April 6, 2004
Doc has been a member of our family for about a year now. Whew! What a year it has been! It is hard to believe that we have had him that long and he hasn't gotten to get out and enjoy life as we had hoped. We anticipate that will change very soon! Maybe by this weekend!

We were given the clearance by the surgeon to ride a month or so ago, but then had Doc's feet trimmed and he got very tender. So this Friday we will be having shoes put on our big boy.

Tonight when I went out to give the horses their last feeding for the day, Harley (the alpha) and Doc were on the rocks...this is a very very steep slope...it was graded to be off limits for the horses and we put big rocks all over it to discourage them from climbing on it. Doc has an appetite to rival any large mammal's appetite, though. I guess I didn't bring dinner out soon enough and those little grassy plants poking up between the rocks were just too irresistible for he and Harley to...well...resist!

Harley pranced down quickly when he saw me coming with dinner, but Doc isn't quite so nimble. Turning his massive body around on that incline and heading straight down ...at least 45 degrees (!) isn't easy for him! Besides, the grass and weeds were tasty, I suppose. So I snapped some pictures on the digital camera before he came down.

 
 
Caught in the act!
The picture above shows you just how much he was enjoying those tender tasty morsels!
 
 
This gives you a bit better idea of how steep this is!
 
 
"Huh? What??? You want me for somethin'?" LOL!
 
 
Doc heading down to eat dinner. Check out those hocks! Our boy is BENDING them! He has been on those rocks before, so clearly he can't be either too sore in his hocks OR too tender footed to manage a little ride this coming Saturday! (Our trainer already knows I am certifiable...this will just remove any final doubt!)


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