September-Hoof update

An update, we casted Laz's RH hoof weeks ago and I'm not happy at all with how it grew out.

I feel the whole hoof capsule grew out forward and incorrect. Especially in heel/toe area.

 I also felt from the beginning that the cast was too tight/close to his medial heel bulb

Here is his hoof after cast was removed (I tried removing it on my own and could NOT do it)

Terrible angles...poor Laz.

 The heel bulb, ugh. Look at those heels too--so high and under run

 A day later, after hoof cast removal, his medial wall started to crack at quarters.

I can see the lateral side hoof wall is higher too...look at hairline

It's been months/years since I felt so let down

We usually have great results from the casting. Not this time.

 I decided to let his hoof be for a few days before I did any alterations.

I'll have update photos soon and since I rasped those heels/toe back he started walking SO much better. I did a little at a time, every other day to give him time to settle into it.

Here is his hoof back in 2011

 Better angle to me although quite diseased or full of laminar wedge..

This hoof...boy this hoof...!!!

I hope to get some better results soon by using my eye and not casting for a while....

I'm just really miffed to have gone backwards with his growth/angle/shape.

I'm not sure why? 

By no means is this a slam on my farrier. I know he truly TRULY cares and tries very hard. This is a very tricky hoof. My feeling is to take that toe back but that could lead to more soreness...slow attempts are my best bet. We talk a lot during his trims about angles and what to try, not try, etc.

I just wish I had a clear vision of how to best help his hoof. It's not in soakings (I've done how many hundreds of soaks/thrush treatments, etc--tried it ALL)

For now...I'm taking those heels back/toe back and he's liking it and walking/weighting it nicely.

***
Apple picking time

MI apples are the best. They crack when you bite into them. DEE freakin lic

My instagram pony pic..Sunday snuggles with this most handsome stink face!

 Billy rubbing down Laz who was telling him "Iz vury itcheeee"

 Doing a little hoof work

Why, why haven't I bought a hoof jack yet? I don't know. Stupido.

 Riding home (I'm the passenger for those that are judging) and Mason's velvety ears are happily flapping in the breeze. 

Easy June days

One thing I've learned with Laz is, time rules all.

He just needs time to recover from his fall?slip?mystery lameness

He's got it. 

Here is he just loving life with Pito, grazing in their short field

 Tinkerbelle in all her glory. She had a bit of a laminitic episode but severely limiting grazing to short field and muzzle got her right back, quickly.

The grass this Spring has been LUSH LUSH LUSH

 The Tres Amigos

This place is really quiet and peaceful. Perfect for when your pony just needs to chill and recover

 Speaking of chilling....

 Even though I haven't been riding Laz, he's been getting just as many kisses and snuggle times

 My Mom visiting kissing her grandhorse...and feeding him organic dandelion greens like any good Greek Yiayia would. He LOVES them

 He also loved her diamond ring and kept nibbling it!

***
Vet visit #4?? Just maintenance to check on Laz and adjust plan/meds etc

This time I had my trimmer out and the plan was to sedate Laz so he could apply two casts to his hoof for support to see if it helped his lameness

I'm so lucky to have not only a supportive team but one that gets along.

It's not often a Vet supports the Holistic side but she is game if it helps her Western side.

Chiro work along with Equioox-check

Barefoot work along with turnout/rest-check

She even stayed an extra hour plus to make sure he walked off OK, which is awesome. They were both there well over two hours.

I don't know why but I hate sedating Laz..it's just sad to me. 

However it helped him relax comfortably so we could get a good strong casting on him.

His RH Hoof prior to cast/trim

 After cast...sedated potato on legs

It's been almost week in his cast and he's looking great.

We've been cleared to start riding at the walk or doing light walk/ground work

We'll take it.

Happy September!

I have been the worst blogger this summer! Although I don't feel like I'm alone with that. The weather is nice, plans get made, work is busy, days are long with sunlight...who wants to be behind their computer longer than they have to? 

I surely don't. While it may seem I'm not around, I've been busier than in years! All good things, but busy busy busy. Any/all free time goes to Laz, not blogging, as of late.

So, let's start with his RH. It's been cast for the longest ever. He usually wears through them at around 2 weeks. This one, as of today, has been on for 4 weeks! Laz gets trimmed on 9/14 so we'll see, but look at that growth. These casts really help him stay comfortable, move out SO much more and grow heel! 

Tra la la la!!

That black ooze is the Vettec glue and we did a double cast of Equicast followed by my casting cheap yet UBER strong cast

RH below from this past June

I'm excited to see the growth, heel and toe once cast is off. I may want to recast for another round..we'll see. He is just so comfortable in it!

***

A couple of weeks ago, I helped move my Nephew into his Dorm at...wait for it...wait for it...University of Kentucky!!

He got a full ride scholarship, and needless to say, I'll be a BIG WILDCAT fan now.

(Me, my Brother...no he's not Amish ;) and my Nephew)

When you grow up in Chicago suburbs, you crave being different. Being different is the normal. Isn't that the ironic play?!

Horses, Basketball, Blue grass and Bourbon. Uh, yes please.

 Below is an example of why Lexington is so fantastic

A sparkly TB? SOLD! (well, it wasn't for sale, but if it were....)

 Goofing around in the UK Library which design wise, was astoundingly beautiful

The entire campus is just beautiful!

