Conditioning Ride 6-14-2011

This ride would be more appropriately titled "Give the Dogs a Good Workout so They're Not Crazy Ride." Since the endurance ride is this weekend, it is unusual for me to take Hoss out so close. Still, he's now done a multi-day, so I really don't feel like I'm exactly challenging him by taking him out for a slow six miles four days before a fifty.

Mac saw the vet to have his drains removed yesterday. I was beginning to get really concerned. He'd developed a lot of swelling under his jaw. It wasn't getting smaller, and it wasn't draining, either. When the vet saw him, she was worried, but after consulting with her colleagues decided it was probably edema and removed the drains. Well, by the time we got home (an hour's drive) the swelling was visibly smaller. By this morning, it was nearly gone. I'm thinking the swelling was a reaction to the "foreign bodies" under his skin. This dog is gonna give me fits. For such a fabulous guard dog, he sure has a lot of wussy in him.

We drove down to Hollenbeck Canyon for this little ride. I'd spent the morning on household chores, which was good, because it got quite hot, so an afternoon ride was better. By the time we started, there was a pleasant breeze, although it was still quite warm. The dogs were spending more time than usual looking for shade.

I put Hoss's hoof boots on and saddled him up, and off we went. I was curious to see if he showed any signs of lameness. After our last ride, the next day he was stumbly and not wanting to walk normally on our morning walk. I had planned to ride him that day, but didn't due to what I was seeing in the morning. After a couple of days, though, he was his usual jaunty self. So I figured today would be a good day to see what would happen.

I was disappointed to realize he was limping a little on the downhills. I decided to see if he'd warm out of it, which has happened once before, since he wasn't giving me any indication that he wanted to stop or slow down. In fact, once we crossed the water, he wanted to trot. I let him move out, and he was completely sound on the flat. We turned the corner and he wanted to canter up the hill, so I moved him up to a canter and we had a nice little run.

The view after our little canter

We walked for some time after that. When we got to a downhill, he limped a little again. After a longer, steeper downhill, we got to the wide, flat trail, and he asked to trot again. I moved him into a trot, and he was very definitely off. I slowed him back down and decided we'd walk the rest of the ride. He wasn't happy about it, but he accepted my decision.

I love this rock formation

While we rode, I thought about what was happening and what might be causing it. He's not lame without the boots (although that's only been when I'm leading him, not riding him). He'll be a little ouchy the day after a ride, but then be fine. His stride is normal. He pulls a little bit right at the end of his step.

The long flat trail

It occurred to me it was very possible the boots themselves are the problem. I decided to pull them off for the last half mile of the trail and see what happened. After we crossed back across the stream, I hopped off and removed the boots.

It's a good thing I decided to remove the boots while Hoss's feet were wet. Chances are, with his dark hooves, I wouldn't have seen the bruise on his heel bulb if it had been dry. Now I have an answer. The boot is rubbing a bruise into his heel bulb. I felt his heels with my hand, and found that heel was significantly warmer than the rest. All his heel bulbs were warmer than the rest of the hairline, but they are encased in the gaiter when the boot is on, so it's not significant. The one heel being warmer than the rest, however, is significant.

I rode back the rest of the way barefoot on the fronts. For a few strides, Hoss, was a little off, but it was almost like he was expecting pain rather than experiencing it. He started walking more normally – although more slowly – after ten strides or so. On the downhill back to the trailer, he was not off at all.

Now, that is a heck of a bruise!

I now know why he's been having trouble. I won't be able to use the boots for this weekend's ride. This means I will be nailing a pair of shoes on his front feet. Of course, I'll have to take him out for a "test drive" before we head out for the ride on Friday morning to make sure the entire issue is addressed.

The boot/barefoot experiment may be over. While it's the first real setback we've had, my first inclination is to just start shoeing him again. I will probably keep the set of shoes he'll have on him for the next six weeks and see how things go. After that, I will reassess and make a decision on what we'll do.

I remembered to turn on my GPS before the ride, but failed the reset it. Once I realized it, I turned the GPS off. It's not significant anyway. We're too close to the next ride for the data to be important. Besides, this ride really was more about exercising the dogs than the horse. If any of it was about the horse, it was about getting him out.