This week started out great, with a good, productive ride and a longe-line session in which Prince has finally started to offer to carry a left bend from back to front. Up to now, he has tended to tip his nose to the outside, jut his jaw in and lean on his forehand, especially in small circles. I have continued to use a combination of hands-on release work along with longeing on a short line, a longer line and at liberty with and without poles to help him learn to choose a different posture in a left circle. He's pretty balanced and light to the right, but on the line he gets heavy and fussy and is more prone to rushing, especially at the canter. This week, after one session in which he pulled on me quite a bit working on a longe line over a single pole, he finally seemed to get the idea that he can balance to the left as well as the right. Yea!

That was about all the progress we made, though, because by the end of the week Prince was sore-footed. He has been a bit sore off and on through the monsoon season, moreso when the ground has been wet for a few days and more in the area between barn and arenas than in the work areas. It hasn't posed much of a problem, because the footing in both round pen and arena are good and simply putting on a protective boot during work has been a consistent solution. This week, however, he was off on the left fore even in the boot. The question, of course, is "why?" He was trimmed a couple weeks ago, so that's not the issue. He did get more turnout time last week than usual, and he does run and spin and buck and have a good time, so he may have just overdone and bruised himself. I also suspect this has to do with the fact that the deepest of the rings that likely mark his founder have finally grown nearly to the bottom of his foot. I have been watching this because I know that ring is a weak point, and the hoof may break off at that point. If the break had happened when the ring was still fairly high up, he'd be very sore for some time. It's still a bit higher than I'd like to see break, but I don't think it would cause a big problem at this point.

I recently had a talk with Jason, the farrier, about the shape of Prince's feet. They have tended to break off at the outside toe and the front of the quarter, making the foot look like Prince toes in and sending the breakover point of the foot way to the outside. The frogs, however, run pretty straight from heel to toe, so I would expect the structure of the hoof to align with that. Remember, these hooves have been through a lot in the past year, including a full-blown founder and the associated changes to posture and movement. Now I'm completely "remodeling" the way Prince moves, intending him to return him to his natural balance and ease. His body is coming along nicely, from a soft tissue standpoint. I just don't think his feet have been able to keep up with the biomechanical changes. Though it has been good for Prince to be barefoot during his recovery, Jason suggested it might be time to consider putting on a light shoe for a couple shoeing cycles to help provide support to those areas that are breaking off and give him a chance to find a different breakover point. Just one more very interesting element to this rehab - how all the parts work together and how change to one must be followed by a whole cascade of large and small changes throughout the body.

Week 14, 15 - October 2007

Feet have continued to be an issue for these two weeks, with varying degrees of soreness especially in the left fore. Prince was sore enough even in a boot to be mildly lame a couple days. I suspect he overdid in turnout, where he loves to stretch out and run the long straightaways and then spin in a corner and spring away for another run. He's more uncomfortable on the hard surfaces outside the arenas, where there is just enough gravel to give him trouble.

That doesn't mean he hasn't been continuing to work and learn, however. The barn has a lovely mesquite "forest" area, with a couple of nice riding trails winding through. The footing is a mixture of sand and wood grindings, so nice and soft. It's a great place for groundwork and to get horses who primarily work in a fenced area - arena, racetrack, etc. - to gain some confidence in the wide open spaces. Prince continues to show himself to be a generally level-headed guy. He looks intently at new things and may shy once at something new, but then he stops and looks for a bit and then relaxes and goes back to work. One of the neighbors has a pretty interesting junk pile along one edge of the mesquites, and he barely looked at all the outlandish items piled there.

The groundwork review time seems to have paid off to some extent by helping Prince continue to improve his ability to bend and carry a circle to the left. He's doing a better job of  holding bend through transitions from walk to trot and back down. The sticking point (literally!) seems to be at the throatlatch, especially to the left. To the right, he naturally releases at the poll and shoulder and lifts up into the gait; to the left, he wants to jut his cheek a bit to the inside, which means his shoulder falls in and he can't bend properly through the ribcage.

I address this with a combination of groundwork - the release exercises described in the new article I posted on how to prepare horses to longe in good posture - and careful contact and connection on the longe line. By keeping an elastic connection with Prince, I can help him move laterally in or out on the circle, stepping in a bit more with his outside foreleg when he starts to fall out on his shoulder or pushing a bit more with his inside hind when he starts to fall in.

Week 16

Front shoes fpr Prince this week, and from the first day it seems to have made a positive difference. I know, I know ... all the barefoot-only fans are cringing now and running through their minds all the reasons not to put shoes on a horse. And I don't disagree with them when their reasons are based on knowledge of anatomy and physiology and the best interest of the horse. I do, however, also know from experience that some horses can go barefoot and some just don't seem to adapt, no matter the amount of time and care taken in the transition. Of the two horses I own, one has been barefoot all his life and I fully intend to keep him that way as long as he remains comfortable. He is not ridden at this point in his life and does just fine on all kinds of footing. My other horse has worn front shoes most of the time I have owned him (10 years) and all of our time in Arizona. In Colorado he could go barefoot in the winter, when he was ridden lightly in an indoor arena with powder-soft footing. He stayed barefoot until summer fly-stomping started to shred his thin walls, which no amount of hoof supplement, holistic treatment or topical application has ever been able to change.

It is very nice to see Prince able to walk comfortably everywhere on the property, instead of having difficulty in all the areas outside arenas. The ground is hard and there is just enough gravel for him to step often on random rocks, so he always walked rather gingerly in those areas. With his shoes, he strides out confidently and happily and has been able to go places on the property and nearby desert and wash that he couldn't go before. He's a big busybody, so that's great fun for him - he loves to explore!

The most surprising to me is the quick change to the quality of the muscles in Prince's entire body, but especially over his topline. On palpation, his back and hip muscles are noticeably softer than they have been. The photos at left were taken six days apart, the lower one after shoes and the top one before. I compared them at first just to confirm that I wasn't imagining him looking softer and more supple. I also consulted a fellow bodyworker, who concurred with me. And in the days following, several random folks at the barn who have no involvement with Prince's training program have remarked how good he is looking. Yea!

So, it's back to work for Prince, learning to balance and carry himself in a variety of situations. Carrying through the past weeks' groundwork focus on holding a circle to the left, we're working on the longe line now to maintain bend from back to front and impulsion all at the same time. He manages very well to the right at walk and trot and can hold about half a canter circle. The other half of the circle is a fast, unbalanced run with the hind legs working almost as one unit in a kind of rabbit hop. Not pretty, but a common phase horses go through as they're learning. To the left we're still working on holding a whole circle, and the canter is even less organized, though he is managing to string together a few strides that are relatively soft and organized. Good progress, and I expect great strides (ha, ha!) in the next few weeks. I'll be putting Prince back under saddle and carrying on with our interrupted progression of training.