happy feet

It was exactly this time last year, under extremely similar circumstances — extended periods of frozen ground and exclusively indoor-only riding — that we first observed a strange mystery NQR-ness in Doozy. It started off as a suspected bruise, but kinda spiraled from there.

happiest hand grazer <3

My immensely practical vet has an established method (almost, perhaps, scientific?? lol) for assessing this sort of thing, including evaluating and eliminating normal / common causes and solutions first before proceeding with more complex diagnostics. 

As such, over the next ~4 months we did a bute test, took time off, reintroduced work while limiting tight turns or small circles (tricky to do in a narrow indoor while sharing space), did multiple lameness exams with flexion tests, nerve blocks, rads… injected a fetlock, added hind shoes, put the mare on equioxx…. 

“but wait, wtf is that??”

And probably other stuff I’m forgetting too… Alongside, naturally, typical holistic wellness type activities like chiro / acupuncture, magna wave and saddle fittings. 

Throughout it all, the NQR-ness would come and go somewhat mysteriously. Either there or not there. Never getting worse. Not increasing over the course of a ride, nor would Doozy ‘work out of it.’ She was either taking lame steps, or not. Until, eventually, it disappeared entirely by mid spring and the mare remained consistently reliably sound ever after. 

friggin cats gettin their paw prints everywhere!

Until. Ahem. Midway through winter, after an extended period of frozen ground and exclusively indoor-only riding for a while now. In a recent ride, Doozy again took a couple of those same exact characteristically NQR steps.

being stalkerish in the hopes of being fed lol

Throughout all our diagnostics last year, my vet never felt like we could fully eliminate the possibility that the main issue was essentially a bruised hoof. My farrier seconded this opinion, with observations of a chronic pressure point in Doozy’s sole, most likely attributed to her imperfect forelimb conformation.*

(*In other words, homegirl has some significant twisting and crookedness in both front legs.)

anyway, onto the real point of the matter:
Doozy’s chronic pressure point, a result of her imperfect forelimb conformation

Doozy’s legs are not straight, and therefore her hooves are… well. Not exactly textbook. But she has a clean, sound way of moving — and my farrier has worked hard to ensure a level even footfall. Rads from last year confirmed that basically everything about the feet are healthy even if the ‘shape’ isn’t classically correct. 

But this little pressure point is basically always there. Well, not always always. It apparently becomes more pronounced in winter. After extended periods of frozen ground, when we’re riding mostly in a narrow indoor whose footing is fine but not exactly the most modern stuff in the world. And when maybe the hoof isn’t growing as fast as it would on summer pasture.

pictured: two imperfect forelimbs. the chronic pressure point is on her medial left front sole, so the hoof on the right side of this picture, on the inside closer to her midline. 

Adding pads was on our list of things to try last year, but with how her shoeing cycle intertwined with our other tests, it was never quite the right time to try. We wanted to do one thing at a time — like adding hind shoes! — to try to see what worked. And obviously, once she became reliably sound by mid spring, there didn’t seem to be much wisdom with continuing to tinker, ya know?

When I felt that funny feeling again tho, literally days before our recent farrier appointment, pads seemed like as good as any place to start. 

oooh Doozy’s gettin her own fancy boat shoes!!

Doozy doesn’t really react to the hoof testers on that pressure point. Which… Realistically she’s probably had that spot, or something like it, for most of her life. And recall, our nerve blocks from last year were inconclusive on whether her discomfort originated in the hoof or higher up. 

farrier likes using R.A.T.E. Hoof Packing under the pads, and generally prefers using natural materials vs synthetics like dental impression (tho it depends on the use case). past farriers have used magic cushion too

But our current hypothesis is that some combination of repeated and cumulative exposure to frozen ground + hard footing + exclusively small turns + limited hoof growth = exacerbation of her existing conformational flaws. 

one shoe!!

Other factors in support of this hypothesis include the intermittency of the NQR-ness, literally from one day to the next. And the fact that whether it presents or not seems to be related to where we are — as in, what ring, what footing. 

two shoes!!

All of this makes me hopeful that adding a little cushion via leather pads can mitigate the issue entirely. Sure, I might be rationalizing the known facts, rearranging them to fit this new narrative. But. Eh. It makes sense to me, my farrier and my vet, and seems like a worthy trial. 

