Windy (Windsor) is arriving tomorrow morning.
Here are some pictures to be going on with. He has a long and complicated history which I will share with you tomorrow and involves an ongoing court case. He has been long term but only very mildly lame in shoes, but I hope we can keep him sound without shoes. If so I will have him as a back-up both to Ace and Radar, because he was a showjumper and can jump and he is also built well enough to do some serious dressage. He's a pink papered German Warmblood, 9 years old with a delightful temperament, desperate for attention! He followed me everywhere I turned when I was in his field yesterday, even though I was a complete stranger.
http://s688.photobucket.com/albums/vv243/badgerbearandroo/Windsor%202009/
Ace schooled this morning and did some superb work, but also threw one complete paddy at the blue barrels. He had already been working fine past them, and also been doing some really good right canter, which was the pace he was in when he threw his toys on the floor. So the draw reins got taken up short until he gave in, which he eventually did. Though I have to say he fought like the devil until he realised that he just cannot overcome the draw reins. He would have reared several times if he could have got his head out to do it. He did buck, but he can't get any power into it with his head held in, so that was no good either. When he gave in, he got a lot of praise, allowed to stretch his neck immediately, and we stopped soon after so he can connect good behaviour with getting what he wants.
The hunt was cancelled because of the sodden ground conditions but we all met and took the hounds out for a long hack as exercise anyway. It was a lovely day and we had a good 3 hours chatting and riding along quiet country roads. It was much better than being at home, and of course Radar has not worked all week so it was better for him than a mad galloping day.
It's nice to be home.
C
Windy is a handsome fellow. Hope that lameness is resolved quickly under your care. Any idea of the cause? I know you are a master of getting horses sound, so I'm not too worried, but I just wonder what might be going on with him.
ReplyDeleteAce just needs to test you after the short layoff. Those draw reins work a treat when you need them. Bet he was thinking you'd forgotten to put them on!
Glad as well that Radar got out for a nice long ride. I suspect he really enjoyed himself.
He was diagnosed by a good veterinary hospital as lame blocking to the front feet with no identifiable cause except "foot balance". I assume that this meant his pedal bone was sitting too low at the back, because they then prescribed wedge shoes, which temporarily brought him sound. This very strongly suggests that his actual problem was deep digital flexor tendon damage. Wedge shoes release tension on that tendon for a period of time until it shortens to its new position.
ReplyDeleteI strongly suspect that he is "one of those horses" who go toe-first landing in shoes because he had weak heels when they first went on at three years old (due to not having worked until that point). Toe-first landing has been shown in a lab situation to create damage to the ddft. I think he is still toe-first but it was difficult to see in a wet field. Though his feet are wider than they are long, which looks to me to be a result of rubbing his toes short. He has not been in work for a year.
My job will be to work those feet until the heels create their own depth and strength to allow him to walk heel first, and from then on there "should" be no problem. He is only very slightly lame, if at all, so work should not be an issue.
It is a great start that he had no bone or joint damage at the time he was x rayed.
Ace was surprisingly good for him after a five day break. He did really well until he decided that he had done enough, and then threw everything at me to be allowed to stop. He is perfectly fit enough for the amound of work he was doing, and it was work he can do very well, but he just didn't want to do it. I hope that having lost a battle that he started, for no good reason that I can tell, will stick in his mind!
C
Just in case anyone is wincing at the idea of working a lame horse, the problem with this condition is that the heels will not build without work, and the lameness will not resolve until the heels are built.
ReplyDeleteSo as long as he is comfortable enough in walk, walk we shall do. Miles of it, even if I'm on foot!
C