The girls

This is Bestie's girl gang. Well, until today. I understand one more mare may have just gotten introduced. She's new to the barn and young, and hopefully will assimilate with no difficulty.

The dynamics seem to be that Bestie is the alpha, and when she's not out, the other 20+ year old mare moves to alpha. There are two young girls who defer - a heartfelt ear pinning by the older mares sends a clear message to them. And then there's Shirley. I'm not sure how old she is, but she likes to push buttons. She and Bestie seem to have moved into the detente period after a few skirmishes early on. They've agreed to disagree.

The field is very big, so they definitely don't need to get in each others' way. I think most of the run ins occur in the run in - the shed gets a bit small if they all crowd in there to escape rain or flies. Another dicey spot is at the gate when one of them is coming or going.

Things have been going pretty well with the group. My fingers are crossed that the new girl doesn't rock the boat.

I've had some good rides with Bestie recently, doing more trotting with some patterns and trying to get her - and me - back into shape. My last lesson with Sue was exhausting (for ME, anyway), as she put Bestie on the lungeline and we did a lot of positioning work. It was good though. Last week some of the obstacles were out and we actually rode across the mattress for the first time. Sometimes Bestie so surprises me - she walked right across the squishy thing without batting an eye.

Her poop has not been normal/firm for a couple of weeks. Folks at the barn think it's because we've gotten so much rain the horses are basically eating wet grass all the time. But we just had three days of sun and her manure firmed up a bit but not to normal. Maybe as a result of the loose manure, she's been going to town on her salt block recently. She does seem to be drinking normally. Today her lower legs above the fetlock were swollen. Not super swollen, but definitely noticeable. I walked her, then hosed her, and soaked the area in Sore No More. She wasn't lame. I plan to see how she looks tomorrow and then confer with someone at the barn as to what plan B should be if the swelling is still present. I have seen her back legs stocked up, usually due to too much standing, but never all four. I wonder if it's possible that all the salt block licking is causing her to swell in the legs? I dunno. Seems like horse ailments are always such a puzzle. I'm anxious to see how she is tomorrow.