As always, I am NOT a professional on ANY of this stuff. If you have similar concerns or experiences, it’s best to confer with the trusted members of your own team and circle. And also as always, unless I’ve remitted payment to you in the last 12 months, you are not among *my* trusted circle. Feel free to disagree with our approach as you like.

time will tell but i’m optimistic!

Realistically, Doozy is a thoroughbred with generations of human-engineered selective breeding. She’s pretty explicitly far from the typical adaptations you’d see in nature, where “survival of the fittest” drives gene selection. As such, she may require throughout her life various interventions to comfortably live out her days. 

and anyway. cats.

And that’s before we even consider the realities of what she needs to be successful in sport. Which, by “success” I don’t mean actually literally winning, I just mean being comfortable, capable, and resilient to the training, conditioning and exercise of it all. 

Especially with all her extra, errr, expressiveness… It’s integral for my confidence in our approach to training that I can reasonably rule out discomfort as a source of the behaviors we sometimes experience, know what I mean? Ymmv, obvi. 

So I’m honestly pretty excited by this little experiment. There was only one ride where I thought I felt the funny steps, and we basically immediately made this change in shoeing. If the funny steps never reappear again, I’ll be a very happy camper. If not, that’s fine too. Well. Not “fine” but you know what I mean. We’ll try the next thing on the list lol. 

At least we know from last year that… the mare never got “worse,” and in fact eventually became completely 100% better for all of late spring, summer, fall, and early winter. That’s a pretty confidence-inspiring history, so we’ll see what happens!

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???

friday foto finish (part v)

Work (+ play) trips took over my life a little bit last week, general sadness about my horse's latest ding reigned supreme the week prior, and the week before that.... Idk, who can remember that far back??

how now, brown uphill cow

Suffice it to say, tho, that over the past few weeks I've had all manner of random pictures collecting on my phone. Shots I'd like to share, little tidbits if you will, but that don't necessarily merit an entire dedicated post. Like. Uh. How my vet shot the above photo for Charlie's coggins and somehow managed to make him look more uphill than he's ever looked in his entire life. 

I'm sure it's some sort of optical illusion or black magic haha (or run of the mill sloping ground...), but I'll take it!!

our second-to-last evening hack of the season!!

Likewise, before Charlie decided to take his little splint-induced hiatus, we'd been doing a fair amount of hacking. I'm the kind of rider who drives into the barn giving myself little pep talks like, "C'mon Emma, sunset is at 6:30. Just knock the dust off that horse in like 5min, throw the tack on, and hit the trails while there's still light!"

Except.... 30min later I'm still mindlessly methodically meticulously swiping away at Charlie's fuzzy winter coat, scratching all his itchy spots, rubbing his ears, etc. So.... evening hacks are basically done for the season, esp now with the upcoming clock change. Sadness :(

ooooh it's an Austen! and a Bast!

The competition season is also rapidly coming to a close. Tho happily I was able to make it out for Austen's most recent schooling dressage show with Bast! This would have been the day before Charlie's last event of the season, so.... ya know.... a while back haha.

austen is trying to massage some sense into that noggin. it might have worked too!

It made for a busy day on my end since I had to hustle back to my own barn to walk my xc courses and then get Charlie ridden in preparation for our own event. It was totally worth it tho! I've only gotten to meet Bast in person a handful of times since Austen brought him home, but he's growing and maturing and settling so much, he's almost a different horse every time!

lyra: not impressed

What's not different, tho? The dogs haha. Esp Lyra. She is such an old world weary pro at these horse shows lol <3

meanwhile. charlie takes his lunch to go plz!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Charlie's leg does actually resemble a reasonably normal appendage again. This picture is old (but adorable so I'm posting it haha), but the leg basically looks the way it did pre-aggravation. The calcified bump from April is still there, but that's it.

evening hacks are out now, but weekends are fair game!

I'm hugely relieved, obviously, but still skeptical. Charlie's legs are so high mileage, so ..... not clean haha, that sometimes I can convince myself of anything when I assess them. And spending a week away from him only makes me want to second guess myself even more....

