2011 – Rock & Roll – 7-28-11 – MASSAGE

7/28/11: Rock is now put on rest and minimal walking until the founder growth in his front feet has grown out. He has potential horizontal cracks starting and we don’t want these large chunks of his foot to crack off. We have ordered some boots for his front feet that should be in next week. Meanwhile, he is limited to his stall and pen with 2 ½ hours of turnout in the small pasture just off his pen, so he doesn’t need to cope with really hard ground. He did need to come up for his massage and is getting his grooming and vacuuming just before the massage so he will only have to negotiate the driveway once a week. Rock didn’t need the towels this time, so we are making some progress on his front foot pain. Still…no drugs. The one time I did give him Bute, he just held it in his mouth until everyone was gone and then spit the ball of Bute and oats he had held in the side of his mouth right back into my hand! Rock had spome swelling at the end of his sheath that we had checked by the vet. It was his opinion that Rock had been bitten by a horsefly or come kind of insect. Both mules enjoyed their massages and Roll actually was able to stop his fidgeting for a change. Apparently working before his massage is a good plan for him.