End of week 3

Today marks the end of week 3 for Napoleon. He did well yesterday. I had a few people in the barn walk up and pet his shoulder and neck area. He tolerated it better as the day went on. I also cleaned his feet out so he is letting me hold them up easily. I trimmed his front pasterns with a pair of scissors. His rear and stomach are getting shinier. I can brush on them easily and he lets me rest my hand on his hip and walk behind him without swinging side to side. Yesterday I was also able to easily reach under him and grab the cinches without the use of a hook. Zane also rode him for the first time. (Which I really appreciate). Napoleon was nervous at first, he zigzagged around but then settled down. Zane tracked a cow on him, and I must say he is very "cowy". A great sign for us, since that what we do around here :)

I will ride him some more today. I can't wait until the arenas dry up outside so we can start working there as well. I need to get him going in the big outdoor before I can take off across the countryside. There is great hill riding out here and I want to do slow hills to build up his backside. I am hoping he is ready for shoes in another week. The farrier actually comes almost every day as he only shoes 2 horses a day. So, I am going to introduce them on Monday and have the farrier start picking his feet and let Napoleon get comfortable with him.

I had Zane check his mouth for wolf teeth. (I can never feel them). He doesn't have anything on the left, but does have something odd on the right. Zane's not sure if it is a wolf tooth or a fractured tooth, so we'll have to have that looked at sometime late next week. (Our truck will be in the shop, so can't haul him to the dentist yet. )

Tomorrow is a sabbath day off for all. :)