Cinderella

Hey hey, Cinderella, what's the story all about
I got a funny feeling we missed a page or two somehow
Ohh-ohhhh, Cinderella, maybe you could help us out
Does the shoe fit you now 

- Suzy Bogguss

Speedy G has definitely decided that his alter ego is Cinderella. I've owned this horse, or rather he's owned me, for more than seven years, and we've never had so many shoeing issues until this past year. He's clearly pining for some glass slippers.

Does this come in a narrow web bar?

The neighbor told me that Dr. Tolley had stopped by last week for her old man and that he had popped over to check on Speedy while he was there. When I didn't hear from the vet, I assumed that he hadn't seen anything other than what we had already been seeing.

When I called the vet hospital to talk to Dr. Tolley about Izzy's leg on Monday, Dr. Tolley shared what he had found with Speedy's feet. He agreed that Speedy was quite footsore on the left and that he had a strong digital pulse. 

After poking around a bit, he realized that there was a fair amount of dirt packed between the rim of the shoe and Speedy's sole. Once he scraped the dirt out, Speedy was "60% better."  

This is a hind foot, but you can see where Dr. Tolley would have found dirt wedged under the edge of the shoe. While I pick out my horse's feet daily, this dirt would be hard to get with a hoof pick.

I shared with Dr. Tolley that the front shoes had already been pulled and that Speedy was to be re-shod in mid-June. He liked the plan but suggested my farrier shoe Speedy with a narrower web bar shoe so that the dirt can't pack in under the shoe and put pressure on the sole.

I hopped up on Speedy bareback on Monday afternoon to see how he felt. There's a show coming up in a just over a week that I really want to do. I haven't shown since November, and I really miss it.

I walked Speedy over the poles, and he felt sound. He also seemed very happy to be working again. When he was focused on the poles, I urged him forward into a baby trot and continued working on the four poles I had laid out in a circle.

I am not sure that he was 100% sound, but he felt pretty good. I kept the trot very tiny, but he stepped over those poles nicely. And did I mention that he was bareback? Even without a saddle, he lengthened his stride where he needed to, and he was pretty good about not diving forward over the poles or rushing off to the next one.

I worked him to the left first and later to the right. I sent in the entry yesterday; it's due today. If he still feels sound this afternoon, I'll give the show a try, and if not, he'll have until mid-June for any soreness to heal.