"Oh, excuse me while I catch up on my Fifty Shades of ...I mean, The Odyssey"

In the library, this was a mosaic styled painting

"Oh Hi, Willy T. Young"

 Bed made, dorm room set up. He was excited. I do NOT know how I did the dorm life for 2 years in College. I loved it too...but now, the thought...oh vomit. Not that my off campus living was much better, but at least I had a private room...

UK did a fantastic job for K week move in. Very organized and held fantastic events for the starting Freshmen. I was impressed.

***
The very next morning, I took a red eye Greyhound from KY to MI (my first and LAST Greyhound adventure!!!) and woke up early to meet the girls for our planned trail ride.

The barnowner, and E and I had looked forward to it.

E trailer-ed Stella over from her barn where she is leasing her, about 30 minutes away.

Stella is the Roan/Flea Bitten Grey and is about 17 hh

Laz was BESIDES himself with excitement when a new, strange, pegasus looking mare arrived.

He was Lycius Two Racehorse for a good 30 minutes, jigging and snorting and arching his neck.

He kept squealing and shaking his neck/head. Finally, once we hit the trail, he found his brain.

All of us English riders agree, trail fun is the best

Here you can see Stella's cool coloring in her rump, she's like PINK! 

She turns totally white/grey in the winter.

One tuckered out pony. Yea, it takes energy to pretend that a 12 yr old OTTB is a 2 yr old Racing Pony doesn't it Laz?!

Pito and Laz rolling after the ride, right next to where Stella was grazing over the fence. They were enamored with her

"STELLLLLA!!!!!"

"STELLLLLAAAAAAAAA! Oh Hiiiii, youz bee oot tiff fullls"

We hope to plan another ride all together in a couple of weeks again.

***

Today I had time just for ground, field, lunge work.

Laz's coat is totally changing. He's back to his blood bay coloring and it's rich and gorgeous.

This is just after I brushed him for about 2 minutes. He's gleaming!

Snort! Riding this weekend and will be trying out a new bridle/bit combo for fun!

I would like to have a bit comfortable for him, as a good back up for some of our faster trail rides

He's been quite strong in the bitless and abusing the pressure in it, (aka leaning his fat body into it) so we need to work off of that 

Yoga Pants and gym shoes

My husband stretching pre run. He ran a 10K last Saturday that was hosted on a Ranch, so...I drug myself out of bed at 5:30 am to tag along.

"A ranch you say??? Ya, I'll come !"

Plus it was just 30 minutes west of Laz so I knew I could work in a visit on the way back

While he ran, I was stalking the barn trying to get in...to no avail

They had trail rides but the first one left at 10, which was when he was finishing his race.

DARN it

How random is this?! A Perch and a POA?? Now where have we seen this before ;)

Klein and Mocha doppelgangers!

On this ranch, you can CAMP WITH YOUR HORSE! Can you see the two black Tennessee walkers? 

I.want.to.camp.with.Laz.

Campgrounds, miles of horse trails...and um excuse me, a new pool.

Uh yea. I'm down with that.

Good job Billy!

RunnerFace

Next up, our pony visit on the way home!

A quick demo of "How to freak your pony"

Laz is down with a good freakin'

I FINALLY used my new pad I bought in April at the Rolex. 

It's from Horze and it's YELLOW and shiny and puffy as I struggled with his girth.
OOOFff

My tall, dark and handsome boy

 Yoga pants and nikes--yea, it happened

 Laz's cast is still on and this Saturday it will be two weeks..hoping for it to last at least 3

 Oh the truth hurts, nice chin up ;)

 Left lead is so good, Right lead has spotty moments. I'm not pushing it until he has re-balanced 

 Our 'extended' trot

 Loving this barn time

 Classic face

Classic attire ;)

But wait my pad matches my laces-boo ya

Last Tuesday, Mason woke up stiff and sore. The worse we've ever seen. Randomly too as he hadn't really done anything new or different. He couldn't walk. He laid down and would cry when he tried to move. I cancelled my appointments, put a towel around his rib cage and took him right to the vet. I do NOT mess around when it comes to my Mason.

Billy came to meet us there on his way home. Mason was so happy

 

He was diagnosed with overall body soreness. Being 10+ yrs, it's bound to happen.
We got two scripts of painkillers/muscle relaxers and in 36 hours he felt better.

 Pudgie was very concerned and wouldn't leave his brothers side.

For two weeks, Mason has to rest/heal so no barn time for this brown angel.

He will get new bloodwork to make sure meds didn't react with his liver/kidneys and we'll have a script on hand to use as needed for him. For big swim days, etc. Just on days when this old man needs a little additional comfort. It was a jolt of reality for us. Mason isn't a puppy anymore. But thankfuly, he is currently happy and pain free and moving.

***

 This Wednesday, we were supposed to have a lesson but it got cancelled so we worked on cavaletti exercises

This is what Laz thought of them

What was awesome was I had him on the lunge, while I yanked out two of the cavalettis out of our storage stall, drug it out to the field, all the while he walked next to me. Not a care in the world.

 We worked on w/t/c over two poles and stopping, one foot over at a time, backing up, etc and he got a lot of licorice nibs for being stellar

 Thursday am, the BO and I set plans for a trail ride.

The weather was perfect, sunny and 68

 Walking through with our baby boys

Some of our friends we saw out on the trail

 Laz and I leading (side note, does anyone else wear a sad fanny pack so you can carry your phone/treats? I want a nice one, not like Gucci nice, just better than Walmart-le sigh. Why doesn't the horse industry make a cool one?!)

The trails are just so pretty, we are so lucky to have them and do not take them for granted. 

Riding in Michigan is pretty phenomenal.