Yep, Rusty has front shoes. I thought alot about whether to shoe him or not and I decided to give it a try. I wanted to do some riding on gravel roads and he just can't handle that barefoot. I know that hoof boots are really popular, but since Rusty doesn't like stuff on/near his feet, I didn't think that was the best option for now.
I've been trying to get in touch with my farrier all week, but I haven't heard back from him yet. I want this shoe reset to see how things go - if Rusty keeps pulling shoes, then I will have to go back to square one and try and desensitize him enough to try the boots.
I went out for a long ride last Friday with two other people at the barn. Rusty was really good and we covered about 11kms or about 6.8 miles! We did a fair bit of trotting, but myself and the other girl were getting tired. Endurance lady literally trotted circles around us with her arab! :-) We were happy to let her trot ahead and then come back and meet up with us again.
The good: we did it and Rusty fared quite well. His legs were cool and not stocked up after the ride.
The bad: my right ankle turned to mush about halfway through the ride. I could barely do a posting trot after that point. I ended up putting alot of weight in my left leg instead. This caused a saddle pad rub on Rusty's back - I felt bad about that.
The funny: Rusty walked right by two little girls squealing and jumping on a large trampoline as we rode by their house (while the other 2 horses panicked) and then proceeded to spook and snort at a regular orange pylon on the road - the kind that you use in riding rings all the time for pattern work!!! What a goof!
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| Ahhh!!!! Scary pylons - don't make me circle those things! |
So, I'm hoping I can get the farrier out this coming week and get ol' Rusty back out on the trails...well, as long as our weather gives us a bit of a break, that is!
On a side note, it seems there are a couple of different meanings to "Competitive trail" out there. Here, competitive trail is often a 25-40 mile ride and riders are scored at before and after the ride and at each vet check. There is also a minimum and maximum time and I think points are awarded/taken away for being over or under time. The winner has the horse in the best condition that is "fit to continue" based on the points that have been scored throughout the ride.
In this province (from what I can tell) we don't have competitive trail rides with obstacles - which is too bad, since that seems really fun.
5 comments:
Well poo. Sounds like between the lost shoe, the bad weather, the sore ankle, and the saddle pad rub, you and Rusty are feeling rather challenged. I hope things get back to good normal soon (I don't want to just say normal...as some normal can be bad. gah!)
That's too bad about the competitive trail being all about time there. Sounds a lot like Endurance riding.
Our competitive trail rides are only between 6-10 miles long with 6-7 obstacles. Most rides take between 2-3 1/2 hours. The ride is over when the last rider and horse are done.
The only timing is for each obstacle, which is usually between 45-60 seconds, depending upon the obstacle's challenging aspects. And there are no vet checks, only a lameness test at the end, which basically involves someone watching your horse move from a walk to a trot and looking for any limping.
Oh, and one additional nice thing is that Buddy riders are permitted, which basically means anyone can ride just for fun and to acclimate their horse to the trails, the obstacles and other horses, without actually having to do any of the obstacles.
My first competitive trail ride was as a Buddy Rider and it was a lot fun and low key. Some of the judges even let us try their obstacle if no one else was waiting.
~Lisa
I hear ya on the bad weather. Today is a beautiful day, but it will be days and days until it's dry enough to ride.
I love obstacles. We don't do anything too scary. Keeps us all on our toes.
The competitive trails rides I was thinking of are like what Lisa said. We have long ones like that and slightly shorter ones.
Sounds like you had a fun ride though - glad Rusty didn't spook at the kids.
Well the good sounds really good and the bad sounds fixable. I can imagine an endurance rider would ride circles around "regular" riders but it sounds like she worked around you just fine. That's pretty cool.
Sometimes I think it takes horses a little while to get used to shoes. I've had my young horses pull them but once they get their balance all figured out and stuff it seems to quite unless there's deep mud or they get very silly goofing off in the pasture and get off balance. Rusty may do just fine with a little bit of time.
I have trouble with my knees but I find the more I ride, the less trouble I have with them. However, I have to start off slowly and work my way up to strengthen them to the point they don't hurt.
Sure is odd how horses react to different obstacles, big or small. I think my horse would have jumped as high as those kids on the trampoline if we encountered such a sight in our neighborhood.
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