More bliss

I scheduled Kate Lessard to come tonight to try once again to trim Banjo's feet. It's been 9 months since his last trim and the hooves are starting to show some cracking. I don't want anything to go wrong at training next week.

3 days in a row

Last night I was supposed to golf a charity tournament, but it was sprinkling so I used that as an excuse and skipped out. I had the join up success from Sunday, and felt it important to do successive days working with Banjo's feet. It went well. I had to tug on the front feet to pick them up, but I had him giving me the back feet, rather than me tugging on them.

Please be good

So I prayed we could get at least 2 more feet trimmed tonight. What was I worried about? He was an angel. The first foot in front gave her the smallest bit of trouble, but it was like no big deal for the rest. Best of all -- no more thrush. Probably what helped the most was our attitudes. We kept a chatter going as Kate began working confidently, expecting everything to go well -- and it did.

Kate is great

Kate congratulated me and I thanked her for her patience and advice. I would highly recommend Kate to anyone. she is a beautiful young woman, tiny but strong. She's just bought a new red truck and she looks good in it.

What did it take?

Looking back on this whole foot issue, I think I could have resolved it much quicker if not for the long winter. I can't be in the cold much because of my fingers. I put in time with Banjo whenever I could but the best success occurred when I spent successive days with him. I am very patient. Sometimes I didn't even touch his feet, but just spent time walking, grooming, petting and lots of backing. Whenever I did approach his feet, I always asked first before pinching or tugging. For the front feet, I'd never had made progress if I hadn't first picked the leg up from the front, giving it a good forward stretch before curling the foot up underneath and then walking to the side.