Griffin[dor]

No, it was not lost on me when I named him Griffin that he could also be GRYFFINDOR!   Yes, I am a Harry Potter nerd.  I freaking GREW UP with Harry so DON'T hate.  We're the SAME age.  I started following him as a 4th grader and we've been BFFs ever since.  Its not his fault that J.K. couldn't write faster so we could finish our schooling at the same time (he was only a few months behind, really).

Okay, okay, HORSE news (I'll stop with my HP rant....though, okay, one more, I really want a Hedwig!):

Snothead (aka Griffin) is healthy, happy, and crazy.  It almost - but not really - makes me wish he were skinny again so he couldn't run away!  Last Sunday when we returned from Equine Affaire I whistled, he sprinted, he came in.  The next day, I whistled, he sprinted, he played and avoided me, his friends were removed from the field, his ass was chased until he realized, "Oh, hey, I'm gonna not run anymore."  The next day, I came, I whistled, he ran, he played and avoided me, I gave up and said screw it.  I didn't come back to see him for a week!  (It was raining and nasty and frankly, if he was going to be an ass, then fine.)

So this Tuesday he had a trim appointment.  I came to work an hour early so I could leave with enough time to catch him (even if I had to run his ass around to exhaust him).  I decided when I got there to not even play his game, as he immediately started doing his nonchalant avoidance thing.  I whistled without a response.   Hollered without a response.  And then initiated Plan B (no, no, no, not the emergency birth control!).  I waltzed out, loved on Mr. Duke, walked on over to Mr. Wrangler, haltered him and headed to the barn.  Snothead was all, "Oh, hey, that's different!" and followed us across the field, through the gate, and into the barn.  Mr. Wrangler was given a handful of grain as a reward and released back into the field.  Bada bing, bada boom.

Griffin was on HIGH alert to all my movements.  I had to initiate the tiniest of requests and he was responding.  That was the ONLY difference in him from his time off/new snothead-itude.  He worked well, listened well, and fell asleep for his trim.  Trimmer says after two more trims he'll be where he needs to be!  He is also hovering ~638 lbs and has grown an inch (maybe more but I was afraid to call it that, lol) and is now ~13.3hh.  With all this growth I'm hoping he's going to truly fill out to be 15hh eventually, though I'm wee so him being shorter wouldn't be the end of the world since I'm such a featherweight.

These are all cell phone photos, so don't hate.  I was ill-prepared on Tuesday.

Splurged and got this headstall for all future endurance pursuits.  As you can see I didn't put a bit on it yet...and the pricetag is still on it!  I was going to get a Wintec bridle, but realized I really had no need to do that with what I'm interested in (jaunting around in the woods).

All you trimmers and barefoot horse owners, please feel free to comment on how his feet are and where they need to be and what to do to get them to a better place!

And the new time-lapse reveal!!  16 day lapse from other photo.  Growing boy!