The farrier came today to do Luke's feet. Luke's feet have a bit of a history. When I got him just exactly a year ago, he had been barefoot all his life as far as anyone knew. Luke started his riding career as an Eventer down in KY. He was purchased by a stable here in Maine and was put in their lesson program. He was there for I think about a year and just didn't quite work out due to his size. He's a big boy for kids to ride. So, his present owner purchased him and trained him for Western Pleasure. Kyle had Luke 3 years when I started leasing him a year ago and I have been conditioning him and using him for CTR and will do an endurance ride with him at the end of this month. Ok, that's Luke's history as I know it and none of his previous careers have required he have shoes.
When Kyle got Luke, he had thrush and has had a chronic problem with it. And he still had it when I got him despite Kyle's efforts to get rid of it. I started riding Luke barefoot and he seemed fine until he got his first trim and then he got "ouchie" over rocky ground. Luke was absolutely not trimmed too short but his frogs were very tender from being thrushy for so long. And his frogs were very deep and contracted. So, I put shoes on him. The shoes made him sound to ride as it got his frogs off the ground far enough. Though I knew it was likely not the best things for his frogs in the long run, I kept the shoes on him for the riding season and I went to work treating his thrush problem as aggressively as I could. I was pleased that despite having shoes on, his two right feet cleared up by the end of the summer and his frogs in those two feet developed and got much larger and healthier looking. His left rear improved slightly and his left front stayed about the same. In late fall I had his shoes pulled and continued to ride him barefoot. He seemed fine so this was a good sign that his frogs were no longer painful. I continued treating him through the winter and is two right feet remained clear but his two left feet remained a little thrushy. Especially is left front. I kept riding him barefoot as he continued to do fine and this spring went right to really conditioning him for his first CTR's. He remained completely sound barefoot and there was suddenly definitely improvement in his left feet. When it came close to his first CTR in May, I was unsure what to do. I had him entered in 3 CTR's in Maine. So, if he completed all the rides I entered (And he did) we'd be doing 105 miles of competition in 4 weeks not to mention any riding between competitions. I really didn't dare to try this barefoot though he was going great. And I really hated to put shoes on him because he was going so great. I really wanted to try getting him fitted for hoof boots but was not sure how long I was going to have him as my lease on him officially ran out June 1st. After much thought, I finally decided to just put shoes on him. When my farrier came out to put the shoes on Luke, he lost his left front frog! ACK! I'd never seen such a thing. But, Luke was not sore and didn't seem bothered in any way by this and his hoof was looking much better as far as any thrush being in there. He was not clear but he was close. I did my rides and all went well. But I truthfully felt he was moving better when he was barefoot. I really wanted to take Luke's shoes back off. Kyle has given me the ok to enter Luke in a 50 mile endurance ride June 22nd. Again, I don't quite dare to try that barefoot. But, I did have Luke's shoes pulled and I am going to try to get him fitted into some boots. I like the Renegade boots but they are so expensive. Not worth the investment if I don't have Luke much longer. So, I've ordered a fit kit from the Easyboot company to see if one of their boot models looks like a good fit. They are harder boots to put on as a rule but work well if they fit. I've been using Easyboots on my Mare for years.
Anyway, I am celebrating because when Scott came and pulled Luke's shoes, he declared him to be thrush free!!! YEAH!!! I'm not going to let my guard down and will continue to treat Luke's feet on a maintenance basis just because he has a history of a chronic problem with it. But, I'm still going to celebrate this victory at this moment.
By the time my farrier left, I had measured Luke's feet, called the Easyboot company and ordered the fit kit, it was after noon. And it was HOT. In the 90's! UGH. I would not survive living in the south. I decided to ride despite the heat because I wanted to see how Luke's feet felt with a new trim and I wanted to see how he handled the hot weather. After all, it might be very hot at the endurance ride and I need to know how he is with working in heat. I was going to take it easy today so decided to pony my mare along also. She needed the exercise and would appreciate not being left behind. Luke is a very good boy to pony from. He has no issues with the pony rope being all over him. I've used Marie to pony many times. But, she has not often been ponied. The problem with Marie is she is LAZY if she thinks she can get away with it and has a very slow walk. And she's very dedicated to trail maintenance. I would be tricky keeping her from hauling me out of the saddle in her efforts to defoliate the entire forest as we rode through it. I had put a rope halter on her last time I ponied her and that didn't really have much effect on her. So, today I used her regular web halter but put a stud chain under her chin. I don't want to be harsh but she CAN keep up and she does not need to eat the entire forest. We started out and she was not very pleased about the chain under her chin. After a little fussing about it, she set back on it hard twice but I was able to hold on to her. After the 2nd time, she decided he could indeed keep up with Luke and settled for only eating what conviently presented itself right in front of her face. And we then had a very nice ride. I went on the trails behind my house. Nice wooded area so we could keep to the shade on such a hot day. At one point we were mosying along down the trail, I was just gazing around enjoying how pretty it was out in the woods when I feel a slight pressure on my chest and hear a faint "twang" as something breaks. I knew right away we'd just ridden through a spider web. I quickly looked down and sure enough, there was a spider sitting on my chest! AGH! Now, he was not as big as the feeling of his web indicated he might be. But, when they take you by surprise and are sitting on your chest, they are all big!!! Now, I had Luke's reins in one hand and Marie's lead rope in the other and the spider starts moving UP! I lost it. I screeched, did a bit of a dance in the saddle while beating the heck out of my chest. I didn't leg go of either the reins or the lead rope so I'm sure I yanked on both of them. Good ponies they are though they both just kept mosying down the trail like nothing was happening. I came out on the Academy road and decided to ride up past the alpaca farm and go back into the wood for the rest of the way home. I only had to go about 1/2 mile on pavement but boy of boy was it hot in the open on the pavement. We had a very pleasant and uneventful ride back home. No more spider attacks. Marie worked up quite a sweat but Luke barely broke a sweat at all. He didn't seem to be at all bothered by the heat. I hosed them both down when I got home. It was a nice ride, just me and two good equines.
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