Little More and I rode around the Oak pasture this morning. When I mounted Saturday and today Little More seemed unsteady. Saturday he was so unsteady I jumped off. I have had a horse do that before that became unsteady when I mounted and actually fell. It seems like the same thing that happens on some horses when you first tighten the girth. They seem to loose control and fall backwards. The horses I have noticed it on were either new to the saddle or either had not worn a saddle for a long time. I got back on Saturday and made a short ride. Today he was not so unsteady and was able to move off. Little More seemed a little off today and Saturday. I trimmed his feet Saturday before the ride and he might be tender-footed. I am taking short rides until I feel that he is 100% and able to do more. I never have ridden him enough for him to feel comfortable trail riding away from known territory. I rode him for about a month in the spring of 2010 before I noticed the lameness in his off hind when trotting. He did show me that he was a horse I wanted to ride.
My farrier, Dale Moody, came yesterday. We put new shoes on Magic and trimmed 4 others. Magic was very difficult to shoe. He pulls his foot away, usually at just the wrong time. Dale has been very good to show patience. Dale has kept his cool but it is very easy for a farrier to loose his temper when a horse acts like that. It is dangerous. We have expected Magic’s behavior to improve with time but that has not happened. Dale has shod horses for me for 35 years and we’ve never had a horse give us this much trouble. Lots of green horses too. I tell Dale Magic is a good horse in other respects. Dale says that is kind of like “Well, other that that, Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?” I need to look into tranquilizers or something else.
However, the result of the shoeing has shown dramatic improvement. Magic was not able to keep shoes on for much more than 4 weeks at first. When he was barefoot, he was tender-footed and got stone bruises. He often limped for a week after shoeing. He kept the last shoes on for a long time and walked perfectly this morning. Thanks to this blog, I can produce this chart of his shoeing:
Shod Removed / lost Duration
02/21/2011 04/19/2011 8 wks 1 day
04/28/2011 06/04/2011 5 wks 2 days Quicked/Abscess
06/07/2011 07/26/2011 7 wks Started with stone bruise, OK in 2 weeks, OK until end
07/26/2011 10/03/2011 9 wks 6 days Gimpy one week, OK till next