An update on Ace for the barefooters among us. He arrived with simply horrible overgrown, deep, feet with shrunken little frogs that were dying for want of ground contact. His shoes had been on for 12 or 13 weeks. I did not expect his feet to recover so quickly but today when I checked he has ground-bearing frogs in all four. He also has the hardest set of feet of the three big boys, and they make a heck of a noise on the road :-) They will always be small, as he is fine-boned and very TB, but they are beautifully shaped and have made their own perfect mustang roll.
You might remember that he also arrived with suspicions of bull noses, particularly on the back. Those have gone, but what they indicated to me was a possible tendency to laminitis. True to form, Ace gets pulses earlier than anyone else, and stronger than anyone else. But his regime of "in during the daytime" is going well and this morning he strode out across my test patch of stony picnic area carpark. I suspect he was not broken last year because he was laminitic in the spring. We know that he was sold cheap from Germany to Holland in August, and then sold on to the people I bought him from in September. They xrayed him because they were convinced that he had to have a problem for the price they paid for him. I think he did, but it wasn't bone chips like they were expecting and I got a free set of clean xrays :-). I think he was laminitic in Germany and they got him sound and dumped him onto the market. If I'm right, then three of us in his chain of ownership got a bargain horse because of someone else's rubbish management!
We had a lovely hack today, on another impossibly bright and clear day. We have now lost 2 of our 3 springs which supply us with water and are forced to pump from a trough in the yard because our house tanks are not filling. We can last another month like this, then we are in real trouble water-wise. Rain, anyone?
C
I am sure rain will come. Worse case scenario - it will hold off until the British schools go on summer break.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting - your suspicions of his history, and your luck in finding such a bargain.
Interesting analysis of Ace's feet. Sounds as if you have found the key to keeping him sound.
ReplyDeleteAs for the rain...we have plenty... more falling right now. Perhaps one of these massive wet fronts will cross the sea for you.
And by the by, so many people here in my area are on city supplied water, they could never understand either a drought or the worry of a well's going dry. As I have to rely on well water, I am acutely aware of how worrisome it can be. Sending thoughts for some good solid, wet weather.
Lucky boy to have found you. What is the betting that in another home right about now he would be short striding and they would be going down the navicular route because a horse like him could not possibly have laminitis?
ReplyDeleteWell if he had a foot problem he found the right owner didn't he? If you could fix Campero, Ace will be a walk in the park by comparison.
ReplyDeleteWell done on your recent progress, I agree with the "judge's personal preference" issues. Just remember its the same for every body. Ive won with 63% and with 73% and couldn't really tell the difference between the two tests!
I'm off for my first ODE of the season this Monday, unaffiliated of course, but should be fun. Practice has been a little sporadic though, so we'll see!!
All the best T
True, all I need is a good old British summer, eh ML?
ReplyDeleteHow deep is your well Jean? We had thought of getting a borehole but there are serious problems with hitting iron/manganese seams and then you need a cellar full of water processing plant, so we stick with our springs. They've not failed us yet but we will need rain before another month to six weeks.
BBTracey, of course, silly me, big lightweight horses never get laminitis do they :-) ?? Of all the things wrong that could have caused him to be sold too cheap, grass caused laminitis would be about the least of my concerns.
Tracey B have fun on Monday, I almost envy you!
C
we certainly do need rain - it's amazing how many people don't "get" that when we're having an otherwise good dry spell! people are already worrying about the year's hay crop as well.
ReplyDelete