I am looking forward to getting back to some kind of routine now that I am beginning to recover from the whooping cough at least enough to sleep. Hopefully we'll get some hunting in before the season ends, too, but I have not gone out today because of the completely wet ground. It would be asking for leg problems to take an under-exercised horse out in this mud.
So I took Woody down the road because he hasn't had any wear on his feet for 6 days and they need it. I got a bit rained on, but nothing serious. He was odd today, he started hyperventilating as soon as he saw his tack. Then he refused to let me get on and was swinging away from me. I considered not riding, but I felt that I should ride for the sake of his feet and see if I could identify what his problem was.
There was nothing wrong with him at all, he was perfectly sound and actually went quite well. He does seem to be having a final go at resisting the idea of working on a contact, so maybe it was that, who knows? Anyway, I kept the contact all the way out even though he was carrying his head too high and would not relax. Then about 1/3 of the way back home he suddenly dropped his head and rounded up and walked all the rest of the way home in a lovely 4-time beat that he rarely gives on the road.
I promised some photos of his foot changes. Here is the one of his shedding frog. This is happening in all four feet, the top 1/4 inch peeling back from the heel to the toe. This is leavign his heels room to reduce in height, which as you can see has already happened on the this back one, and the other, and is now happening on the fronts too.
This one is interesting. Can you see the very bottom of his toe is "missing"? This has not been rubbed away, it was never there. The angle of that very bottom bit of toe is the angle his whole foot was browing at when he arrived. In less than 11 weeks before this photo was taken, he grew a complete foot from the coronet to just below where the dirt ends and his foot is cream colour. What is happening now is that his heel is beginning to wear away, and when that is complete his whole foot angle will be much less upright, which will match his shoulder which has a lovely angle to it.
This is the same foot from a couple of months back. The really hugely significant thing from this photo is the back of his foot. Look at the point where the heel ends on the floor, and compare the spot where it hits the pastern if you draw a straight line upwards from there. In the later shot it practically hits his fetlock, and in the earlier one it barely gets into his heel bulbs. And look at the length, and the angle of the top of the heel bulbs - they are much, much longer and much beefier. That's what we wanted to see, and that's what will have brought him sound. That is now full of dense digital cushion, supporting his lateral cartilages and giving a shock absorbing cushion on every step to the pedal bone that is sitting on top of it. I am chuffed to bits with that change, it bodes well for his future soundness in 2013.
Tomorrow I hope to ride both Ace and Radar. We'll see!
C
Have to ask the ulcer question, as usual. I'm sure you've considered it, but it could account for Woody's anxiety. Or, as you note, just a bit of worry about the "contact" battle you still seem to be fighting--although it's becoming less and less of a problem.
ReplyDeleteThe changes in his feet are dramatic. Those front angles were really wrong. Now it looks as if he is going to develop the proper angle all on his own--well with a little help from you....like some good nutrition to those hoofies. That's an amazing amount of growth in so short a time.
Glad you are starting to feel better yourself. It will be great for you to be back into the riding routine so you can get some fun hunting again--weather permitting, of course.