Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Prepping

So yea, I'm a little bummed because I won't have riding time before the clinic this weekend...

But, I'm still up for it. After all, I'm taking broke horses, that have working experience. It won't be a total wreck.

In preparation though, I organized all of my tack in the horse trailer, made sure I have everything I need, put in a couple of new bags of shavings and just have to pick up a square bale of hay to take with. I also scheduled a trip to the farrier,

Spooks...
Is scheduled to have his shoes pulled on Thursday. We are going to go back to barefoot and see how he does now that all of the bruising and almost all of his flare is gone. He has some heel on his hind feet again, so we shouldn't run into problems there.

Turk...
Is also scheduled to be re-shod on his front (although he is not going to the cutting clinic...he's just due). The last time I had him re-set, his feet had improved enough to move him out of the bar shoe that was on his injured foot into matching regular shoes. I don't think that worked for him. I don't know if it is because of the frozen ground or the lack of the heel support the bar shoes gives, but I noticed Turk is back to 'bobbling' at the trot.

It was worth a shot to see if he could travel sound in regular shoes, but I suspect that they just do not provide enough support for his floating heel bulb. It matters naught to me what kind of shoe the horse needs to wear, as long as we can keep him sound.

In fact, Turk's injured foot is of less concern to me than his uninjured foot is. That is the one that took the brunt of supporting Turk as he avoided putting too much weight on his injured foot. When we first started shoeing Turk, that is the one that was spread out like a pancake and I had also notice Turk popping a knot in that knee. There has been some improvement, but there is still quite a bit of flare on the inside of that hoof, not enough heel and I have noticed that he seems to stub his toe on that foot quite frequently.

We'll have to see what the farrier comes up with.

11 comments:

Vaquerogirl said...

Too bad about Turks foot- but it is to be expected I guess.
Enjoy the clinic! I can't wait to hear all about it!

Sherry Sikstrom said...

HAve fun at the clinic.I like your attitude"broke is broke" Expect it to go well, and it likely will

Crystal said...

Just catching up here again. Thanks for the award, I will get it posted eventually. The cutting clinic sounds fun, i have been doing that lately and I am loving it.

Rising Rainbow said...

Packing works, if you can't ride. At least it's clinic related. That would soothe me some. LOL

I thought bar shoes were about more heel support. I wonder if we are talking about the same kind of shoe??

I'll be thinking of you all weekend and your clinic. Sure wish I was closer so I could at least watch. Sometimes I feel like I might as well live in Alaska for how far I am away from the things I am most interested in.

We do have reining trainers here and a few cutters but most of what I've seen is not the style of training that Arabians will tolerate. You must teach them, not force them. Spurs and jerks just don't work so I guess until I find someone around who rides like that, I'll just keep wishing I lived someplace else.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

We're talking the same shoe MiKael. It took me a minute to figure out what you meant by 'I thought bar shoes were about more heel support'. They are. My sentence about heel support was poorly worded. Turk is in a regular shoe and they lack the same support that bar shoes give, which is why I think he is having problems again. His floating heel needs the additional support that a bar shoe gives and I think his uninjured foot also needs more support than a regular shoe provides as well. I'll have a full post with pics tomorrow.

Yea fern, Moon and Spooks may lack the finesse of a horse that has had cutting training, but they've worked plenty of cattle, we'll fumble our way through and I know they are solid enough that it will be a fun and learning experience. I'm really excited to see what the Spooks is going to be like. From what I have heard, he has a lot of 'cow' to him, I just haven't had the opportunity to test that out myself.

Cut-N-Jump said...

BEC's Good on ya to keep an eye on the good foot. Too often they go unnoticed because that one isn't the problem. Then BAM! They are the bad one because they have been bearing the weight because of the pain in the 'bad' foot.

Compensatory laminitis is what got my one mare. She compensated on the good foot because of the bad one and next thing ya know... they both hurt and down she went.

Good luck at the clinic! Sometimes the horses in someones back yard, turns out to be the one turning all the heads. They haven't been ruined like some of the others.

MiKael- I will ask hubby if there are any trainers worth looking into in your area. Last year at Scottsdale though- even the cows were embarrassed. PNW right?

in2paints said...

I was a little confused about the hoof thing too, but I'm tracking now. I'm still keeping an eye on my mare to see how she's doing in her bar shoes. Being able to ride her at more than a walk would help, but I'm trying to be good. :)

Have fun at the clinic! I can't wait to hear how it goes. I'm sure the horses will do wonderfully!

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Yea-LOL-I definitely didn't have enough coffee in me this morning. Coherency Fail!

cdncowgirl said...

I think the reason I 'got' it the first time I read it is that I remembered Turk's feet issues so I just re-arranged it to make sense lol

So is anyone coming along to take pics/vids?

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Nope, just me going Lisa. It sounds like there is only going to be 6 of us, so hopefully I can get someone else there to take a few pics and maybe a bit of video.

SunnySD said...

Wanted to say MANY THANKS!!! for posting the stuffed jalapeno recipe - I made them Sunday for a Super Bowl gathering, and they disappeared fast!. A definite hit here, too!

Hope the clinic is fun and productive - haven't even sat on my boy this year yet, but finger's crossed the farrier is coming Sunday (it's supposed to be in the 30's! at long last) and I'm hoping to get a ride in after.