next steps for charlie

Ever since Charlie's gigantic subsolar abscess last January, and subsequent loss of sole, he's had a really hard time with hoof trims. A few things kinda all went wrong all at the same time that created this terrible cycle of intensely acute lameness and compensation. 

the goodest boy, snoozing thru his spa session

It takes a long time for a horse to regrow their sole. And in the meantime, Charlie was compensating so heavily on his other supporting forelimb that eventually both front hooves -- the originally injured hoof and then the compensating hoof -- became increasingly unhealthy. All the angles and whatnot changed, his toe got way out of control, heels contracted.... all the things, basically.

misty mornings at the farm!

All that meant that during his routine hoof trims, the farriers were always trying to strike a balance between returning his feet to healthy angles and shapes --- but conservatively enough to not make him very lame again. And ya know, it's hard to get that balance right every time. And yea, at some point we switched farriers in the process.... But still faced the same conundrum.

lol charlie is so above it all

Throughout it all, tho, everybody involved in Charlie's care team maintained that there is every reason to expect him to eventually return to normal soundness. That his feet should heal. That we just needed to be patient.

And guys --- it finally happened!!! Charlie made it through a trim soundly!! Like, maybe a touch tender. But SOUND. For the first time since.... Well, since the original injury in January. 

barn panther Icee! stop biting people and we'll be friends, buddy!

It's hard to really explain how much that means to me, too. It's been a few months now since I had to confront the reality that stepping down from jumping or retiring entirely could be possible outcomes for my athletic 14yo unicorn. And it might be a few months more until we really know for sure if his feet will hold up to a return to 'normal.'

doing barn panther things, sipping from barn yard puddles lol

So obviously in the meantime, I had to do a little bit of soul searching -- taking stock of my goals and evaluating the current landscape of my horsey life. Throughout Charlie's extended lameness I'd done a lot of diversification of my horse habit, getting my fix through other channels like volunteering, supporting my friends, coaching, more behind-the-scenes competition administration and officiating....

ooooh look who was comfortable enough for a hack the day after getting his feet done!

But ya know. There's a good piece of advice out there about "Keeping the main thing, the main thing." I still want to ride. Charlie is staying with me for life, whether he's a riding horse or not, but I do want a riding horse. So, ya know, Doozy entered the picture and it's been an enormous sense of relief getting back to the "main thing" in my horsey endeavors.

so nice to hack out in the xc fields again <3

And now Charlie is finally showing tangible signs of improving hoof health -- walking away soundly from a trim. And now we're getting into the time of year that's easiest for his hooves --- no more rock hard ground and stomping at flies. It's also an easier time of year in terms of riding intensity, too.

turned into a beautiful afternoon after all the mist burnt off

So basically, pretty excellent conditions for starting to think about Charlie stepping back up again. But I want to be careful and intentional about it, ya know? Right now he feels incredible --- but hocky lol. I've been waiting to do his hocks until his feet were farther along, for a lot of reasons, but now we're here and his appointment is tomorrow. 

just normal barn stuff

Feels like I've legged this horse up so many times in our years together... But this has been without a doubt his most significant period of downtime. 

Luckily he's been consistently turned out for ~12hrs a day for the last couple months (after being stall bound for what felt like ages in late winter / spring). And we've been able to stay relatively 'active' in his recovery, with generally routine walkabouts and hacks, etc. 

So he isn't exactly starting from zero. But it's still to be determined how well his feet hold up to more and heavier usage --- more trotting, more cantering, eventually some jumps again. We'll see. It's all ahead of us --- but I am so excited at the prospect of maybe getting my favorite riding horse back <3 <3