Side note

[glenatron]

Donk met Dr Dave yesterday, which was interesting. He was pretty scrunched up from nose to tail and Dr Dave ended up doing a lot of work to free him up in various directions. Dave is a really likeable and interesting guy and it's always interesting to watch him work and hear what he has to say.

Afterwards Donk did seem to be able to move a lot more freely, which is hopeful. He hasn't really come as sound as we would like and he's a rather expensive field ornament so if this doesn't help him come back towards being able to comfortably do regular work he may not stay with us for a lot longer.

Comments

[allezbleu.livejournal.com]

eh? i thought he was sound enoguh to hack now?

what exactly is donks issue if you dont mind me asking?

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

He is then he isn't then he is again. He's mostly just a bit footsore I think, largely because although he's been barefoot for years he's been mostly off work just living on grass and not doing much work until he came to us.

He's better off with some hoofboots on the front, usually that's fine but at the weekend he was looking less sound again. After Wednesday it seems quite possible that a big chunk of that is to do with how jammed up he's been so hopefully this will help.

[allezbleu.livejournal.com]

Ah well i hope the chiropractic helps.

Thing is tho, some horses just cant cope without shoes, hero is one for instance. And while i agree to a degree aboutt he barefoot way of doing things, the comfort of the horse also has to be taken into consideration, and if hes better in boots perhaps its worth considering shoes in front?

Him not being your horse tho means i guess you cant do a lot. Is he insured? If he was my horse id be doing a full lameness workup but thats just me - i like to know exactly what im dealing with hehe!

(ETA re the chiropractic, normally its secondary to pain elsewhere - my horse had arthritic hocks which meant we was always sore through his back which was secondary to the hocks - perhaps another reason to look into it further? )

horses being 'footy' can also be a sign of lammi, but given what youve been through with small im *sure* you guys know all about that :)

Sorry if anything i say offends, not meant to be horrible or suggest youre not doing your best by him, but perhaps some food for thought?

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

If his owner wasn't our barefoot trimmer we'd probably have suggested chucking some shoes on him already, but she is and we'd like to stay that way. She tends to pick up horses who have had problems in that department and she's done amazing things in rehabilitating them but Donk just hasn't been as sound for us as we would like. He's not lame, it's pretty slight - I've seen horses compete who I thought were less sound than he is now - but he is bit off and we feel bad about riding him when he feels that way.

There's also a chance of problems elsewhere - before his owner took him on he had been jumped into the ground and then buted up and jumped some more - but I think with him he's not done a lot of work in years and he's not done a lot of correct work - his owner is really good but she had to do a lot just to get his brain back into his head. Patterns of holding develop over that kind of time that just lead to a horse having the habit of moving stiffly, which would be my first candidate for what has been up with him.

If he was our horse we might take things further if he doesn't come sound, but as he isn't and we want to still be able to insure horses in future I don't think we'll go for the whole x-rays and nerve-blocks thing...

[tom909.livejournal.com]

What is the difference between the vet and God?

God doesn't think he is a vet.

****

Has anyone ever got their horse sound through veterinary treatment? Just interested, because there are so many stories of endless expensive veterinary treatments, usually on the insurance, that at best come to nothing.
I'd say do your best with his feet, and ride him correctly and see how it goes.

[glenatron.livejournal.com]

I think if there is a definite problem that can be fixed it does help, but when it's something even a little vague you're much better talking to someone else because the vets will either ignore you or cost you thousands in diagnostics that conclude "there is something wrong with the horse's leg." That doesn't always make one feel like one is any further along than one was before...