White Line Sidelines Barebacking Team....Story at 11

["April Lee" <adlee@bigfoot.com>]

Well, so much for my well-thought out shoeing schedule!!  I had an
appointment with Jason, my farrier, today.  Last time he was out, he cut a
chunk of Apache's hoof wall out of the front (got a couple of comments on it
at the Longstreet ride) to dig out White Line disease.  I saw Apache's
previous owner last week and she finally  mentioned that, oh, yeah, Apache's
prone to white line, especially on the RF.  Well, THANK YOU.  That would
have been SO nice to know BEFORE I bought him!  Not that I wouldn't have
bought him, but I could have kept a good eye out and kept up preventative
treatments.  Course, I was too ignorant at the time to ask, so it's partly
my fault for being ignorant, but still...Humph.

Well, this time the white line is pretty bad.  Better on the front where
Jason cut it out (I've been treating it with ThrushBuster every 2 or 3
days), but under the shoes?  Jason wasn't at all pleased and he hesitantly
advised me to pull his shoes.  Hesitantly because he knows that I can't ride
any of my training trails barefoot.  Too many rocks to chip up his hooves
and take their own toll on his hoof health.  I assured Jason that I didn't
care about that, to pull his shoes and leave them off if that was what was
best.

So, my boy is running barefoot for two weeks.  I'm under orders to continue
the ThrushBuster, but on all four feet and to outline his hoof with it.
Jason also advised me to start feeding Source again to help promote growth
and perhaps we can 'grow the white line out.' And no asphalt, no rocks.
Sigh.  My planned Pigeon Mtn. training ride is out this weekend.

We're stuck in the pasture or the fields right next to the pasture.  Not
nearly enough space for a horse training for endurance!  Oh, well.  I've got
big plans for the next two weeks.  4-hour training sessions and play
sessions.  Ground work, lunging, trotting around in circles (how I HATE
that), barrels (he loves barrels), trailer loading/unloading, and open field
cantering.  Apache has issues about cantering in open fields.  He doesn't
like it or he thinks he can get away with more.  He goes into bucking and
twisting and that turning on a dime thing he does so well.  I also haven't
had a chance to try the latest exercises in John Lyons' Perfect Horse
Magazine, so I'll be out there with that.  We won't be idle, but it's
different from what we've been doing.

We have an appointment in two weeks.  Jason will look at his feet and we'll
decide then if we should put shoes back on him then or wait another week or
two.  Jason promised that if I keep him in shape, we can slap shoes on him
two days before Summer Breeze and yank them soon afterwards so I could still
ride.  We'll see.  Anybody done Summer Breeze barefoot?

April & Apache (gee, my feet feel lighter today)
Chattanooga, TN


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