Thrush

Up until last night, I thought that I had seen some bad thrush in a horse hoof. The first barn I brought Gram to when she moved to Chicago didn't provide the best horse care. They switched to straw, and didn't think they needed to clean out the wet spots. They just picked out the manure piles daily, and stripped the stalls every Monday. There were 90 horses on 4 acres, so only 3 paddocks. I was told the horses got out 20 minutes per day. Living in the city and working it was my only option until I could find a better place that wasn't a 2 hour drive for me. Gram was only at this facility for about 7 months. The final two month we were there was when they made the switch to straw. Immediately her feet came down with thrush. It wasn't pretty. I had a hard time controlling it, since she was constantly standing in a wet stall. I was so happy when we found our current home! She hasn't had thrush since.

So last night there was a new horse in the barn that had the worst case of thrush I had ever seen. It gave me a new perspective. The thrush Gram had at the other barn was nothing compared to what this poor horse has. Luckily the team at the barn is keeping a watchful eye on it, so hopefully this horse will start to have a healthier foot again.

So our ride was great. We are at a point in our training where she is really starting to understand the activation of the inside hind. She used to fight me a little when I applied my inside leg. She still has her moments, but last night there were some really great strides. I try to do a little something different each day. The basic transitions are something we work on every day. Some days are good, others are a mess. Last night was one of those in between nights. We had a few really bad downwards and then a couple really good ones. It was a hot night, 86 degrees, so she wore down a little faster than normal. She never feels tired, actually she just keeps going and going (yes like the energizer bunny). When she gets tired she gets quicker. I don't really know how else to explain it. She is a big horse, so it is a lot for her to hold her self up, when she is tired instead of stopping, she starts running, getting flat and it just is plain ugly. So I had anticipated to work a little harder than we ended up working. Although we did get to do a little bit of shoulder in, and really work the canter to left. She naturally is weaker to the left, and carries her haunches-in. So I rode her in a little more than shoulder fore to try to over compensate (also probably why she got tired). Overall, it was a good ride. I was happy with the note we ended on. tonight I will try to leave more time for lateral work so that we will be ready for Ryan on Sunday!