Saturday, May 12, 2018

To 'get to the ride' is to win...Or Foot-sore, skinny, over-conditioned?

Sometimes I tell myself the true test of endurance is making it to the ride, to start is to win!  This has been a challenging spring for Sonny and myself.  I planned my conditioning carefully, averaging between 20-35 miles per week with 1-2 easy arena sessions to work on ground work or dressage- I was trying to do the minimum to leg him up for the spring rides.  I used Renegade hoof boots for all of our road riding and all but 2 rides on soft footing.  Sonny was moved to a new herd and he had trouble adapting.  Sonny had a high fecal egg count (worms!) [he was negative on the recheck fecal after de-worming]. We had an ice storm.  He lost weight despite me driving to the barn everyday to feed him and free choice round bales.  He was easily a 4/9 with ribs visible (no good!) -- not going to a ride like that!!

He then went lame on our last big conditioning ride, 3 weeks before our 1st 50 of the spring, a plan of 12 miles, lunch-break and repeat the 12 miles. During the first loop he was amazing, flying up and down hills at a smooth canter! But when going out for the 2nd loop he was off on the right front.  Back at the barn he was hoof tester positive on all of his toes.  Even though he had been wearing hoof boots his toes were soooo worn down. I should have noticed sooner!  I do know that he has never been hoof tester positive previously (I checked before purchasing him and he had a full lameness exam this fall) and he tends to have absolutely amazing gravel crunching feet.  In hindsight I think he had too many stresses (cold temperatures, new herd that he didn't fit in with, spring conditioning, heavy worm burden) and he lost weight and I don't think he quite had his normal hoof growth. I think he also had extra hoof wear walking on all the ice this spring/winter.

So, new plan.. lame and skinny horse, 3 weeks to my first 50 of the season, which I have paid for and really want to go to if possible, but only if I can have a healthy and happy horse! Rest, food, and more rest!

Solutions:

Sonny working on gaining weight. You can also still see his clipping from Fort Valley last October!


1. Sonny was moved back 'solitary confinement' for anti-social behavior.  He was very worried and anxious about keeping all the other horses away from his new best friend. So much so he didn't eat as much as he could.  He would attack the other horses if they came between him and his friend, which was very problematic when other boarders wanted to take their horses in/out.  Moving him to his own area (where he could still see and be near all the other horses) was a blessing in disguise (I typically prefer the horses to be out with other horses).  He seemed much more happy/relaxed and I could leave him with a full bowl of food and alfalfa, rather than just feed him what he could eat during my lunch break from work.  So on 1/3 - 1/2 bale of alfalfa + free choice round bale + 8 lbs of high fat/high-fibre (Fibre O Plus) feed daily, he has gained a good amount of weight in the past 2 weeks!  You can no longer see ribs, but I would still be happier with another 50 + lbs on him.  I would give him a 4.5/9, hopefully with another week of full meals he will be up to a 5/9 by ride time!


2. I put shoes on him (meaning I myself, put my 4th set of shoes ever on a horse!).  I used aluminum Kerckhaert Triumphs. I can shape the aluminum without having to learn how to work hot metal or buy a bunch of very expensive equipment.  His toes were so worn that the shoes didn't even contact the toe from 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock if you imagine a clock face on the hoof.  In a way this was also good, it eliminated all further pressure from the sore and bruised areas.  The bad news was I quicked him too.  This is part of the learning curve of learning to nail on shoes.... He has upright medial (inside) quarters on his hind feet which is very common.  This tends to pull the nail in deeper. I did not compensate enough with my technique and he flinched during nailing. I pulled the nail out immediately and he did have a small amount of blood.  The long-term prognosis for a nail quicked horse is excellent. The short-term prognosis is very questionable, they tend to abscess... so with a ride in 3 weeks this wasn't a good place to be. I spent the next 7 days soaking his hooves (in lieu of actually eating lunch -- oh wait I did shovel food in while driving to/from the barn!).  Either luck was on my side or the soaking helped, but he never became sore from the nail prick (yay!)  While not yet perfect, I was pretty happy overall with how the shoes turned out too (other than the nail prick!)!  Every couple of days I re-hoof tested and as of now he is hoof tester negative with 1 week until the ride. He is also trotting sound, yay!!!
Front Hooves
Hind Hooves (I find shoeing the hind feet a bit trickier than the front!)





Hoof Soaking. Sonny loves his spa treatments and didn't move a muscle during daily soaking (Wow!)

Now, with 1 week until the ride I have to balance weight gain, letting his hooves continue to heal, but also making sure he is loose and limber.  He did tie-up at Old Dominion last year; I am leary of over-feeding and under exercising prior to a ride as that is a great recipe for a repeat tie-up.  I am going to try taking him for a 30 min - 1 hr walk under saddle tomorrow to start things out.  Then repeat on Tuesday and Thursday. Maybe add in a few minutes of trotting/moving-out on Thursday to make sure all feels good. Then our pre-ride on Saturday and 50 miles on Sunday!  He also had an absolutely wonderful massage today (thank you Chrystal!!!!).  He absolutely loved it, I have never seen so many yawns, floppy ears, stretching, and so on -- he would probably love having a spa day all the time!  But for now, the tight muscles from his sore hoof are loosened up and he feels much better in his poll/neck too.  He should be ready to go next week, but we are pushing things a bit closer than I would like. Fingers crossed!

***Edit  -- Thank you for the information, Nancy! I actually need to add a bit more trotting in this week (5-5-5 - 5 min walk + 5 min trot + 5 min fast trot) to help prevent tying up rather than just walking. Every day is best, rather than every other day.  Wanted to share so others with this problem have the correct information***

Enjoying spring grass today!

UPDATE: He was still slightly inconsistent today while riding at the trot - I could feel him pushing me off the right diagonal :(   No head bob, but not quite right... so no ride for me this weekend. Next time!!