teadog1425

Down to the yard this evening to sort out the monsters!

Diddi, bless his little zebra brindled socks, has learnt that humans mean dinner, and will come cheerfully up to the gate to have his head collar put on. He is leading so much better now - he just has to get the hang of being able to move his head in one direction and his feet in another. There is also still a LOT of work to do on being able to stand still, but that's quite a hard ask, I think.

Marco ate his supplement pills! They were stuffed into chunks of apple mixed into his dinner and there wasn't even any head-shaking, so either he didn't know they were there, or he is now officially used to the taste. I tried to get some video of him walking and trotting again, but I don't think it's possible to see much...

I also tried a new tactic with the hosing. It was really helpful writing up notes from Sunday, because it made me notice that although M was walking to the hose and standing while the water was over him, the actual moving towards the hose was reluctant in the extreme, and was getting more reluctant not less. So, I decided to try a different tactic today. Which was just marching past the hose, and then marching up to the hose and stopping. I didn't do any actual hosing. Didn't even turn the water on. I just wanted to get him comfortable to walk smartly up to the hose and be relaxed standing next to it. Gave him some treats while he was standing next to hose, and did lots of scratching and praising. I think this was a good plan, because I could tell that he was waiting for the nasty water, and then it didn't come! Hopefully, this way I'll be able to make a positive association with the water. Well, that's the plan, anyway. (All comments/suggestions gratefully received!)

Marco had pulses in his front feet again, so he was turned out with his grass muzzle on, which he was NOT happy about. I fiddled about with the straps on his muzzle, as it looked like it was too short to me, the muzzle bit was touching his nose, so I adjusted so that there was a bit of a gap between the two - about a cm or so. He is convinced that he cannot eat at all with his muzzle on - I have spent hours, trying to show him that he can eat the grass that pokes through the hole, but he just can't seem to get the hang of it. :-( Still, it's better than laminitis, so he just has to put up with it. When I put Diddi out, Marco came rushing up, trying to get me to take the muzzle off, and so I spent about twenty minutes giving him a massage, watching his eye to see what he liked - when I hit the right spot, his eyelid would lower and half-shut! And he loved it - at one point he did a little stretch, and then moved so that I could start massaging his butt! He also did a couple of bits of licking and chewing when I had done some massaging and then stopped. So, I was very pleased with that!

Right, time for bed - an early start tomorrow!