Heart Lake ride

So, Lori and I went on what we think was our last "in the mountains" ride of the year. We rode up to Heart Lake near Lincoln, the weekend bow season started so we ran into many pack trains and hunting parties. Rio did very well dealing with mules and the huge packs loaded on them. He had a few "issues" and needed an attitude adjustment (thus the pic of us lunging)! But he did well and he (I mean we :o)) made it back in one piece!

Odin's Latest Creation

Isn't he cute!! It's a farrier and he's even got a hammer and a shoe tacked on.

Pretty Prairie

Hello All!
On Saturday, Courtney and I rode into Pretty Prairie. It is the Bob Marshal wilderness, so now I can say I've been in The Bob. Only about 3 miles, but still 3 miles! :o)



One of the things Rio and I "enjoyed" was crossing stock bridges! We crossed the first one several times before we moved on, but the last time Rio was much calmer.

Part 3 of our latest adventures

So we went to Kalispell, by way of Browning where we got to see their parade and then came back to Great Falls, through Glacier and The Going To The Sun Highway! It was a lot of fun.

Part 2 of our latest adventures

A Montana traffic jam!!

Our last adventures

I haven't updated my blog for some time now, so I'm going to give a quick synopsis!
My parents came for a visit over 4th of July. We had a great time.

Bad news with Willie's feet

I don’t have good news about Willie. My farrier, Dan Wirth, came today and spent a lot of time working on Willie’s feet. He found pockets in both front feet, like there were in his back feet. Unfortunately, his right front is much worse than any of the others as it extends back towards the back of his hoof. He told me that it was important to open up these abscesses or pockets to get rid of the infection. He also stated that even though he removed a lot of what should have been supporting his hoof, it was not doing that and continuing on the poor positioning of his feet, which leads to additional discomfort. He was able to remove a lot of the bad infected hoof on both front feet and they look better “positioning wise”. He is sore right now, but the farrier thought that it was possible he would be sore for a short time, but then feel better because he is finally in the right alignment. The left front hoof is very bruised throughout the wall of the hoof and bottom sole. The farrier felt that this was because of the abscessing and chronic foundering. The farrier was very concerned about the current condition of his coffin bone inside the hoof. He felt that with founder, the bone could have changed condition since the last x-ray last year. I asked him to make a judgment in a “best case scenario” situation. He said that there was not enough good hoof wall on any of the feet to shoe them at this time. He also stated that depending upon the condition of his coffin bone it would be at least a 2 year process before his hooves regenerated enough for him to be ridden. I have enclosed pictures of his feet before and after the trimming so you can see how they are now.

Before...
After...