A Lameness Rant

OK I know it's been a while since the last post, but it's not entirely my fault. There was a good week in there where I was pretty busy and only rode JJ twice. Then towards the beginning of June I noticed JJ's feet were beginning to crumble and his front shoes were a bit loose (Note: he was shod May 1st). I lunged him and saw that he was somewhat sore on the front right - the foot crumbling most. The next day he seemed a little better, and since he had only been ridden twice in the week leading up to this point I knew I needed to get on while I had a chance and get some of his energy out, so I did. It was EXHAUSTING. And, at the end of the ride, he threw that right front shoe. That was on Tuesday, June 3rd... And so starts the shoe saga:

Sue called the farrier immediately but he said he couldn't get out until June 11th. UGH. Oh well, JJ's foot was fine, really, just sore from being barefoot on rocky terrain. I didn't ride him the rest of that week but secretly hoped a few days of getting used to walking barefoot would make him more comfortable. No such luck. On Thursday I tried out a booty on his foot to try and protect it from rocks. By Friday he had thrown that booty off too.

It was also Friday that I noticed he had wrenched his back right shoe only halfway off - very problematic. These shoes have little triangular "clips" that fold up over the front of the hoof to help keep the shoe on (haha). So when the shoe twisted half off of his foot, that sticking up triangular clip gouged out a nice hole in the bottom of his foot. The result: a dead lame horse and a very upset me.

I soaked his foot and packed it on Friday, then continued to soak it Saturday and Sunday. JJ was on stall rest all weekend, which he hated. I managed to get another farrier out Monday morning (THANK YOU!!!). He fixed up JJ's feet but warned me that he thought JJ might have a stifle injury on the right side, contributing to his lameness. Well crap.

And, to add to all of this fun, Mike and I are currently in the process of moving to MA. So Mike and I will leave at the end of this week but JJ will be in NY until the 21st. The vet will be out next week to check out his limbs, and by the time he shows up in MA he will have had a good three weeks off. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there's nothing wrong with his stifle (essentially the knee of the horse), and that as soon as he moves into his summer home I will be able to get him back into work. I have goals of a schooling show in the fall!!!

P.S. I'll add pictures later - no time now.