HeresHoping
Well-Known Member
unhappy feet...
Forgive me BFT, for I have sinned. It has been 6 weeks since my last confession.
And it's not a happy story. Taking those shoes off has revealed a whole host of issues and there have been times when I have wanted to cry and run back to the farrier shouting all is forgiven. I haven't.
So, we have been shoeless for 8 weeks (since 19 March). I haven't ridden her in that time apart from in the very first week when it became apparent that actually, she wasn't happy in the school at all. So when her boots arrived I let my son sit on her as we did our walks.
She was on A&P fast fibre but I read that soya is not good for arthritics, and as part of the reason for taking her shoes off was that she was clicky, creaky and stiff through her hocks (as well as having lost her decent canter and not looking happy). So now she's on a stubbs scoop of soaked (not dry weight) speedi-beet and 1/2 mug of linseed to carry her supplements - Progressive Earth Platinum (which stinks of fish, or at least cod liver oil) and Equimins Flexijoint. Sometimes she eats it. Sometimes she doesn't. She's in over night with a net 10 hour soaked haylage. She is out from 7:30 until 4:00 pm muzzled on a pretty poor field. There's not much I can do about that - we work with what we have. Thankfully, she has lost about 15 kilos - a slow process without proper work.
Exercise-wise: She has been walked on tarmac (bootless) in ever increasing amounts and is now up to 50 minutes per day. About 3 weeks ago I started walking her slowly down the stony track to the field (about 150m) without her boots onto try and stimulate her feet a bit more. It's not pure gravel, just a well used graded road so smooth stones are exposed in places. She is now quite happy on the tarmac and will actually jog to catch up whereas previously we had to go s l o w l y - or at least, at her pace which has never been particularly quick. About 4 weeks ago I reintroduced the school on the lunge in BIG circles in walk in the evening because she was getting fat and a tiny bit cresty. She recently said she didn't mind trotting - so we did a little of that, too, on BIG circles. Her hocks were moving brilliantly and there was virtually imperceptible nodding on the uneven bits. Then I noticed that when it came to turning right on the concrete outside her stable, she didn't use that off hind very well - pivotting rather than stepping under. Heel pain? Hock pain? Sound in a straight line and seemingly sound on the lunge in the school. So, back into straight lines and walking only in the school in the evening. Still walking on tarmac in the morning.
At the beginning of this week I had a look at her trot again. Woo and hoo - sound. In fact, I hadn't seen her move that well in, well, for a long time. So I put her back on the lunge again with a view to building up to 10 mins trotting.
Yesterday she was hopping lame in front. This morning she came out of the stable with 4 fat fetlocks. They went down almost immediately on our walk. There may be a reason for this - they've 'repaired' the road for a mile or so by pouring grit on it. It's effectively closely packed tiny, sharp gravel and we have to walk 100m on it before we get to a place they haven't poured the grit. I rather stupidly thought 'well, 100m of new sensation can't do her any harm. After all, she picks her way down the paddock road with speed and alacrity these days.' Perhaps I was wrong. Slight warm on the insides of her front hooves.
Anyway, she should have been trimmed two weeks ago but I had a wobble and cancelled the farrier in favour of a barefoot trimmer. He can't come until next week but doesn't seem overly concerned at how long her feet could be getting.
Pictures in the post below of 3 very unhappy feet.
Forgive me BFT, for I have sinned. It has been 6 weeks since my last confession.
And it's not a happy story. Taking those shoes off has revealed a whole host of issues and there have been times when I have wanted to cry and run back to the farrier shouting all is forgiven. I haven't.
So, we have been shoeless for 8 weeks (since 19 March). I haven't ridden her in that time apart from in the very first week when it became apparent that actually, she wasn't happy in the school at all. So when her boots arrived I let my son sit on her as we did our walks.
She was on A&P fast fibre but I read that soya is not good for arthritics, and as part of the reason for taking her shoes off was that she was clicky, creaky and stiff through her hocks (as well as having lost her decent canter and not looking happy). So now she's on a stubbs scoop of soaked (not dry weight) speedi-beet and 1/2 mug of linseed to carry her supplements - Progressive Earth Platinum (which stinks of fish, or at least cod liver oil) and Equimins Flexijoint. Sometimes she eats it. Sometimes she doesn't. She's in over night with a net 10 hour soaked haylage. She is out from 7:30 until 4:00 pm muzzled on a pretty poor field. There's not much I can do about that - we work with what we have. Thankfully, she has lost about 15 kilos - a slow process without proper work.
Exercise-wise: She has been walked on tarmac (bootless) in ever increasing amounts and is now up to 50 minutes per day. About 3 weeks ago I started walking her slowly down the stony track to the field (about 150m) without her boots onto try and stimulate her feet a bit more. It's not pure gravel, just a well used graded road so smooth stones are exposed in places. She is now quite happy on the tarmac and will actually jog to catch up whereas previously we had to go s l o w l y - or at least, at her pace which has never been particularly quick. About 4 weeks ago I reintroduced the school on the lunge in BIG circles in walk in the evening because she was getting fat and a tiny bit cresty. She recently said she didn't mind trotting - so we did a little of that, too, on BIG circles. Her hocks were moving brilliantly and there was virtually imperceptible nodding on the uneven bits. Then I noticed that when it came to turning right on the concrete outside her stable, she didn't use that off hind very well - pivotting rather than stepping under. Heel pain? Hock pain? Sound in a straight line and seemingly sound on the lunge in the school. So, back into straight lines and walking only in the school in the evening. Still walking on tarmac in the morning.
At the beginning of this week I had a look at her trot again. Woo and hoo - sound. In fact, I hadn't seen her move that well in, well, for a long time. So I put her back on the lunge again with a view to building up to 10 mins trotting.
Yesterday she was hopping lame in front. This morning she came out of the stable with 4 fat fetlocks. They went down almost immediately on our walk. There may be a reason for this - they've 'repaired' the road for a mile or so by pouring grit on it. It's effectively closely packed tiny, sharp gravel and we have to walk 100m on it before we get to a place they haven't poured the grit. I rather stupidly thought 'well, 100m of new sensation can't do her any harm. After all, she picks her way down the paddock road with speed and alacrity these days.' Perhaps I was wrong. Slight warm on the insides of her front hooves.
Anyway, she should have been trimmed two weeks ago but I had a wobble and cancelled the farrier in favour of a barefoot trimmer. He can't come until next week but doesn't seem overly concerned at how long her feet could be getting.
Pictures in the post below of 3 very unhappy feet.