Handsome Jacob is, as the kids are saying these days, ‘built different.’ StayHipp.com defines this term as a description of a person or thing that is on another level. While this isn’t exactly untrue of Jacob, I meant it more in the literal, physical sense. Jacob is rather oddly put together, a little frankenstienian in his looks from certain angles. His narrow front end makes him appear to have one single front leg at times, and his hind end also has its unique aspects. In short, he will not win any confirmation beauty contests.
But Jacob exists comfortably in the world. He runs and plays with Edward, and is still in consideration to be a very light riding horse. His slightly goofy build does not hold him back from living a fulfilling horsey life.
However, we have noticed a slight hitch in Jacob’s step, and while there are likely a myriad of factors contributing to this, the fact of the matter is that we will do our best to help keep our charges as comfortable as possible. We decided to try Jacob on an Equioxx trial to see if it might help improve his mobility somewhat. We watched him move first, trotting him out on a circle. He was a bit reluctant to go forward, and had a tendency to be rather short-strided in his hind end. After a week on equioxx, Kaya put him to work for a week — nothing major, but the same degree that would be his standard going forward (like I said, the level of work we set for Jacob was quite minor) that way we could see if it was able to help him despite a bit more being asked. At the end of his week of work, we watched him move again. He was more willing to move out, and his stride in the hind did appear longer.
These days, Jacob looks forward to his morning Equioxx-stuffed carrot each morning, and feels at least a bit better moving around!
