The Unshoeable Wild Mare.

Well.

We had some amazing dressagey-type work going on, but them I took a video and realized how absolutely horrible and incorrect my position is. Just BAD. And how bad she likes to duck behind the vertical.

Oh man I look bad. I mean, she looks pretty good. But I don't understand how she does better when I do worse. This is how it always happens. That's just a still from the video. I'll post the video when I get time later this week...

One of the better moments:

You wouldn't know from that or the video that she is absolutely FIGHTING me and running through me like a freight train at the canter. I'm chalking it up to being out of shape and having not been in work for 3 months, but still. She was being STRONG.

She had a day off and then the next day I rode, I tried to correct my position and the ride was just crap. She wasn't going that fast at the canter, but it was choppy and unbalanced and she was totally not listening. Just wanted to fly around and ignore me.

Casey suggested we just trot around "the old way" (hunter-Amber) and let her relax. We are picking back up today with a lesson...a no stirrups and much two-pointing lesson. My muscles are already screaming.

The possibility of her jumping again has been discussed. We will have to see what the vet thinks ultimately, but Casey and I both agree she was happiest and moving the best when she was jumping. I was totally against going back to it at first, but considering that she has remained pretty much the same, except for that one point in time where I feel that Bob screwing up her hoof angles made her lame, through everything we've done...are we really dealing with lameness anymore, or are we dealing with a conformation issue and a horse that just bumps those toes on the ground because that's just her movement. She DOES hand heel first on the hind and she DOES track up. I examined this in our video. She has a ton of "lift" in the canter.

But we will see. If we keep the fences low and the work moderate, and keep vets and chiros involved, I want her to do it if she can because she wants to.

Now...you might be wondering what's up with my blog title for today?

Well, yesterday her old farriers were in Goldsboro and called Casey to see if anyone needed any of their clients had thrown a shoe. I told her if they had time and wanted to come by, the could go ahead and shoe Amber.

And upon their examination of Amber's hooves, she doesn't even have enough hoof wall to hold a shoe. Super. So we are waiting a few weeks for more hoof to grow down, and then we will see what we have.

The last blog I posted, I was talking to the other barn farrier, Roger. I like Roger, but I've decided to go back with the Stallings because Casey really thinks I should - and they are vet recommended in the area, after all. I still need to call Cat and let her know what's going on. I hate to drop her, but if we are going to come to terms and finally say that after all we have done, if Amber picked her feet up an inch higher and moved the same way, we would call her sound - so the focus for now should be to stop her from dragging the hoof back to a level dangerously close to her white line (or in it!). And who knows? Maybe she does just need support back there.

I don't think it will, but if shoes DID stop her toe dragging, I would probably throw up...and then laugh.