Makeover P2 - Slow Progress

Loshenka ID No. 6513 Training Log Entry No. 12

Loshenka Makeover Challenge 2025

Now that we’re a couple of weeks into working with 6513, I can say that the big bay is doing a bit better! With some supplements on board, and a couple of weeks out grazing in the pasture, his coat is positively shining. His bald face and overo spots are blindingly white (when they’re not green from him rolling in the grass). And the silvery grey tail of his would be the envy of all those girls that did the grey-hair trend a little while back.

I am happy to say that those rubbed spots on his back have mostly grown back at this point. He has gained a few more white hairs over those, but what are you going to do about that? There’s not much that can be done to fix it.

It took him a little while to get used to wearing the fly mask, but he apparently either likes it, or he loves messing with me, because when I bring him in for the night and try to take it off he sticks his head straight up where I can’t reach to take it off. I’ve had to resort to bribery to get him to allow me to remove it. I’m not entirely sure who’s being trained here, him or me.

The vet came out, and took a look at him. He agrees that his legs and hooves look fantastic. He suggested a visit from the farrier, because he wondered if changing the angle on his hooves just a touch would help with the pain in his back at all. But generally, he thinks that a visit from the chiropractor is in order, and possibly the local lady that does PEMF to see if we can help him with this pain at all. We’re going to do a round of x-rays, mostly to make me feel better (I want to be sure there’s nothing skeletal going on), because he thinks that a lot of this can be mitigated with some downtime for healing followed by some reconditioning to teach Mr. Bald Face that tack doesn’t necessarily need to equate to pain.

Loshenka ID No. 6513 Training Log Entry No. 13

Loshenka Makeover Challenge 2025

It’s been a couple of days since my last entry. The xrays were done, and the interpretation came back great. I was worried that there might be some arthritis, or bone spurs, or something funky going on in there, but other than a little bit of swelling that they could see, skeletally he looks great. 

The farrier came by yesterday for a couple of other horses, and she was kind enough to come sneak a peek at 6513’s feet like the vet had suggested. She thought that maybe we could do some super minor angle adjustments, but she wanted his feet to grow out a little more before we did them. The sanctuary had had his feet done about a week before we picked him up, so he’s not quite due yet. Generally though, she didn’t think that his feet were bad in the least. I asked her if she thought that we could keep him barefoot, and she said that unless we were doing something that requires shoes, there’s no reason to shoe him. He was SUCH a good boy for the farrier. Her only complaint was that he kept “attacking” her with his long silver tail while she was trying to look at his hinds. Definitely as we work with this boy more we’re seeing such a developing personality emerge, and he’s a dream on the ground. 

We haven’t tried to put any tack on him yet, I want to wait until after the chiropractor makes it out day after tomorrow and makes their assessment.

At this point in his rehab, I am a) still trying to figure out a barn name for this hunk of bay gorgeousness, and b) starting to formulate the rest of the program. I’m thinking that once we manage to get him healed to a point where he’s not sore anymore, we can start back “under saddle” nice and slow, maybe starting with some bareback work, then introducing a bareback pad with girth, and working our way back up to real tack. I’m thinking that we’re going to be calling out a saddle fitter to get him fitted properly. 

Loshenka ID No. 6513 Training Log Entry No. 14

Loshenka Makeover Challenge 2025

We have a barn name!! One of our trainers here is Japanese, and she said the other day the 6513’s behavior reminds her of a Baku, which is (and this is a bit of an oversimplification) a mischievous forest spirit. We all started calling him Baku and it kind of stuck, so we’re rolling with it!

He also seems to like it, the first time I used it in his presence his ears perked and swiveled my way and he came over and stuck that big pink nose of his against my chest. I thought he was being sweet until I realized that he’d grabbed my jacket zipper. He zipped and unzipped it a couple of times and I swear nearly lifted me off of my feet before I managed to extricate myself. So I think he approves.

A bit of a side note, with him spending most of his time out in pasture the last couple of weeks, we’re starting to see a bit of sun-bleaching and his super dark coat is starting to have some gorgeous warm brown undertones. I’m really happy to see him enjoying his down time/healing time so much.

Loshenka ID No. 6513 Training Log Entry No. 15

Loshenka Makeover Challenge 2025

The chiropractor came out today. It took way longer than I had hoped to get on their schedule, but from what I understand, they’re the best in the area. 

Baku really enjoyed them working on him. They found a few spots that needed adjustment, the poll, wither/shoulder area, and the croup mainly. It was kind of funny because with how big Baku is, they needed a step stool to be able to effectively reach his poll for adjustment. The big bay wasn’t too sure at first about what this weird human was doing, but once they got through the first couple of adjustments, he seemed to really dig it and was leaning into everything they were doing.

The chiro thinks that given weekly sessions for six weeks or so, followed by a gradual decrease to eventually once a month, he should heal up really nicely. 

Baku is in amazing spirits, he’s the doll of the barn, but I am a little concerned still about getting him back under saddle. This is going to be a long journey, and I think we’re probably going to have to more or less start him over from scratch. There is the benefit of him being ridden before, so we probably won’t have to go all the way back to backing him, but given his negative reactions the few times I’ve tried just putting the bareback pad with the girth on him, he’s at a point right now where he’s conditioned to freak out once you start tightening a girth, even when it’s not actually hurting him. That anticipation seems to be a real problem for the poor guy.

For now, we’re going to work him through the chiro program, and start working on desensitizing him to the bareback pad. And we will work our way back up to putting a person on him!

Ultimately, even if he never wants to be ridden again, he is conformationally amazing and has a great lineage. I also recently discovered that he’s registered! So maybe we can prove him out in groundwork classes and offer him as a stud or something. We’ll see. Fingers crossed.