottles.

I was so excited that Bertie was getting his shoes off I forgot to take photos of B's lovely feet but took a lot of Berts! His feet are in pretty bad shape. He has wall separation and infection up to where the nail holes are. But despite getting a Spectrum Score of 3.5 he has good toes and heels. I think Sandra is quite stressed and worried and I will try to keep her cheerful and thinking lots of positive thoughts. We spent the afternoon, what little was left of it, surfing the internet for hoof boots! Bert really needs some and B can do with some 'just in case' but her right front foot is 3mm wider than her left and both our horses have almost round feet which makes finding boots to fit a nightmare. B's feet are rf 138 x 135mm long, lf 135 x 135 and Berts rf 138 x 137, lf 136 x 136mm. Bugger.

B and I played in the school before Sarah arrived and she was pretty snotty lol. Lately she has been getting resistant about circle game and changing direction so I think we will not play that for a while, or at least not so much. She was so snotty today I ended up asking her to do a lot of back up very quickly and sideways all the way around the school perimeter. She was happy to side pass anything around, weave the cones and falling leaf too. I did ask her to circle in walk at the end of our play and when she decided she could do it calmly and one full lap I left it there.

Sandra can't ride Bert in the woods until we get some boots for him so we are planning to ride in the school together. Somehow I must find the courage to get on and ride in there, so having Sandra and Bert there to help me will be great. Doesn't stop me feeling anxious and worried about it. But I really want to face my fears and come out of my comfort zone.