Sunset ride

This past Tuesday, I casually mentioned to my Husband "I think you should come to the farm with me so you can walk Mason through a trail and Laz and I can follow"

He agreed!
Booyah!

Some of the other girls at the barn have been trail riding, but Laz is not quite ready physically (hoof wise) to keep up and I don't want to be that person to keep them behind either.

So, this proved to be a win/win!

We got to the barn around 7:30 pm after a LONG work day

A quick warm up to test brain, brakes, etc

Laz was all "letttssss trotsss!!"

 

 

So fun!

 

Funny what you notice in pictures...ggrrr

His Nurtural bitless bridle which is a Beta material is slipping.

The left hand side (which could be MY fault) is pulled out to the max while his right side is short to the max.  Thankfully angelfaceLaz didn't tell me "Idiot, check my tack!" by bucking or not listening.

He's SO tolerate sometimes!!!

So, off our property...down the driveway 

(I have to travel on gravel road for less then a football field IF that) ...

To trespass on to neighbors hunting trail

I kept asking my husband "Do you think we'll get shot???!"

He laughed. I'm a city girl ..I don't know!!!  

Most people that hunt in homemade trails=possible serial girl/horse/dog killers to me

Mason was AWESOME at leading the way

"Scare out all the horse eating deer!!" I cried

We didn't see any. 

Laz was awesome about me having to maneuver 

He was all BLOWING and SNORTY in the trail feeling quite 

"I'MS THE ONLY HOORZE HERE!! I'MS GUNNA GETS EATS!!!"

Here you can see Laz and I are one. ;)
I say right, he says left.

Gag at my legs and awkward arms and puppy paws

Here's him after diving in weeds for his salad buffet

Move along little Doggie!

Parts of the neighbors trail is wide open

And lots of circle areas

You can walk through that trail in less than 10 minutes but we triple looped it

SNORT!

On the other side of one of the circles

Mason being a follower and Laz leading

Swishy tail

I was quite proud of my OTTB although attempting this alone would have maybe been a disaster.

He was VERY reliant on Mason for courage

We need more riding practice to build up that partnership as well as our groundwork

Heading back out to the road, to our immediate left is our boarding property

Walking down to our 'home'

 If this isn't good for a soul, I don't know what is...

There is something very magical about riding at sunset. 

It's such a nice way to tuck in a hectic day

In which I actually get to RIDE my horse

It's amazing, in a rehab that is FOREVER long, that the poor Pony I rescued to train to ride, is really like my big sweet puppy that I walk.

Well, with my trimmer's blessing, I get to start working with him again
YAY!

Just walking, unless Laz 'wants' to trot but I won't really push for that yet. I'd like to see it via ground work for a while first.

So, just in time for the Olympic fever, I'd like to introduce my Ian Miller Crosby!
He's been sitting patiently and waiting since we last really rode, back in 2009.

I wasn't even sure if it would still fit!!!

I'm happy to say, it seems like it does. 

The girth?! 

Oooof

It barely made it!

So out we went to ride on soft terrain (for now until soles hopefully improve)

Low head, loose happy ears

Whew, he didn't seem to show ANY discomfort (at least at our walking pace) to his old AP saddle

HOOOORAH!

Discomfort was for me, the idiot who rode with yoga capris and now has two pinching bruises on both my calves. DUH and ouch

Here I am literally holding my leg off him.  Nice. 

 My Husband joined us and went for a run while we hacked for 40 minutes.

You can make sure when he returned I threw him my phone and was all "TAKE PICTURES!!!!!"

LOOK AT THIS SEXXXY NECK!

 Despite his big ol' fiber belly, I think Laz looks damn good for a rehab pony who burns 9 calories a day

 Happy calm babeee

Sweet Mas just watched us ride while chilling in the shade

He doesn't even know but he brings a lot of comfort to Laz

 Bare hoovies!

