Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2009 21:35:00 GMT 1
The moral of the story... if when you buy a horse from a dealer, it has mismatching and hastily put on shoes, ask yourself why...
The totally beautiful Blossom was bought by owner Barbara just a few months ago through a well known dealer. She's a sweet girl, very beautiful head and stunning eyes, and for the most part is a good safe ride and not too many handling problems. However, when the yard farrier met her, a different side to Blossom was revealed.
Basic leg handling was fine. However, as soon as she felt the first tap on her foot with a hammer, she was off. She is terrified of that tapping on her foot. The farrier now has to twitch her just to trim her (she can't be shod) and is asking that she be sedated. Wisely, Barbara thought there might be another solution.
After a little leading and explaining to Blossom that I was not a door to walk through if she felt like carrying on when I stopped (leading could be improved!), and teaching her how to release herself from pressure and, in particular, back up, I started work assessing Blossom's leg handling. The initial stroking got very little reaction, which was good, and when you ask her to bend her knee forwards she will, but with reluctance. She will then stand with her foot relaxed in your hand and let you pick her foot out. Even the first little taps with a hoof pick got little reaction. However, as I increased the strength of tapping, her head shot up and her stress started. So, as Barbara had said, her basic leg handling isn't bad but she does not like having her foot hit. She does not like it one little bit.
To me, this looked like pain. I picked her feet out and consistently she has very deep central sulcus (or what is the plural of that?), full of thrush. Her worst feet for handling are the worst for infection. The near fore has a flap of frog over the central sulcus and underneath is just oozy and black. Not very nice.
I showed Barbara how to work with Blossom's legs but have strongly suggested that she address this basic problem first. I think Barbara is considering not having shoes put back on anyway, but even so it would be good to put this to bed. However, if Blossom's feet are painful with the thrush, the best training in the world won't help her find having shoes hammered on anything but nasty.
So a fairly straightfoward case of listening to the horse when she says "ouch", I think.
Why, then, you may be asking, am I writing this up here? So I can show you her photos, of course! Isn't she just beeeeooootiful?
(By the way, yes, my line is on the floor. It is essential for me that a horse makes the choice to stand still. After a short while she had relaxed enough to just stand there, ground tied. The benefits of working in a good, safe school... When starting with the hinds, though, I needed to have control, just in case she did kick.)
The totally beautiful Blossom was bought by owner Barbara just a few months ago through a well known dealer. She's a sweet girl, very beautiful head and stunning eyes, and for the most part is a good safe ride and not too many handling problems. However, when the yard farrier met her, a different side to Blossom was revealed.
Basic leg handling was fine. However, as soon as she felt the first tap on her foot with a hammer, she was off. She is terrified of that tapping on her foot. The farrier now has to twitch her just to trim her (she can't be shod) and is asking that she be sedated. Wisely, Barbara thought there might be another solution.
After a little leading and explaining to Blossom that I was not a door to walk through if she felt like carrying on when I stopped (leading could be improved!), and teaching her how to release herself from pressure and, in particular, back up, I started work assessing Blossom's leg handling. The initial stroking got very little reaction, which was good, and when you ask her to bend her knee forwards she will, but with reluctance. She will then stand with her foot relaxed in your hand and let you pick her foot out. Even the first little taps with a hoof pick got little reaction. However, as I increased the strength of tapping, her head shot up and her stress started. So, as Barbara had said, her basic leg handling isn't bad but she does not like having her foot hit. She does not like it one little bit.
To me, this looked like pain. I picked her feet out and consistently she has very deep central sulcus (or what is the plural of that?), full of thrush. Her worst feet for handling are the worst for infection. The near fore has a flap of frog over the central sulcus and underneath is just oozy and black. Not very nice.
I showed Barbara how to work with Blossom's legs but have strongly suggested that she address this basic problem first. I think Barbara is considering not having shoes put back on anyway, but even so it would be good to put this to bed. However, if Blossom's feet are painful with the thrush, the best training in the world won't help her find having shoes hammered on anything but nasty.
So a fairly straightfoward case of listening to the horse when she says "ouch", I think.
Why, then, you may be asking, am I writing this up here? So I can show you her photos, of course! Isn't she just beeeeooootiful?
(By the way, yes, my line is on the floor. It is essential for me that a horse makes the choice to stand still. After a short while she had relaxed enough to just stand there, ground tied. The benefits of working in a good, safe school... When starting with the hinds, though, I needed to have control, just in case she did kick.)