Chestnut boys

In my last post I introduced Weston. For a reminder, he is an 8 year old OTTB who popped an abscess two weeks before I got him. He was lame for about a month and a half after I brought him home. In the past few weeks I've been able to ride him 5-6 times.

On the ground, he has some bad "quirks". He will bite/grind his teeth and occasionally lift a hind leg. He doesn't actually try to bite or kick, just threatens. I wasn't sure if these quirks would transfer under saddle, but they sure do.

He especially objects to leg pressure. Will pin his ears and bite /grind. He hasn't bucked or reared, but we haven't done much work to promote those behaviors.

I found his old Canter listing which says he was retired because he became "racing sour". I've seen videos of him at both of his post track homes, and don't see anything glaringly "off" with him.

I'm trying my best to make him happy and get to the root of what's making him act like this. I've considered ulcers and am giving him Aloe Vera juice currently as a first step in addressing ulcers. I'm looking into having a chiropractor out, but he doesn't seem touchy to the touch anywhere, so I'm waiting until he is done with the Aloe Vera juice to schedule a visit. I've moved him to a pasture boarding set up where he lives out 24/7 with a buddy with unlimited grass (pasture still has tons of grass) and grass hay. He is being transitioned to a lower ration grain as well.

I'm hoping all of these changes will help with his "grumpiness" on the ground and under saddle. He is really a sweet horse who loves attention, he just either has something physically making him act out, or it's a major behavior issue.

Since moving Weston to the pasture place, I've added a new member to the herd. The barn had no other horses and I'm not ojay having horses alone, so I opted to adopt a weanling colt.

Jasper is a 6 month old Missouri Fox Trotter cross colt. He is super easy going and curious.

I got the chance to visit Pepper when I went to meet Jasper as he lives 10 mins down the road. It was great seeing him! Since the pictures of the Bones visit didn't show up, they're below as well.