 Back to the horses

I think someone was quite pleased with himself, he did manage to work up a bit of a sweat (teeny) 

 He is so handsome all dressed up!

All done, groomed and some liniment gel on his legs (ps did I mention he had no tears but some old scarring that showed up on Ultrasound, probably from racing years, so this is to maintain comfort after rides)

"CooOKiez?!"

Felt super great to be back on him after a month off

I had just precautionary waited until I had my new trimmer's approval

Anyone have good ideas to make walking a little more interesting???

Ground poles will be coming into play...

Xrays Update

From the inside-out

What a laminitic (post) hoof looks like almost 3 years later

Yup...almost 3 freaking years later.

Oct 2009 is when he first got ill, so this Oct will be 3 yrs

Medial view of RH

Big chip in his hoof wall, which is dead hoof wall

Under run, crushed heels

Wavy tubules

Odd toe

**The purple marks you see is leftover from thrush treatment I jam into his exposed white line

It's interesting to see how his lateral side visibly looks different than his medial

From the back

Low crushed under run heel

And now, the INSIDE view;

Updated digital xrays

Lots of toe to be removed which is interesting because his hoof LOOKS soooo small from the outside. How much can one take away before it compromising the horse's weight on a small hoof?

His coffin bone still has that 'elf' tip which is osteoporosis 

And that sole-THIN! Could be because of the thick hoof wall issues, thrush, bacteria, etc in that hoof

You can see view from the top of coffin bone, how it's tipped medially as well (in picture towards the right side) See?

Shot from the front; you can see he is still rotated medially (inward)

and sole-is oh my, still thin thin thin thin thin thin

sigh

If you are interested in comparison shots; click HERE for Xrays from 2010/2011

It is somewhat frustrating to not be further along with his hoof progress despite our, and other's best efforts. 

BUT, I have to remain confident in the people I chose to hire, so again, we now have a new plan.

I'm SO hoping this works

Updated Plan is;

Get Laz now on Ixosuprine   

I tried the all natural Jiaogulan since November, with no change so it's out.

After trimming all hooves and paring back the hoof wall to connective tissue, we soaked his hoof for 40 minutes in clean trax, dried off, and applied No Thrush (the purple markings) before getting ready to cast his hoof.

Yup, cast his hoof!

Below, applying the bonding glue to hoof wall, to adhere cast to it

Glue gunk

 Keeping Laz busy with some hay while M applied the casting wrap securely.

At this point, we were already at over 2 hours, so Laz was getting antsy

All for you my sweet boy!

 Laz trying to lick/bite his soaking boot off! 

We soaked his club in clean trax after the RH

Say Hello to Equicast

Finished and casted. It's actually more black than purple

Fingers crossed it stays on for minimal 2 weeks, hopefully more like 6!!!

It's intended to help his compromised hoof wall structure and encourage support/growth and comfort.

Laz standing on it, on a pad to allow the cast to harden/form around his hoof shape and sole.

He seemed VERY comfortable in it and when walking out, lifted his toe instead of dragging it.

A good sign, that hopefully he'll walk better, which will in turn build up the back of his hoof/heel/digital cushion/lateral cartilage/stimulate better hoof growth and more soundness and a better sole=better hoof. 

Is that a lot to ask for? lol

Once we were done, Laz was feeling quite good

He enjoyed a fat boy PLOP and rolled

Happy puppy horse

 Mid puppy Shake

Tomorrow I'll go back to make sure he's still happy/comfy.

I also got the OK to "get on and RIDE him"

(We are talking soft grounds at the walk unless he wants to trot and to stay off the gravel roads for now)

It's OK, I'll take what I can get as long as he's comfortable

We are also backing out our trims to allow more growth in between.

Something that's different for me. Instead of every 4 weeks, we are going 6ish.

This will be interesting to see how/if it works, but I'm hopeful it will and trust my new trimmer's knowledge and background.

Stay tuned!