The vet came out to give Cookie an exam so we can get a coggins on her to travel to the Midwest Horse Fair. It’s a certificate that shows she is healthy and safe to be around other horses. The vet brought his teenaged daughter out with him and they both thought Phoebe was just adorable. She is, of course. The vet also checked Roxy and Penny and found out that both are in heat! Roxy was very close to ovulating (he thought within 24 hours) and the clinic just happened to have an extra dose of Zippy from his collection this morning. So they brought it right over and bred her. They always test a sample from each collection and they said that today’s was of particularly good quality (you da man, Zip!) Between that and catching Roxy at the right moment we really increase the odds that she’ll get pregnant. Penny will probably go in to the clinic again to get bred.

The farrier was here to trim Java and take his “training” shoes off. Then he trimmed Roxy and re-fit her shoes. Our farrier is so good at evaluating the shape of each horse’s foot and knowing exactly what it needs to balance out if there’s anything out of line. Roxy’s left foot is slightly wider than her right; you wouldn’t even notice unless you look close. It probably means that she’s been putting more weight on the left foot because her right is sore. So he trims and adjusts her shoe to compensate. We made a good attempt to trim Phoebe’s feet to give her a pedicure for the show, but she isn’t quite ready to have her feet worked on for a long period of time. We want that first formal trim to be a good experience, so it will be easy in the future. We made it quick and casual and let it go for now. Maybe next time!

The Tree cam has officially been launched by the landscape company here in Wisconsin. This is something that Bill set up for a company called Lied’s. Please spread the word to anyone you know.  You can win a maple tree and it is free to enter.  If you are not local you can donate it to charity so you might as well give it a try.  Just go to www.lieds.net to enter.