First Trail Ride in a LONG Time!

Shorty and I were invited on a trail ride yesterday. We had a blast! First trail ride out like that in at least a couple years. It was pretty rough because we went to somebody's land so it wasn't nice cut out trail paths. We went up and down hills and over and through ditches, through thick brush and ducking and pushing tree limbs out of the way. He even cantered up a hill and jumped a small fallen tree. That was awesome! He spooked pretty good at a deer lookout building, but other than that he was solid. He wanted to GO and I mean when he trotted forward, I haven't felt that kind of trot in a long time. So much ENERGY and interest. Unfortunately we had many moments when he wanted to trot forward and then he would NOT stop and completely ignore my bit. In circles we went...

At the end of the ride on the gravel path to the trailers, I noticed he was really tip toeing it :( I thought his back feet were sore, but I thought it odd that he would be THAT ouchy with his back feet. I got off as soon as we got close and I looked down to find out that BOTH front bar shoes were gone! Ugh! My poor boy. I am pretty sure it happened towards the end of the ride, but it's hard to tell because we were on soft ground most of the time. He is a trooper! He did have bell boots on, but I'm not surprised with all the stuff we did that he somehow managed to still get under them and pull the shoes. We borrowed a pair of hoof boots for the ride back home (they were a tad big but they served their purpose), and now he is turned out in a pair of soft ride boots that he seems to be very comfy in (also borrowed). I have already been wanting to buy a pair of boots for his back feet for trail rides instead of putting shoes in the back, so now I'm just going to get boots for the front, too.

I feel so bad because some of his hoof wall got messed up when the shoe came off his left hoof. He JUST got trimmed and those shoes put on a little over a week ago. He's going to go with boots only for now so we get more growth and make sure his feet will be in good condition before putting another pair of shoes on. This week will be dedicated to finding a pair of boots that will fit and be suitable for what we need.

Vaccination Woes

I feel like a bit of a horrible owner, but it seems every time I have had Shorty vaccinated, I have never noticed any ill effects except for the rabies he got early last year. After the rabies shot, his neck swelled up in a huge lump and Shorty was SO sore that he wouldn't even eat off the ground for a couple days. I have never seen that before with one of my own horses, but now I know that some horses just get really sore after some vaccines. The vet was out on Friday morning when I was there for the farrier and he was due for just a couple of his annual vaccinations (not rabies, so it didn't occur to me) so I asked her to go ahead and get those done. Well, I didn't realize it Friday or Saturday, probably because Shorty is a saint, but on Sunday I went to do his treat stretches that we always normally do after our workouts (except for Fri/Sat of course) and the poor boy would barely turn his neck! I'm a bit relieved because if he looks stiff in those videos I took on Saturday, that is probably quite a big factor as to why.

He was better today, but still not 100%. I am really looking forward to getting going again with our workouts once his neck is not sore.

Movement Videos

These videos are from yesterday. The general consensus is that he still looks slightly off/uneven, but it is slight and can and probably will be better. My fingers are crossed! I wish I had videos of him going before we tried transitioning to regular shoes to compare. He sure did feel like he was doing really really well, which is why I was hoping he could go without the extra support. Ya never know unless you try.

Two Steps Back, One Step Forward

Unfortunately, I saw a pretty clear decline fairly quickly this week while waiting for the farrier appointment that was planned for today (Friday). I didn't want to work him this week just because knowing that he wasn't moving correctly (tending to go toe first instead of flat or heel first) bothered me a lot. All I did was walk him and trot him some in hand. Last night I was curious how he was trotting because I thought I was seeing some discomfort in his other movements on uneven ground and turning around. I lunged him at the walk and trot and oh man was he shuffle-y - it's like we were back to square one and he didn't want to pick up his feet at all! *sob* :'(

I could not WAIT until this morning to get the bar shoes back on. He definitely prefers them right now. He wasn't PERFECT tonight, but he felt nice under saddle walking and trotting. I tried a canter to the left and he did try for me, but it didn't feel quite right so I asked him to trot again and left it at that. I watched him walk and trot from the ground once he was warmed up and it was considerably better than last night. There were not puffs of dirt with every stride, just occasionally. He was definitely moving out more and picking up his feet more. I suppose it's not a miracle fix, and it'll probably take a couple or maybe a few days for his soreness to cool off just like it did to develop with the other shoes. Tonight, he got tucked in with his favorite fruit flavored treats and some packing of magic cushion to help relieve any discomfort he might still have.

Just some details that I want to remember if helpful later on: the farrier mentioned that his right front hoof seemed to be growing more than the left. He had to trim that one a bit more than the other. The heel of the right hoof had grown down more, which from what he explained might be because he was avoiding using that heel. I thought that was interesting since it seemed to be his left front giving him the most trouble and landing heaviest on the toe. But from all this I know that not everything is as it seems - a lot of times the answers are the opposite of what the obvious is.

6 Month Update

I know it has been a while, but I do have a good update and we seem to still be on the right track.

Shorty has done well since November. We have started trotted more and integrating 3-4 trot poles in our exercise. We work on shoulder fore/shoulder in, side passing, turn on the haunches, and transitions. The only thing I have noticed developing since then was resistance bending to the right. On Dec. 26th, we decided to try regular shoes! It did not seem to change anything for a while. About 6 days later, however, Shorty had a day where he was acting really on edge, spooky, and unfocused. I knew something was not right. I did some ground work instead of riding since he was acting so funny, and he eventually showed me he looked sore and really hesitant to go forward. I haven't seen that in a while :(

He was due for his monthly dose of Pentosan, so I gave that to him that day. I have also added 10,000mg of MSM to his feed daily since then. I think both have been helping him. The next day he seemed okay again, thank goodness! Then our next ride was surprisingly really nice. I lunged him first walk/canter and I was concerned about him going to the left as it looked like there was a hitch in his stride at the canter. But when I got on we had a super ride! Besides his resistance to bend right, he was super light and offering roundness, stretchy trot, responsiveness, and he was even offering halt to canter transitions! He felt amazing. That was a fun ride.

Even so, I planned to have the vet out for a check-up to see about his right side. This was the best check-up so far. Shorty did not need acupuncture! There was no hock reactivity this time, but there was with his left front. She was able to adjust the spot on the right side of his neck that was most likely the culprit for his hesitation to bend right - he looked really ouchy there before fixed, poor boy. Most of his issues though were located in the thoracic/wither area under the saddle. He had some wither stuff last time, but not that much soreness under his saddle area. The 3 things that would contribute to that spot are: 1) ulcer/stomach issues which were ruled out, 2) saddle fit, which we checked and ruled out, and 3) compensation for some foot pain. Oh boy...I am going to have my farrier check the balance of his feet next week, and then if that checks out then we will put his bar shoes back on. Unfortunately, the vet noticed that he was very slightly walking toe first in the front. My main goal right now is to make sure we fix that and get a heel first landing; if he needs the bar shoes to continue supporting his neck and keeping him right, then that's what we'll stick with for now.

Shorty has changed so much since August which is a good thing! He continues to change and hopefully his body is normalizing to how it should be. The fact that he didn't need acupuncture is great! I was happy about no hock reactivity and the issues in his back end have stayed away - I have always thought that part of his issues have been from compensation from back there.

It rained quite a bit this last week and it has been so wet! I am going to go out again this afternoon and see how he's doing! I hope to ride :)