Lucky not looking so good

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Lucky's big reveal this morning was a little disappointing. I have noticed that she is taking her sweet time eating her dinner, and has not been real excited about her hay lately. She does get her dinner eaten, just not very quickly--which is better for her of course, and may be a function of being in her stall where she does not have to share it with anyone.

She does not look so rough here on the left, really. I keep saying she is 25, but really she is only 24. Her but looks okay, but she is sucked up in the flank.

This other picture though, from the other side, tells another story, and is a more accurate representation of her real condition. It makes me sad.




These pictures also demonstrate why I do not reach really solid conclusions when I see photos of a certain horse---even several photos. Angle, lighting, background, any number of things can completely change the photo you see. Even here, with photos taken 30 seconds apart, and the only difference is that Lucky swung around the branch (okay it is a weed, but it has been there so long it has turned into a tree) to the other side of it, she looks like two different horses. That swing around put her in front of the open door to the barn with the feed wagon behind, rather than the side of the barn. Where she looks poor in the photos facing left, she does not look too bad in the photo looking to the right.

I always have to remind myself that she is a barrel horse, not a cowhorse and should not look like my other chunks. She never has, but it skews my impression of her condition every time.

All I can do now is pray the grass pops up lush and rich and packs the weight back on her like it usually does. She has no teeth issues, is wormed regularly (did it again this morning) and is fed enough for three normal horses, so I guess we are doing all we can do.