I finally feel motivated to update the blog. It's been a tough month or so. We had a farrier threatening us with the RSPCA for the "state of Fillys' feet" plus the ups and downs of caring for a fairly newly barefoot horse.
I'm sure the farrier was acting with the best intentions, though his stable side manner left a bit to be desired. Even though we were fairly convinced Filly was ok we took his concerns seriously and I had both a barefoot trimmer and a vet come out and check Filly over.
The trimmer thought she was doing pretty well fer her stage of rehab. The vet suggested she needed a small amount taking off the inside edge of her hind feet and maybe the toes, but the fronts were doing well.
Neither thought that the RSPCA were even remotely called for.
The ups and downs have been days when Filly was remarkably sound, followed by days of footiness. This has been a ratchett type of affair. Her bad days are now better than her old good days. For example a few evening ago she was lame at trot and canter in the school on both reins. On Saturday we had the osteo visit and she pretty good at all gaits but canter on right lead. This is odd as until recently left lead canter was worst. Like I said, ups and downs.
And then yesterday I played with Filly in the cold evening and she was very sound at walk and trot on both reins. The osteo had said that we need to build up her muscles again by doing lateral work and trotting poles.
We revisited basic sideways game along the fence looking for impulsion and relaxation. On the first traverse she stuck her head over the top rail of the fence and continued with her head up in the air as a result. On the second traverse she sorted herself out by stepping back from the fence a bit and did a nice sideways.
I set up a pattern of sideways along the fence stopping when the relaxation and impulsion were better than the last one. Then half circle around me and back into the fence to go the other way.
I also did a fair bit of work on the backup. Filly had always tended to raise her head for this which mean she did not engage her hind quarters. Yesterday I backed her with the driving game from in front of zone 1. I was looking for any sign of the head lowering. When it did we stopped and rested. I did not worry about speed at all, just head relaxing and lowering. I walked gently with her as we backed so this was not true YoYo game just backing practise.
We also did some 3 track work on the circle at walk to get those hind quarters working better. This was accomplished easily but we need to work on quality.
It was great fun to be able to play again without worrying about her soundness.
Now as a record of her foot progress here are some before and after photos of her front feet. The first one of each set is the 25th July 2014 just out of shoes and the 2nd one was 2nd December 2014
I'm sure the farrier was acting with the best intentions, though his stable side manner left a bit to be desired. Even though we were fairly convinced Filly was ok we took his concerns seriously and I had both a barefoot trimmer and a vet come out and check Filly over.
The trimmer thought she was doing pretty well fer her stage of rehab. The vet suggested she needed a small amount taking off the inside edge of her hind feet and maybe the toes, but the fronts were doing well.
Neither thought that the RSPCA were even remotely called for.
The ups and downs have been days when Filly was remarkably sound, followed by days of footiness. This has been a ratchett type of affair. Her bad days are now better than her old good days. For example a few evening ago she was lame at trot and canter in the school on both reins. On Saturday we had the osteo visit and she pretty good at all gaits but canter on right lead. This is odd as until recently left lead canter was worst. Like I said, ups and downs.
And then yesterday I played with Filly in the cold evening and she was very sound at walk and trot on both reins. The osteo had said that we need to build up her muscles again by doing lateral work and trotting poles.
We revisited basic sideways game along the fence looking for impulsion and relaxation. On the first traverse she stuck her head over the top rail of the fence and continued with her head up in the air as a result. On the second traverse she sorted herself out by stepping back from the fence a bit and did a nice sideways.
I set up a pattern of sideways along the fence stopping when the relaxation and impulsion were better than the last one. Then half circle around me and back into the fence to go the other way.
I also did a fair bit of work on the backup. Filly had always tended to raise her head for this which mean she did not engage her hind quarters. Yesterday I backed her with the driving game from in front of zone 1. I was looking for any sign of the head lowering. When it did we stopped and rested. I did not worry about speed at all, just head relaxing and lowering. I walked gently with her as we backed so this was not true YoYo game just backing practise.
We also did some 3 track work on the circle at walk to get those hind quarters working better. This was accomplished easily but we need to work on quality.
It was great fun to be able to play again without worrying about her soundness.
Now as a record of her foot progress here are some before and after photos of her front feet. The first one of each set is the 25th July 2014 just out of shoes and the 2nd one was 2nd December 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment