Lost Shoes - Miserable ride

[flemmerl@rcbhsc.wvu.edu (Flemmer, Linda)]

Well, I put on the aluminum egg bar shoes on Rocket last week to add
support to the detached hoof wall in the rear foot, lateral wall after
his gravel (hoof detached from behind the last nail hole to the bars). 
Poor guy walked like he didn't know where his back feet were with those
egg bar shoes extending off of the rear.

I gave him 4 or 5 days of turn out to get used to his "new" feet.  No
signs of problems.

Our first ride was yesterday.  We planned on a short 10 miles at a
walk/trot - just a fun ride to see how he'd do.  Within the first two
miles, he stepped on a front shoe at a collected trot!  Rather than pull
it off, he twisted it so that the side clip was digging into his sole,
drawing blood!  After I pried the shoe off (THANK YOU leatherman's
tool), I slapped on my never-before-used-in-an-emergency easy boot.  He
was sound, so we continued on.  (Planned to treat the area w/ soaks &
betadine at home.)  Another 2 miles go by and oops!  Lost the <other>
front shoe at a collected western pleasure jog!  The foot was pretty
chewed up this time.  Thank goodness my husband was there to lend me his
spare easyboot.  I've gone from NEVER needing an emergency boot to
needing two in 4 miles!

To top it off, a little after he was "booted", we tried to canter. 
Rocket <really> objected... bucking every stride, then hesitating to
walk out.  I have to wonder if his way of going with the egg bars has
made his back sore... or could it be he's finding it hard to drive in
the canter with the egg bars?  This was not "I feel good" bucking - it
was "I'm annoyed!"  No obvious problems with his usual saddle/tack... 
No soreness palpated in his back.

When we reached home, Rocket got soaked, wrapped w/ vet wrap, and got 2
easy boots on until the farrier can get here.

What to do?  I'm hoping we can get away with plain shoes in back (maybe
with slightly extended ends behind the heels for support) and replace
the front shoes?  I can't see having him yank off his shoes every few
miles!

Linda Flemmer
Rocket - the shoeless wonder!


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=