"Has that blood vessel always protruded so much?"   "Is this spot normally so squishy??"   "Did his fetlocks get even bigger or is that just my imagination?!?"

random rainbow bc why not, who doesn't need a rainbow every now and then

So idk. He felt surprisingly keen (in his own special quiet lethargic lumbering kind of way) for our 20min ride spent walking around the dressage ring on the buckle. Doing what I consider 'supervised wandering:' Testing the whoa and go and steering, pushing laterally to see what happens, encouraging a lighter front end with the occasional square turn.

it's hard to tell exactly what's happening here tho.... except there are dogs

But all the same, our season is over. There is nothing important on the calendar. And honestly I'm broker than a joke right now so even lessons are a stretch. All of which means: We'll ease back into it. I might have to get a little creative to keep us interested now that we're back to nighttime riding.... but it'll be fine.

oh yea, that's right. jump judgin. so so so much jump judging in my life lately.
also let it be known: Asterid and i are BFFs #4lyfe <3

As will surprise exactly nobody at this point, I've been otherwise filling my time by volunteering. Really I swear there was such careful planning that went into this too... For instance, the Stephen Bradley clinic that I entered (ya know, it was scheduled on the day when I discovered Charlie's fun new splint injury...) was to take place on Loch Moy's competition course.

drama of another flavor on my morning walks!

This meant that the standard cross country schooling passes I've been earning all season as a volunteer weren't valid for this -- a limitation I was not aware of previously. But volunteers at their last big recognized event of the year (which included their first annual BN3DE!!!!) would be granted the special passes that would cover the $75 schooling fee normally charged on top of the clinic lesson fee.

birds are cool, yo

Obvi, bc of aforementioned "broker than a joke" status, it seemed highly prudent to volunteer haha. I signed up to be xc warm up steward (my fave!) but ended up getting shuffled out on course as a jump judge bc they were short handed. A bit of a bummer, but at least Austen et al. kept me company after she finished her scribe shift!!

Obvi even more of a bummer was not even being able to ride in the clinic after all that anyway.... Ugh. I might just have to stop signing up for clinics with Charlie bc this whole "non refundable" business has really screwed me this year. Sigh.

coloring books are more fun when auntie em gives you a new design to color in

Life goes on tho, as always! The horse appears healthy and happy and fuzzy, so what more could I ask? Meanwhile, my niece and nephew apparently have not forgotten watching Charlie's and my last competition. Especially the, erm, gas powered stadium round haha. Suffice it to say: my nephew is officially a huge fan haha!

iz a work of art

I got to go trick or treating with them this week, and made sure to promise my nephew a suuuuuper fun video soon, full of all his favorite sound effects. Bc oh yea, the down time has also given me the perfect opportunity to get a head start on my annual "best of" and "blooper reel" compilation videos. It's gonna be a good one, toot toot!

You'll just have to wait for that, tho (unless I get impatient and upload early haha). In the meantime, Happy Friday, everyone! Hope you all have a great weekend too ;)

FEH East Coast Championships: Conformation

This past weekend I tried out another new volunteer role: scribing at the Future Event Horse East Coast Championships at Loch Moy. Specifically, I was there for the conformation portion (unfortunately was not able to make my schedule work with the free jumping phases! next time!!).

shenanigans ensued!! and the usea photog was nice enough to let me snap a shot of this excellent moment that i was too slow to capture myself lol

I signed up mostly bc it seemed interesting and volunteerism is a big part of my goals this year. Plus Loch Moy is one of my favorite venues for volunteering, so I'm always eager to help out at any of their many events.

 baby horses in the rain!! via GIPHY

It seemed like a fantastic opportunity to learn a little more about what judges and breeders are looking for in the next generation of upper level event horses.

was surprised to not see as much overlap between this entry list and the YEH entries in terms of riders/handlers, tho there are some who are hallmarks of both classes (lookin at you, Martin!)

I've never claimed to be much of a conformation aficionado. In fact, quite the opposite: I'll be the first to admit that my eye for this sort of thing is not particularly well developed. In my humble opinion, many adult amateurs are often too fixated on the ideas of quality, talent and potential, at the expense of other attributes that are maybe more essential to amateur success at the lower levels. Like brain, disposition, temperament, etc.

some of these 2yos were damn impressive

It's not a super popular opinion, as evidenced by the somewhat controversial post I wrote on the subject and some of the subsequent commentary.... But I stand by that opinion.

this one had an extremely fancy trot!

