Hooves, smarts, cabinets

Front left:


Front right:


They could do with a little more trimming, but not bad. Her frogs are all tattered because they shed off a layer when the snow came. I've been smearing goo up in the sulcus every other day for about a week, and they're opening up very nicely. Heels are still a bit high, but I'm just taking them down as the dead stuff scrapes out.

Side shot, fronts:


Left rear, juuuust starting to lift off (she was in NO MOOD to stand still for pictures):


Fronts from the front:


Compared with a week and a half ago, we're making great progress.

Now, GLOVES! You want Original Mud Gloves. The latex dip stuff COVERS YOUR KNUCKLES. I dunno about you, but I'm constantly rasping holes in my normal gardening glove knuckles, or just rasping holes in my actual knuckles. If you can't find them locally, I got mine from these resellers on Amazon. Yes, they're fifteen freakin' dollars with shipping, but they're totally worth it if you're a knuckle-rasper.

I usually wear M gloves, and that's what I ordered this time. I think these gloves run a tiny bit bigger than normal mesh-dipped gardening gloves, and the next pair I get will be S.

I also saw a moment of unusual Dixie intelligence, I think.

Dixie doesn't like to be groomed. I've tried everything from the softest of brushes to the stiffest of currycombs, from gentle short strokes to really firm long strokes, and she just doesn't like it. She's got a couple of itchy spots she wants me to scratch, but she really doesn't like to have her entire coat brushed out, and she's a terrible wiggleworm when I do brush her.

When I clipped her neck Friday, I gave her a couple treats for being brave about the scary clippers, and she eventually relaxed and started chowing down on her haybag and I just clipped as best I could while her neck moved. That's as good as it gets with Dixie - she's eating and standing still and letting me do whatever to her.

Today I got the clippers back out and she had another snorting wild-eyed "oh god scary monster" moment, but when she got over that she stood absolutely rock-still while I worked on her neck a little more and clipped the front half of her belly. I spent probably 15 minutes clipping, flipping her mane, clipping the other side, flipping her mane back, clipping between her front legs, clipping her belly, looking at what I'd done, and touching up extra-scraggly bits. She did not move a muscle - she didn't drop her head and eat, she didn't fidget, NOTHING. There's only two possible explanations I can think of: either the warm vibrating clippers just feel nice, or she realized that I clipped off some hair which kept her cooler and she likes to be cool. I really think it was the latter.

My poor horse:


Yes, I'm storing the clippers in a Crown Royal bag.


Inside news: I got the last set of cabinets scrubbed, sanded, and caulked today - tomorrow I can paint them. And I peeled off the last bit of ugly wallpaper border and almost half the dark green checkered wallpaper on the long wall! Woohoo! The end is in sight.