More Horse Updates

Aero has been worrying me.  He still doesn’t look comfortable doing his walk therapy in the arena  and he’s really reluctant to move from a “good” surface onto a “bad” one – for example, to step off the rubber mat in the stable onto the concrete yard outside, or to walk from a muddy area onto an area with stone or gravel on it. 

I’ve been keeping him on the driest bit of ground we have, but he’s had to stay there on his own, otherwise it would quickly get churned up into a sea of mud.  Even though the other horses tended to stay just beside him (he is the Boss, after all) I think he’s really missed the social interaction and he’s been getting more and more mopey the longer he’s there.

So, I’ve decided to sacrifice another paddock to preserve his sanity.  It’ll give all of the horses a dry, non-hard area to stand on, for as long as it takes for them to destroy it, anyway.  It just means I’ll have to get two paddocks reseeded instead of one in the Spring. 

I took down the wire to the next paddock – GiGi and Paddy were through like a shot!  

GiGi & Paddy eating, Flurry rushing, Aero being jealous!

Flurry was up in the sandy area, but he strode down as fast as his little legs could carry him when he saw that the others were getting GRASS!

Three happy horses...

Aero was looking on enviously, so he was delighted when I caught him and led him down to join the others, heads down and munching!

Four happy horses!

Hopefully that’ll solve his depression issue.

Anja came back today to address the feet issue.  She wrapped his front feet with a resin-impregnated bandage which hardens once its been put on.  It'll give his feet more stability across the heels while he's adjusting to barefoot, but it still allows some movement which is essential in a healthy foot.

She put a tiny screw onto each side of the hoof at the back...

Aero couldn't bear to watch...

It looks a bit like "Hoof of Frankenstein"

Then the bandage is soaked in water and wound on, using the screws to hook it on at the start.  Once it's on, he had to stand with his foot on a foam pad so the bandage would mould to the shape of his foot while it hardened.

The wraps will stay on until they fall off, by which time he will hopefully have adjusted well to the whole barefoot thing.

He looked much better at walk in the arena, but was still quite stiff in trot.  We'll probably get his back checked out just to be on the safe side, but when I turned him out afterwards he was in great form!  Unfortunately, I missed all but one short clip, but this is getting more like normal "bouncy" Aero.

Flurry, meanwhile, took a backward step, probably because I did too much with him. 

He got his flu shot last week.  Last time, he was completely wiped out for three days afterwards, so this time I expected the same.  True to form, he was lethargic and dull the next day, so I thought “Poor little guy, I’ll just do a bit of easy lunging, mostly walk….” and off we went to the arena.

Well he leaned on that lead rope like you wouldn’t believe, to which my reaction was “Oh no you don’t, mister, not even if your feeling poorly”, so I tried to correct him by getting behind him a little more to get the back end working and doing give and take on the lunge line so he wouldn’t have anything to lean on.

He was not impressed and tanked off in a hissy fit, towing me behind him!  Ok, I thought, I’ll just loose school you so I don’t get dragged around the arena.  I sent him off in walk and he EXPLODED!  Sick and fluey?  Don’t think so! 

Next day, I did a normal schooling session with plenty of lateral work, transitions etc.  He was leaning on the left rein a lot to start, but he lightened up before the end so I was happy enough.

Unfortunately, next morning he had a lot of heat in the heel of the left hind.  My theory is that the extra-high frog on that foot is causing the heel area to become sore when I work him.  Leaning on the left rein is probably a symptom of this – he’s reluctant to use that leg properly so he has to lean on my left hand to compensate.  We’ve now stepped right back to 20-30 minutes of walk/trot work and the heat in the heel disappeared within two days.

I'l have to accept that although he's the best of the three, he won't be up to "full" work for a while.

GiGi has been stuck in a slightly stiff, slightly sore place.  Some days she seems good, then the next day she'll be quite stiff and shuffly again.  She had one day of "chestnut mare" attitude, where she didn't want to go forward at all, then when Anne insisted, she exploded!

Anne: I was more worried about her today, there were no tantrums like yesterday when I took her for her daily stroll, but when I was leading her back to the yard, across the uneven ground, she stumbled quite badly in front. Then when I led her out for Anja to look at her she was very stiff, and stumbled again when I put her out. I will just have to wait and see how she is tomorrow, I could feel no tenderness along her spine, but then I'm no expert!

Aine the chiropracter will  see her again before we go, and sooner if she gets any worse.  Lorraine O'Brien is calling on Thursday to check her saddle fit, so for the time being I can do no more.

We started all three horses on a new kelp supplement this week.  It's made from organic kelp grown off the West coast of Ireland, which is full of all sorts of good stuff - lots of minerals, plus Vitamins C, B2, B6, B12 and K.  It's called Seahorse Atlantic and is made locally in West Cork.  The manufacturer assures us we'll see a difference in their coats within 6 weeks, and ultimately we should see an improvement in the quality of hoof growth as well.