More Lame With

Under any other conditions other than the really hard footing in the ring at WP, I would say get a vet out, and likely this lease situation is not a good one since the pony is not staying sound. However, the footing is abysmal out there, and we have had this problem with Kissy, Wonder, Jane and Quinn coming up sore out there off and on, exactly like Dude, in the same time frame. Dude's is compounded by the fact that it first started after a very extreme shoeing 6 wks ago where he went from very long to very short.

He is getting shod on Tuesday. I want to ride him couple days after that and see what happens. Shoer can put hoof tester on him, see if something sensitive in there.

His pattern has been lame 2 days at most, then fine. He is only off to the left. When I got on him today, he was barely off but I could get him to feel lame on a tight left turn. On the longeline, so so. Much more lame with Jacki on, I think the fact she leans left somewhat in a left turn and that's where he is sore makes it a lot more noticable with her on. I longed him Thursday, and he was very sound.

If he is at all off next week, Kathryn's vet should do a workup on him and see what is going on. Was hard the first time this happened because he was perfectly sound by the time the vet came out.

I definitely understand both of your frustration-Kathryn's in that her pony is just not staying sound, and Laura's in that Jacki is missing lessons because of this and wondering if she is making a mistake bringing a pony to WR that is not going to stay sound. I don't have an easy answer other than that we use the next week to see what is going on with him. This is the 3rd time this has happened during the last 6 weeks. He had a great last 2 weeks since his turnout schedule was modified so he didn't go running around out there with Highland, so this last one certainly surprises me and frustrates me as well. Weird things like this are always frustrating to figure out, especially since he become sound very quickly, stays sound and then, boom, off again. Usually something more serious stays lame, doesn't go completely away for 2 weeks. WR also has good footing, which is what I think is really making this issue come up over and over.

Kathryn-If you would feel better having Anne out early next week, before he's shod, then you may want to see if you can get her out there, I had Jacki give him a tab of bute this afternoon but won't give him anymore, I have a feeling though according to the pattern he is going to be sound next day or so. I know what a valued family member he is to you, and that you are worried about him. I was honestly shocked to see him off again today.

Laura, I know you are frustrated about paying for lessons that she is missing, there are a extra days in next couple months so I am sure she will ride plenty. She has been learning about looking for lameness, how to figure out which foot a horse is off on, how to deal with a lameness, so I wouldn't say her time has been wasted out there. Horses do this. Some of these days she has had half a lesson before he came up sore, and I've had her jump Murphy. That said, if he just can't stay sound, then definitely we would look for a new horse to lease.

I wish I could give both of you a simple, easy fix it to this, but I don't think that there is one, I think the best thing is to give it a bit more time, see if we can figure out what is going on, and then make decisions about what to do about the lease.