Red-1
I used to be decisive, now I'm not so sure...
Ups and downs...
After the wonderful schooling session, we went on a hack the next day and he was feeling stones. He was fine on the flat road surface, but lame for a couple of strides when he trod on stones. This is unlike Rigsby. He behaved absolutely immaculately, but there is no joy in riding a horse who feels pain, even if it is only when on stones.
I don't think it is metabolic/lami related as he has no pulses and his feet are cool.
He did have a couple of days with snow balled inside his feet, so I guess that could have bruised him. So, he had a day off.
Next day he did some in-hand work on the arena. I actually annoyed him here, he now likes to do positive reinforcement work, but I forgot the treats so we did an in hand session of more standard training, as in an aversive (slight whip tap) with the reward that it stopped when he complied, along with 'good boy' of course. But no, Rigsby did comply, but was rather cross that I was dictating too much.
Then, yesterday, I planned on schooling again, as he is bang sound and moving freely on the soft, but it chucked it down, so didn't! Today could have been schooling, but...
Rigsby has this thing where, if he fancies a walk out, he shoves his head under the pink walking out rug (on a rack in his grooming parlour) and tosses it to me. He did this this morning, only... he got his head under it and tossed, but his head was also under the rug rack, so he ended up tossing the whole Stubbs rug rack right off the wall. Fortunately, Rigsby has a hard head and doesn't seem to have hurt himself!
We had a nice 1 mile walk out in-hand, in blustery wind and the beginnings of snow. We enjoy our walks, but it seems his feet are not right, right now, for riding. That is sad as I was enjoying riding too.
His feet do look good. I have a slight concern with the one that had worse lami: everywhere else the nails grew out months ago, but on the inside of that foot the nail holes are still there. He was last shod in late July or early August! There really should NOT still be nail holes there. Not with all the road walking we have done. What on earth is that portion of his foot made of???
He was sound and free moving today though, so I shall shelve my concerns. I will give him February with walking in hand and only riding on the school. It must be easier on the feet when he is not carrying my weight, even though that is now reduced (!). The boy is still doing good.
After the wonderful schooling session, we went on a hack the next day and he was feeling stones. He was fine on the flat road surface, but lame for a couple of strides when he trod on stones. This is unlike Rigsby. He behaved absolutely immaculately, but there is no joy in riding a horse who feels pain, even if it is only when on stones.
I don't think it is metabolic/lami related as he has no pulses and his feet are cool.
He did have a couple of days with snow balled inside his feet, so I guess that could have bruised him. So, he had a day off.
Next day he did some in-hand work on the arena. I actually annoyed him here, he now likes to do positive reinforcement work, but I forgot the treats so we did an in hand session of more standard training, as in an aversive (slight whip tap) with the reward that it stopped when he complied, along with 'good boy' of course. But no, Rigsby did comply, but was rather cross that I was dictating too much.
Then, yesterday, I planned on schooling again, as he is bang sound and moving freely on the soft, but it chucked it down, so didn't! Today could have been schooling, but...
Rigsby has this thing where, if he fancies a walk out, he shoves his head under the pink walking out rug (on a rack in his grooming parlour) and tosses it to me. He did this this morning, only... he got his head under it and tossed, but his head was also under the rug rack, so he ended up tossing the whole Stubbs rug rack right off the wall. Fortunately, Rigsby has a hard head and doesn't seem to have hurt himself!
We had a nice 1 mile walk out in-hand, in blustery wind and the beginnings of snow. We enjoy our walks, but it seems his feet are not right, right now, for riding. That is sad as I was enjoying riding too.
His feet do look good. I have a slight concern with the one that had worse lami: everywhere else the nails grew out months ago, but on the inside of that foot the nail holes are still there. He was last shod in late July or early August! There really should NOT still be nail holes there. Not with all the road walking we have done. What on earth is that portion of his foot made of???
He was sound and free moving today though, so I shall shelve my concerns. I will give him February with walking in hand and only riding on the school. It must be easier on the feet when he is not carrying my weight, even though that is now reduced (!). The boy is still doing good.