dancinghorse | Good News on the Animal Front

Things seem to be looking up with all the aminals lately. Taminy has recovered from his abscess, has his appetite back and is gaining weight--very good thing as he was headed toward emaciated. Spot-the-Dog is much better and her back has straightened out; she looks like a Cardigan again rather than a mutant whippet. Tapering the prednisone doesn't seem to be affecting her, and that is good. She's still weak and needs more crate rest but I think we may have dodged the surgery bullet.

Just got in from having the vet here to do Tia's last baby shots--Miss Sassybutt wasn't too bad considering. She's a strong alpha but also a soft horse. Nice combination.

We also checked Pooka, whose feet have been a source of constant frustration for quite some time now. Boy keeps clobbering his own coronet bands (think cuticles) and screwing up the hoof-growth patterns. Curt the Wonder Shoer threw up his hands a couple of weeks ago, pulled his shoes and said we need to start over. In the time since, I've had Pook in bell boots to keep him from whacking himself yet again, he's lost the acrylic patches from the resections, and his feet have actually started to look like feet. The missing quarters have filled in, the big crack he made by whacking himself so hard the last time around is healing, and the bruising and pain along the coronet is gone. I took off his boots this noon to see what we had (having last checked a couple of days ago) and noted that while he was in sore need of a toe trim, he looked as if he was trying to give himself a "Natural Balance" or four-point trim.

Sure enough, Dr. Doom came, looked him over, and started him on a four-point trim; said keep him barefoot, don't shoe him, and don't ride him until the quarters finish growing out. Which considering how much they've grown in two weeks, might be a lot sooner than the 3-4 months he estimated. Dr. Doom is used to horses; Space Aliens are a bit off the charts.

Next stop: Get Curt the Wonder Shoer in to even off the vet's rough trim, keep the boots on to protect the coronary bands, and let da Pook do the rest.

We are so relieved. The vet seems to think you have to keep a horse shod to show him, but not in dressage. I actually know very few shod show Lipps--they have famously wonderful feet and mostly never see a shoe. Camilla has never had a shoe and I'm not sure Pandora has, either. Here's what they look like in the essentials ("No Foot, No Horse," after all):

Camilla models the Perfect Foot--farriers burn incense and sing hymns to these feet.

And from

lynnesite, Pandora's Pillars of the Earth:

At any rate, the news is good. We are happy. No riding his lordship for a while yet, but we can live with that if it means we end up with a sound and balanced horse.