Too Big for his Boots and his Box

Another long pause between posts, we were very busy going places and seeing new things and moon has been sharing his attention with Polly, so amongst tack cleaning, horse washing trimming, mane pulling hitching and unhitching an update has been severely neglected.

But recently all Moons adventures have given him a big head, sorry and even bigger head. His Extra Full bridle will attest to the actual size of his head.
Going places, being clever and jumping things and behaving well has given him the idea that he may know better and that cantering wildy round the field ignoring the midget pulling at him is his way of putting his view forward. Clearly it’s much more fun than poncing around in a dismally slow trot with your nose tucked in, or dressage as we humans like to call it. So after a few cancelled lessons and finally pinning down the busiest dressage trainer in the area only to be told "you’ve completely changed the way you ride him, and not in the right way." We have gone back to basics. And a flash. And along with a jumping amnesty, it seems to be working. Sane moon is back. Until he gets tired, and then leaping right towards the gate with his head pinned to my left leg is very appropriate. Well it gets the message across. “I have had ENOUGH"

Moons short attention span is becoming a little issue. We talked last time about loading. Now when he’s IN the box he is calm and relaxed, and likes his treats he gets for going in. But the novelty soon wears off. When we pull away he whinnies madly to Little Zonda who is only 3 and so desperate for adventures of his own he runs up and down the fence whenever anyone gets to go in the trailer. A journey of 10-20 minutes is fine, any longer or any bumpy lanes, or traffic lights and he gets bored. Bored bored bored. In order to communicate this to anyone in the vicinity (in case passing pedestrians see his poor little face stuck in a box and decide to free him) he bangs the floor. Hard. Again. And again, and again. In fact it’s becoming a problem, he's scraped the rubber flooring so it’s got a dip in it, and his reach is so far that as you look in the wing mirror you can see the jockey door bulging out intermittently. It will only be a short time before it flings open in transit and he terrifies himself with the moving floor outside. So a solution must be found, i have tried putting him on the left hand side but that only saves the paint in the jockey door the floor still needs rescuing, and quickly!

So far the only solution i have come up with is a boot. A poultice boot on one hoof will not scratch my floor as badly and hopefully will not take any more paint off the walls! Not sure how this will go down with moon, he's not too keen on things attaching themselves  to him, i am not sure he will like me putting his foot in a trap and THEN making him go in the trailer. If anyone has anymore less ‘special’ solutions please let me know!