ᴀ;; Lame Pony and Eventful Ride

Hey guys!

So yesterday I found out my loan pony, Jemma, has gone lame from all of the mud in the field [not mud fever]. The frogs in her two front feet have almost completely fallen out! There's only a tiny bit of them left. The farrier isn't able to come out any earlier so I have to wait three weeks for her to get her front shoes back on [they were taken off just before winter] and a week after that to give her a chance to get better.

Nevertheless, some of the horses needed exercise so I offered to ride a horse called Domino. I do not regret it, but I wish I had a bit more control.. xD

It started off okay, but he wouldn't get his head out of the hedge. Thanks to him, I have sore legs, a sore back, sore arms and blistered hands. xD

He managed to climb on top of a hedge, almost rip my hands off, climb onto a tiny curb [less than half a metre wide between a drop and a huge wall!] and jump into someone's garden and almost walk into the river going through it.

I guess you could say he's a little bit special.. xD

Has anyone else had an eventful ride recently? Or ever? The horses at my stables make almost every ride one to remember aha.

Video of some of it

Last edited on 2016-03-06 at 07:20:01 by ᴀᴜᴛᴜᴍɴ;;

Who goes out to check your pons on the daily?

The hoof issues with the mare sound like advanced thrush to me, but I'm not a professional. If the frog is rotting out of the hoof, I wouldn't wait three weeks for a farrier. I'd get a vet out as soon as able, or there is a probable risk of permanent lameness.

Horses should be physically checked for anything wrong (cuts, scratches, hoof problems, etc.) at least once daily. Apparently even some "professionals" fail to do it, such as the old barn I boarded at prior. Despite our board agreement nobody there even glanced at my horse, let alone perform any agreed-upon maintenance. By the time I got him out he was covered in rain rot, was wormy, had a case of mild thrush, and was developing white line disease. Daily checks are SO important.

I don't know if there's a policy for that at your stables. If so, someone isn't doing there job, and if not they need to start.


On a funnier note, my only real eventful ride ever was when I was considering loaning a little chestnut mare named Holly at my old riding stables. I first rode her in one of my weekly lessons, then my instructor suggested that instead of my usual lesson horse, I ride Holly in the upcoming schooling show. I kept noticing her being nervous at one side of the outdoor arena, perhaps seeing something in the woods. During the canter portion, she bolted and took off straight towards the fence on the opposite side of the ring. I did manage to stop her and calm her down, and continue the show. Surprisingly, I still managed to place at all. This was over ten years ago XD

The woman who owns the stables checks all of the horses daily (she is the woman who owns my horse, I just loan her) and there is two other horses with the exact same thing and it's purely because of the mud in the fields. She got the vet out for the other two and he said that they just need their shoes back on and need to be kept out of the mud as much as possible.

We're giving them a few weeks to rest and get their shoes back on and then hopefully they'll be good. If it gets any worse, we'll get the vet back out again to check them.

Thank you very much for that advice, though! I checked with the owner and she said that that's what she thought, but the vet said differently. :P

As for your ride, I hope you were okay (and the horse, obviously)! Well done for calming her down and, to still place, wow! xD

That's kind of odd. For it to get so severe without even being noticed beforehand :/

I keep my horse barefoot. It keeps his hooves stronger than if elasticity and circulation were inhibited by shoes. I'll only shoe him if he has a medical condition requiring special shoes, or potentially XC type shoes allowing for studs to help with traction.

I was find, and Holly was just a typical mare. I didn't end up leasing her lol

It was noticed and she was rested for over a week then got worse so we're keeping her off work for a while now.

She used to have two front shoes on but we kept them off because she's usually fine without them, but her hooves have gotten really bad from all of the mud (the fields never usually get this bad, but most of them are really bad and literally just mud) which is why they've gotten this bad. My pony lives out and gets wound up in a stable and has jumped out of her stable on numerous occasions so we can only keep her in for a few days at a time which doesn't help. :/ xD

She should be okay, but if she doesn't start improving and healing soon / gets worse we'll make sure to get the vet out asap. :]