Argo has been here for two weeks as of today! Time flies. Last week he celebrated his Happy One Week by getting something very exciting – his first set of sporthorse shoes.

His feet were lookin ROUGH when he got here. The hind shoes had already fallen off, one front shoe fell off 12 hours after he got here (he came off the trailer with a flip-flop. Luckily I was able to at least get it tacked back on the same day.) and his toes totally grown over the edges of his shoes. My farrier is exceptional though, and I was excited to start working on fixing the angles on Argo’s feet.

I’m still learning about Argo so I opted to hold him rather than put him in the crossties, but that definitely wasn’t necessary. Argo literally never moved. Not even when his feet started to smoke as his hot shoes were fitted to his feet. It’s pretty rare that we’d go ahead and hot-shoe one it’s first time being done off the track, but Argo was being so dang quiet we decided to try. And well… he didn’t care. Exceptional boy.

The before and after is just *chef’s kiss*. We’ve still got a little ways to go, but for one shoeing the difference is exceptional. No more aluminum racing plates – now he’s got some wide web steel shoes! He’s entering his SportyBoi era.

Presto also got a shoe put back on his naughty foot, and knock on wood, so far so good. The bruise seems to have resolved and there was never a sign of it wanting to abscess. I’m taking it slow getting him legged back up just to make sure, especially because this is our dry season and the ground is hard at the moment, but he’s felt really exceptionally good so far.

He has been an absolute pest though, and gets very offended if I do anything with Argo before I get him out. Like full blown tantrum. Banging his feet against his gate, throwing his ball up in the air or over the fence, tossing his feed tub around. It goes on for at least half the time I have Argo out. Maybe he should have considered his actions more thoroughly when he ran around like an idiot and hurt his foot and fucked the whole season.

I’ve done a couple more rides on Argo. We can’t do much before December 1 to retain his RRP eligibility (you can’t have more than 15 rides), so we’ve mostly just been doing some groundwork and lunging and stretching his body a lot on the ground. I did another ride at home though, in the field, and cantered him for the first time. He was – you’ll be shocked to hear – super good. That day I finished the ride by hacking him out down the road around the farm, and when we passed Presto, he tried his absolute hardest to rile Argo. Running up and down the fence, bucking, rearing, tossing his ball up in the air. It was a scene. Argo just looked at him like “so he’s the village idiot, huh?”. Totally non-plussed and zero percent interested in engaging in the shenanigans. Presto was furious.

The other Argo ride (for anyone counting, he’s 5 rides in now) was his first field trip. Lex was getting a trainer ride and I thought it would be the first little haul out for Argo to tag along. It’s just 5 minutes away, and her farm is busy but not like showgrounds busy. I tacked him up but planned to just let him hang out in the riding field if he was nervous (which I expected him to be). I brought my helmet and bridle but had no expectations of getting on. And, well…

He was curious and alert about everything, but not worried. I got on and let him just chill and hang out while Lex jumped (Argo was like what in the hell is he doing and why?) and then walked him over some cavaletti. I probably could have just flatted him some but I wanted it to be a very easy and chill experience, so we just stuck to walking and standing. Super well-behaved orange.

Also big bonus points for the fact that he loads and hauls like an actual champion. So easy. 5 stars.

I had started body clipping Argo during the week (it was in the upper 80’s here and he was HOT) but didn’t have time to finish it. Yesterday was finally the day – I decided to just rip off the bandaid by finishing Argo and clipping Presto in the same morning. What a joy. Just loved it. (heavy sarcasm)

But true to Argo form he was a super good boy and didn’t move a muscle the whole time. At the end I needed a bit better light/angle to do touch-ups and finish his head, so I just unclipped him from the crossties, turned him into the light, and left him standing there untied. Even clipped his ears like that… absolutely no problem. The only time he moved at all was to play with a saddle pad.

The Argo experience is definitely different from the Presto one. Presto was not still. He’s not naughty, but he just wants to either play with the clippers or have you constantly clip over his itchy spots, so he’s a constant wiggler. The only part he stands still for is his ears, and I’m convinced it’s because the vibration to his brain finally occupies it enough.

Now both boys are looking sleek and shiny and won’t be dying of sweat anymore at least! My arms are tired today, and my back is like “why tho”, but ya know… at least I’m done clipping for maybe a month or so…