Riding on Concrete

 Since the lesson a few weekends ago, I haven't done a ton of riding. This is the first fall since I moved down here that we're not already in the heart of mud season, which means that our grass is dead and the ground is effectively concrete. 

The front field is just as hard as the jump field where there are lights for night riding, but at least the front field in daylight has more grass and better views! 

I've been riding Goose a little but have totally scaled back on what we'd been doing to accommodate my lack of motivation for riding in the dark the ground, with a main focus on walk work. Poles, shoulder in, haunches in, getting him to move his hind end independently of his front, and working on some circles to push his hind end underneath him at the walk as we worked on in our lesson. We have a focus on movement, not necessarily correct movement so just cementing ideas that yes sir, you CAN move your ass when I ask you, thankyouverymuch.

Things have been going... okay. One of my biggest issues is that after a lesson I get so gung ho about working on things, I tend to forget to let the horse have fun. For months this summer we worked bareback and the horse was strong and more through and happier. Cue when I ride exclusively in my saddle and demand regular real work, we have a grumpy Goose. It has nothing to do with saddle fit and everything to do with him wanting to have fun (aka ten minutes of bareback work and lots of walking and snacking), and also him riding completely off my seat so bareback naturally makes things a little easier. 

Last week I rode on Wednesday evening under the lights. The ground was really hard, but I wanted to have a little fun so we did maybe five minutes of light trotting and cantering. And then I thought he took a few funny steps so we walked, trotted again and oh shit yup he's off. I made sure he was cool and fine walking (he was sound walking) and hopped off. No heat, swelling, or any indication of why he'd be off, but it was his left front again. 

I'm pretty sure I have the ground to blame, plus a 1400 pound horse who turns 18 in March. Tammy, the woman leasing him one day a week, walk rode him on Thursday and he was 100% fine but Alyson's horse, Pari, seems to be going through the same thing Goose is. Sigh. Sometimes I really wish we had an arena with decent footing. 

Excuse me NO I simply cannot move my hind end independently of the rest of my long body. To get out of doing this, I will be slightly lame and laugh while you panic. 

I have a couple ideas in my mind about how to manage this, starting with scaling back work completely. I can't not sit on him (unless he well and truly needs time off for lameness) because he's going to blow up like a balloon on the roundbale, and I want him to keep some tiny semblance of fitness. He also is happier in work and becomes feral with too much time off. So I'm going back to my bareback plan. We can still do walk poles and low-concussion walk work even when the ground is a bit hard, but we're backing off on anything further until A. he feels 100% at the trot and B. we can do more if we actually get some rain. 

My next plan of attack was to chat with my farrier. D is one of my favorite people. He's young, but grew up shoeing horses with his dad and literally goes and wins national farrier competitions throughout the year, I feel like every time I see him he's been to some other state winning all the things. He's gentle with the horses and always tells me how much he loves Goose so naturally we adore him. He came out yesterday, and we discussed my options. 

The original plan for December was to pull his front shoes completely so he'd be barefoot all around for the winter. This is what I typically do every year and Goose has the right kind of feet for this plan, but usually the ground is mud by November so we're looking at different circumstances right now. He agreed keeping shoes on is a good idea, and said if his winters are light he doesn't think pads are worth considering at this moment, but we'll keep the idea in our back pocket. 

He was trying to mug me for treats while I took photos post-farrier in the fields, so forgive the quality. 

LF. Again, shit photo but really pleased with his feet. I cannot believe how dry it is, gotta get some more moisture in these toes. 

RF. Really happy with this one too. 

D has a great way of walking me through what he's doing without treating me like I'm an idiot. I have a lot of knowledge and know what a good foot looks like, but I'd never pretend to be at a farrier's level, and love learning from them. He hoof tested the crap out of both fronts with no reaction, so we ruled out any potential abscesses for now. He told me he wanted to leave the hoof wall a little longer this time, NOT the toe but the hoof wall, and put a thicker shoe on to give him more support. Goose basically fell asleep while getting his pedicure, and we all ended up really happy with the way his feet look in the end. I'm so thankful for a farrier I can actually have a conversation with and who takes my concerns seriously and actively aids in solving a problem. If you're reading this like, yeah isn't that what all farriers do? HA. Nope, I've had some bad experiences with farriers and finding a good one is like finding a needle in a haystack. 

Watching D make these shoes from a steel bar is so cool, he shapes them himself for Goose. These are particularly thick, which is what I'm trying and failing to display here. 

Goose's new industrial shoes. Fingers crossed they help! 

As for the lameness, we'll see how it goes. There isn't any heat or swelling so I'm thinking there's nothing truly nefarious going on, but will be watching closely. He was barely off, so I'm genuinely being a bit dramatic here but I'd prefer to be proactive than reactive. I think it's the hard ground being tough on his joints and soft tissue, and if the issue persists we'll get the vet out for further diagnostics. If we get to the spring just fine, I'll have a general lameness exam done on him so we have baseline flexions and maybe consider injections or Adequan, pending vet's suggestions after the results. He's never had maintenance, is a fairly low-mileage horse, but he's turning 18 and it might be time to oil the gears a bit. 

In the meantime, I'm trying to enjoy my last handful of barn visits before I head north for the holidays. Feeling very lucky he has Tammy to keep an eye on him for a few weeks while I'm gone! I know he will be spoiled rotten.