Question
I have my first ever horse show with my 21 year old appaloosa on Saturday.( a small local 4-H show) I have been practicing like crazy for the past year and a half. My horse and I were signed up for english walk trot, western walk trot, pole bending walk trot and barrel racing walk trot. Anyway, last wednesday(last week not 2 days ago) he got new shoes. His feet were really sore, but not lame. Then I rode him yesterday and he came up lame on his right foot. I am devastated. Do you think he will heal by saturday? Hopefully we can get a farrier out here and put pads on his hooves... will that work immediatly? What would you do? I am going to the show still and take him probably just for showmanship and the experience If i competed in a walk trot class and he began limping would i get disqualified? Any advice on how to get him to stop limping temporarily? please help... I am so upset! Yeah we had a really bad farrier... now we are going to use my trainer's farrier. hey i am so not being selfish... i love my horse and take good care of him. If it is a shoe problem i hope it gets fixed easily Yes he is usually lame after shoes, but this time it has been over a week. He has been sound for about 6 months and ever since yesterday he has been lame. EDIT: do you think he would need to adjust to having no shoes?
I have my first ever horse show with my 21 year old appaloosa on Saturday.( a small local 4-H show) I have been practicing like crazy for the past year and a half. My horse and I were signed up for english walk trot, western walk trot, pole bending walk trot and barrel racing walk trot. Anyway, last wednesday(last week not 2 days ago) he got new shoes. His feet were really sore, but not lame. Then I rode him yesterday and he came up lame on his right foot. I am devastated. Do you think he will heal by saturday? Hopefully we can get a farrier out here and put pads on his hooves... will that work immediatly? What would you do? I am going to the show still and take him probably just for showmanship and the experience If i competed in a walk trot class and he began limping would i get disqualified? Any advice on how to get him to stop limping temporarily? please help... I am so upset! Yeah we had a really bad farrier... now we are going to use my trainer's farrier. hey i am so not being selfish... i love my horse and take good care of him. If it is a shoe problem i hope it gets fixed easily Yes he is usually lame after shoes, but this time it has been over a week. He has been sound for about 6 months and ever since yesterday he has been lame. EDIT: do you think he would need to adjust to having no shoes?
Answer
Wow sounds like you're in a huge predicament---but hey! We've all been here--my first horse show (about 9 yrs ago) by 19 yr old POA,who had ERU or Moonblindness, got a flare-up of the disease and I couldn't ride her..so I got stuck on my moms old doter....she was the fattest horse in the barn!! But it was still fun and a good experience... Anyways back to your questions: Anything you use to "stop him from limping" is just going to injure him more as he won't be able to feel the pain in his foot and he will keep working, after the "limp-stopper" wears off his foot will be a billion times more sore and you won't be riding the poor guy for a few months probably---not fair to the horse at all--there will be other shows, I promise :) If you compete in walk/jog and your horse is not sound, you will be asked to leave--especially at 4-H shows the focus is on the rider learning how to properly care for the horse--if you are riding a sore animal, you will be disqualified and most likely lectured a bit by the ring stewart or judge at the end of the class.... If the farrier trimmed his feet to short and then put shoes on, this is likely your problem and may take a few weeks for the hooves to grow out---ask your new farrier what would be the best course of action---it may be to pull the shoes and keep him on stall rest until his feet are long enough for shoes again or put pads under the shoes and keep them on... If it is a shoe problem, I am doubting it will be better by tomorrow---one day just isn't enough time to heal even a bruise....even if he stops limping, the trailer ride could agitate it again....if that doesn't happen you will only be able to enter showmanship--no point in forcing him to get re-injured by asking him to work with you on him....make sure the showmanship pattern does not involve a lot of jogging or pivots that he will have to use his sore foot for... But my advice would be not to even attempt this---let him rest up and heal and you will just have to get over the fact that this time you will have to wait for the next show to be your first....I know its disappointing, but you really dont want to work your horse if he is sore and injured...tough luck sweetie! Hopefully you can enter in another local show this season--I would recommend finding one farrier you know and trust and stick with him/her....my parents have been using the same farrier since the 90s... Good Luck! Hope everything goes good for you! BB
Wow sounds like you're in a huge predicament---but hey! We've all been here--my first horse show (about 9 yrs ago) by 19 yr old POA,who had ERU or Moonblindness, got a flare-up of the disease and I couldn't ride her..so I got stuck on my moms old doter....she was the fattest horse in the barn!! But it was still fun and a good experience... Anyways back to your questions: Anything you use to "stop him from limping" is just going to injure him more as he won't be able to feel the pain in his foot and he will keep working, after the "limp-stopper" wears off his foot will be a billion times more sore and you won't be riding the poor guy for a few months probably---not fair to the horse at all--there will be other shows, I promise :) If you compete in walk/jog and your horse is not sound, you will be asked to leave--especially at 4-H shows the focus is on the rider learning how to properly care for the horse--if you are riding a sore animal, you will be disqualified and most likely lectured a bit by the ring stewart or judge at the end of the class.... If the farrier trimmed his feet to short and then put shoes on, this is likely your problem and may take a few weeks for the hooves to grow out---ask your new farrier what would be the best course of action---it may be to pull the shoes and keep him on stall rest until his feet are long enough for shoes again or put pads under the shoes and keep them on... If it is a shoe problem, I am doubting it will be better by tomorrow---one day just isn't enough time to heal even a bruise....even if he stops limping, the trailer ride could agitate it again....if that doesn't happen you will only be able to enter showmanship--no point in forcing him to get re-injured by asking him to work with you on him....make sure the showmanship pattern does not involve a lot of jogging or pivots that he will have to use his sore foot for... But my advice would be not to even attempt this---let him rest up and heal and you will just have to get over the fact that this time you will have to wait for the next show to be your first....I know its disappointing, but you really dont want to work your horse if he is sore and injured...tough luck sweetie! Hopefully you can enter in another local show this season--I would recommend finding one farrier you know and trust and stick with him/her....my parents have been using the same farrier since the 90s... Good Luck! Hope everything goes good for you! BB
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