Fraggle

Well, I didn’t exactly tackle him and beat him with a shedding blade, but it was still an adventure!  

Lucky for me, the run-in shed in his paddock has a gate on it.  He let himself in while I was filling up the trough, so I closed the gate on him and went to get a bucket of feed and a lead rope.  The way we initially caught him was to hook the lead rope to itself to make a loop, then hold the loop around the bucket of feed.  As he put his head in the bucket, I quickly slipped the loop over his neck.  There were a few seconds of struggle, but I talked to him in a low voice and kept my eyes on the ground.  Once I was able to approach him and rub his neck, I slipped the halter on. 

I put the bucket of feed on the ground for him and got to work on those fur balls.  He quickly figured out that it felt good to be groomed and didn’t put up a fuss until I got to those clumps on his belly.  They didn’t want to come out easily and it was hurting him when I pulled on them.  Since I wanted this to be a positive interaction, I let them stay. 

 

Remember how he looked before?

 

Introducing the new and improved Fraggle!

 

 

He still has a lot of shedding out to do, but at least he doesn’t look like a shag carpet anymore!  As reward for him being patient with me yanking on his hair, I took him out to the tall grass for twenty minutes of grazing.   He’s still very leery of me and any fast movement makes him jump away, but he’s getting better.

 

Sadly, like Dagwood and Rusty, Fraggle also has a cataract.   While many horses are just fine after losing sight in one eye, it’s still frustrating to see it happen to one so young.   And to happen to so many in one herd!  It makes me wonder if it’s a genetic defect (although I seriously doubt Fraggle is related to Dagwood or Rusty) or environmental.   We’ll probably never know!