friday fotos: chicken or the egg (again)

Happy Friday, y'all! It's obviously been a quiet week around these parts while Charlie enjoys his annual spring rejuvenation sessions haha... So, eh, let's shift gears and talk about just how absolutely unhinged I can get when somebody observes a slightly-less-than-perfect, or even -*gasp!*- flawed aspect of my beloved unicorn. 

pictured: my horse, standing the way he has always stood, the way he always will stand

AND, extra special bonus, let's populate the post with the approximately 8,000 photos I snapped while creepily obsessing over Charlie's general stance while he was on his hour breakout from stall rest the other day (blissfully enjoying the lone protected paddock full of luscious green untouched grass!). 

he puts his right foot fore, he puts his left foot back, he puts his right foot fore and he shakes it all about is massively asymmetric whoops

For some background: I brought Charlie home in Sept 2016 after his last race in Aug of that year. And he had his first chiro/acupuncture appt that January. The chiro immediately noted that Charlie's shoulders were very uneven. Recall -- a horse's shoulders attach to his skeleton by muscle not bone, and Charlie's muscling had developed such that his shoulders are uneven in both height and relative position.

flashback to 2016: a skinnier more angular and somehow-even-more-awkward Charlie, standing how he stands.

It didn't take long for me to realize this was probably related to Charlie's awkward grazing stance, pictured above, AND related to his tendency to underrun his RF heel. 

ooooh omg tho -- is he, omg, almost square up front?!

Thus, our "Chicken or the Egg?" question. What became uneven first -- his shoulders? And therefore he stood funny? Or was there a hoof problem for which his shoulders compensated? 

Or, alternatively, it was suggested that sometimes young horses, esp gangly giant 2yo TBs beginning their racing careers, might be so tight in their backs that they can't comfortably reach the ground to graze -- and thus develop the strange stance? 

lol aaaand another 2017 goofy flashback: when he legit used to literally step inside his water troughs to drink....

Obvi I'll never really know the answer. But... It's interesting that... Ya know. The horse is still asymmetric. Maybe it was unrealistically optimistic that we'd be able to undo literally years of formative muscular and skeletal development. Esp considering that, ahem, yours truly ain't exactly the most balanced individual either....

i swear, i don't need any help driving my own self crazy

I think we've fixed *some* of it, tho. Like, Charlie's hooves are generally in good shape and he has plenty of heel on that RF these days. And while he still stands a little awkwardly at times, it's not nearly as exaggerated or pronounced as it used to be. 

omg charlie don't stand like that you'll club *both* your feet!! wait....

But. Uh, cough cough, I about lost my shit when some random dude at a schooling show last year was asking me all these questions about Charlie, and then outta nowhere was like, "But that club foot tho."

Excuse me, what?!??

to be clear, he was spying on me too tho

Cue immediate (and indignant) google searches. Not only was I mortified that somebody might call my serviceably sound and obviously awkward horse imperfect omg. But also.... Being 100% honest here, I could straight up not even tell which flipping foot the guy was talking about.... And, for those of you who just assume I'm clueless, neither could my more knowledgeable friends. 

this stance is not nearly as aggressive as it used to be. still enough to make for an unmatched front end tho

That was sorta a dusty backwaters barn full of folks I'd never met before and haven't met since, so basically I just shrugged it off and was like, "Ugh my horse is fine and he has a good team."

But then.... Ugh somebody I actually trust and respect recently echoed a similar sentiment, remarking on Charlie's "somewhat clubbish" hoof. Which obviously inspired a whole new cycle of panic completely disassociated from the actual animal himself, who, again, is doing just fine. 

also an unmatched set of shoulders. which, ya know, explains some stuff lol

But ya know. I don't exactly need an engraved invitation to hyperventilate. So here we are. Obsessing again over Charlie's asymmetries and front feet that are not a matched set. 

this pic is a few months old but the best i could find of both fronts in one shot

Luckily, tho, it takes too much energy to stay too excited for very long, plus I've had a chance to talk to a couple MVPs on Team Charlie. Who both basically confirmed that an "unmatched set" does not equal "a club foot." And while we could basically work out which foot these folks meant (hint: the one on which Charlie stands in a more upright fashion), it's clinically marginal.

he don't seem to mind tho

My farrier's position is, he won't mess with asymmetries without clear intent and knowledge of what he's gonna do and why. Basically saying, symmetry alone (especially in hooves) is not a sufficient goal -- and furthermore, forcing symmetry where it doesn't naturally want to be may be a direct route to significant lameness. My vet agreed, saying that barring any direct presentation in the horse, she's reluctant to change management styles. 

Which, obvi, those two voices matter significantly more to me than probably any other tedious litanies from the peanut gallery. 

But still, tho. Damn, am I the only one who can hear remarks like that and be like, "OMG this thing I've literally never even considered before is sure to be our eternal doom and damnation omg!!1!" Or... Is that just me lol? Has anybody else ever been completely taken aback or shocked by some random unsolicited remark lobbed at your poor pony?! Hopefully no... but if yes, how did you deal with it???