- Filling is gone (Filling is normal in her fronts, but will dissapear within 24 hours. If it stays longer, it is abnormal)
- Farley moves out at a canter/gallop/trot on her own at liberty without prompting during turnout.
- I can't see any lameness or uneveness in her gait. (this has been true since Monday morning, the morning after the last ride)
- Although initially I thought that it was the same as American River, I'm now more inclined to say that the uneveness I saw during day 3 after the first loop was due to going barefoot after a week in a glueon.....
Farley is a very honest horse. Some might even say "a wimp". I don't mind. Based on history and what she was exhibiting, I think that the issue was probably related more to going without a boot for a rocky 20 miles, and then going in a strap on on that foot for the next 30 miles, then any soft tissue damage.
Normally, with any sort of lameness issues at Wild West, I would not do Tevis, however I don't think her uneveness was a true lameness that should cause trouble at Tevis, so I'm inclined to do Tevis.
After finishing the first loop and putting a strapon on her RF, I did 14 miles of trotting down hill on a hardpacked road, with no change in her way of going. I think if I did have a brewing problem something would have shown up by the end of that ride. And since she shows EVERY THING no matter how small the discomfort, I can trust her.
So, I think with careful observation and a vet evaluation between now and then, I'm comfortable asking her to do Tevis, especially because I think Tevis is easy than the crap (mud, snow, rocks, knee deep slick puddles) I had to go through at Wild West.
The plan is to hack her lightly today if she feels like it (at a walk, and if she picks up a trot on her own, note it and then bring her back to a walk), some light walk/trot stretchy dressage tomorrow, then another week off (I'll be in Alabama). Then a vet check of her RF (follow up from ultrasounds I had taken after American river to confirm that everything still looks OK). She'll have about 2 weeks total of easy work/off.
Of course, if the vet or I sees ANYTHING that makes us suspect this is a "true" lameness then I'll be asking for my Tevis refund and it will be Tevis in 2011.
And now the waiting begins.
Hope to see you there! Pondering this from previous post:
ReplyDelete"I think I especially like that in a boot I have superior protection from trail "stuff", but if I lose a boot, it's not the end of the world because my barefoot-conditioned horse can *probably* handle the footing until I can get a boot back on again."
I am not a fan of pads, and ponder boots all the time, because if you DO lose a boot, or a shoe with pad, is the horses sole truely in condition to deal with going down the trail suddenly unprotected? My gut says, unless you are really conditioning the feet (and sole) to deal with crappy footing without protection, if you suddenly lose that protection, is the chance of a bruise or making the horse sore higher? Ideally, if a shoe with pad, or boot is lost, one notices quick, and has along a boot to put over the hoof to continue to protect it.
Not a right or wrong way, as we all make choices for our horses that we feel is best, but I really try to NOT pad my shod horse, so he is conditioned to dealing with different footing
Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI'm mailing my entry tomorrow.
txtrigger - I think what you are saying is true *if* you always ride in a boot. Farley's feet are coming along so nicely, nowdays I only ride with boots during the actual rides. (or if I'm trying something new out on the boots). As a result, if we loose a boot at a ride, in *most* cases she does perfectly fine until I can get anotehr boot on or I finish.
ReplyDeleteI think it definately matters what kind of boots though. When I used strap ons at American river and had issues, I rode many many miles with barefoot and even cantered the last 5 miles in partially barefoot with no ill effects. After glueing on boots for wild west (6 days in the boots total in rain and mud) she's definately tenderfooted and now I'm almost positive that was the source of her uneveness at the end of the third day. Yet one more reason to try and get the strap ons to work most of the time.
I think the difference is simple. A real barefoot horse is going to be sound barefoot. A barefoot horse that needs boots to be sound is no different than a shod horse - it requires hoof protection.
ReplyDeleteHow I feel about translating that to my own horses is that I want mine to be truly 'barefoot sound' even if I do choose when to use boots or not use boots. I don't want a barefoot horse that can only be ridden 100% of the time with hoof protection.
It's okay for people to have different opinions. I'm just glad that my horses are okay being worked and ridden without needing hoof protection all of the time.