Well, I’ve finally finished posting the drafts I had waiting in the wings until I was comfortable enough to post them, which has been over the span of two years! All in good time I suppose. So that brings us to the present day, September 2, 2026. Things on the farm haven’t actually changed that much, only my perspective. Jig is still not able to be ridden due to laminitis, but I came to terms with that since our last ride I described in my previous post. I am comfortable with the fact that he is a pasture pet and he still brings me a lot of joy (and frustration!)
In an ideal world, I would love for him to be a companion horse to a horse that I can ride, but I can’t get another one just yet. Thankfully he has his goat friends (or enemies) and the neighbor horses to visit with, as I know horses do best with other horses. I have also thought about possibly boarding him somewhere so that he can be in a herd, but I’m not sure if that will make sense financially yet.
I don’t think I ever posted about the time I got him x rays, forgive me if I’m repeating myself, but they showed that he has 4 mm of rotation of the coffin bone in his right foot which does confirm an episode of previous founder. The vet said with proper shoeing and diet it should improve. His left foot has barely any rotation. He gets sore after the farrier comes or if he steps on rocky ground, so I got him some therapy boots from Chewy. They help a lot. There are times he is limping without them. I also do not give him alfalfa anymore. He only has orchard grass hay and sometimes a senior stable mix with some sweet feed if he needs to take medicine. Hot tip, applesauce also covers up medicine really well. Overall the goal is a low starch and low sugar diet. I did give him powdered aspirin mixed in the feed recently when he had a limping episode. The farrier said it was probably a stone bruise. He is doing much better now, but mainly from the boots, I don’t think the aspirin did very much. With the boots he will even run around and kick out, so I know they help him a lot!
For now, we will just keep going slow and steady along the very rocky path of horse ownership that I often feel so lucky to be a part of as often as I feel frustrated by it.
Jenny and Jig 