t-minus 6 days

...until my little silver car is packed, the cats are in the back seat and we all hit the road--the horses having left the day before, of course.

I am freaking out.  Of course it's a controlled kind of freaking out, which mostly involves how things are going to fit into boxes, stressing over boxes being too heavy, and trying to grasp exactly how much stuff I have.

At any rate, this time tomorrow I'll have a lot of it loaded into a u-haul trailer, and by this time Saturday, it'll all be in u-boxes.

I feel sort of sorry for the horses.  They have no idea that anything is coming, except that their grain has mysteriously stopped arriving twice a day.  The hay continues to show (almost a bale a day!), so they aren't too distressed.

Eating is a huge part of their day

I was curious about how Tiny would feel about having something cinched around her, since she can be goosey about some things--she didn't even bat an eye at the bareback pad.  It'll still be a long while before she's ready for anything serious, but I think she'll be easy when it's time. 

Where you going, carrot lady?

Why you on that side of the corral?

I've also noticed both Chev and Tiny's hoof soles have been shedding like crazy.  Chev has finally shed enough sole that her bare feet are starting to look normal.  The impacted bars have shed, and she only has a little old sole still stuck by her toe area.  Doesn't her foot look great? 

Chev left front (more pancake, previously bad) foot, 7/19/12--it just looks comfortable!

Here's how her hoof looked before on 5/9/12 and 5/12/12, a little more than 2 months ago:

Narrow frog which has now widened, impacted bars (look how far forward the heel buttress is!), and TONS of sole!  It looks very painful to me, not at all the feet she has today.

I am really looking forward to Chev's old farrier working on her feet again.  I don't think I've ever seen her move more soundly than she does now, and she's obviously very happy with her hooves even though they are chipped here and there.  I'm sure he'll be able to get them balanced and shaped just right.  This climate though has been awesome for rehabbing to barefoot, and I hope they'll stay nice when we move back to the soggy PNW!