Regardless, I'm still very interested in continuing my education in this area. To this end, scribing for this event was in fact quite useful. I learned a lot about what factors the judges are looking for in each horse when it comes to type, build, and movement.

a lot of them had feelings about the rain and puddles, but were all extremely well handled

Tho let's be real: just bc I heard the judges using certain terminology and describing certain aspects of each horse doesn't mean I could similarly identify those same aspects myself haha.

Some horses had this sort of obvious "impressiveness" about them that made them stand out from the rest, but even so, most of the distinctions the judges made were well beyond what my own naked eye can immediately see.

i believe this lovely chestnut Jaguar My won the 2yo colts class

I'll do my best to recount the details for you anyway, tho. There were four classes: 2 year olds and yearlings, one class each for colts and fillies. Judges used the same test sheet for both age groups, tho obviously there's a pretty big difference in build from a yearling to a two year old.

Many of the 2yos were already quite well built, whereas the yearlings were presented in all variations of growth spurts. Comes with the territory tho! And it's worth noting: while many of the yearlings were in awkward growth stages, changeable attributes like being croup high did not appear to impact overall scoring at all. Rather, it was the fixed elements of conformation (angles and such) that judges focused on.

he definitely had that certain something, that eye catching quality

Each handler began their presentation by bringing the horses to the "triangle" (visible in the background above) and standing the horses up for a preliminary inspection by the two judges.

Once the judges felt like they'd seen enough, the handlers walked the horses out to that yellow flower box visible in the mid left edge of the above picture, then walked across that middle ground line of poles, finally walking straight back to the judges. They then repeated the same circuit - except at trot and going all the way to the far back edge of the triangle above instead of cutting across the middle.

example of the score sheet and commentary for a well scoring horse

Then the handlers stood the horses up one last time for the judges to finalize their impressions before returning to the tent to confer. The two judges discussed each horse at length, and talked through any disagreements to ensure their scores weren't wildly off base from each other.

the judges were very forgiving of baby horses being.... baby horses

But ultimately each arrived at his own individual commentary and scores. Thus each judge had his own scribe and each horse received two test sheets at the end of the day.

pictures with the judges and competitors after the class was pinned!

The first part of the score sheet was all about Type. Specifically, the presence of "refining blood." I took this to understand the desire to continue introducing more thoroughbred blood into the bloodlines.

Judges wanted to see horses with a lighter build, more refined (vs coarse) connection points through the body. As opposed to the thicker, heavier warmblood build that is often less quick over the ground or able to hold up to the rigors of upper level eventing.

walkin in sync!! via GIPHY

Next block on the test sheet was Conformation: Frame, wherein the judges wanted to see fluid toplines, smooth connecting points in the body, a nice head and neck, and a general overall proportionate build. In this section they'd review areas like how the neck ties in to the body, or the shoulder angle, for instance.

obvi there's a big difference between yearlings and 2yos but.... still. wow.

It's notable that while some horses received comments along the lines of "under developed" neck or topline, the judges were actually pretty ok with this especially among the yearlings. With the idea being that a yearling with a big thick well developed neck is probably going to continue to thicken and grow heavier as it ages. Thus sorta negating that desire for the more refined overall build.

i was impressed with how quickly the judges could isolate the strengths and weaknesses with each horse!

Next portion on the test sheet was Conformation: Legs and Feet. This would be the area where I know the absolute least haha. Full disclosure. But this was actually often the sticking point for many of the horses. Particularly, I often heard the judges say quietly to each other (absolutely not to the competitors, obvi), "lovely horse but you couldn't buy that forelimb."

walking across the mid section of the triangle via GIPHY

The most common defect observed by the judges was not enough bone below the knees. I guess this issue comes hand in hand with breeding for a lighter and lighter, more refined horse. The lighter build often comes at the expense of lighter limbs. But the judges still wanted to see strong bone through the cannons (not too long!), correct pasterns and angles, and good quality feet.

this lovely yearling colt Royal Casino i believe won his class

The judges were also quick to identify any conformation flaws like being over or behind at the knee, or just a bit "flat" kneed (many examples were had through the classes). They also identified feet they found too boxy and would include on the commentary advice for handlers to keep an eye out for any one limb that looked suspect.

sure isn't much there not to like, eh?

It was interesting tho, bc even some of the most nicely built horses with the nicest movement lost out big time (sometimes with leg/feet scores close to 2 points lower than the rest!) bc of flaws in the lower forelimbs. And the judges kept coming back to "But you wouldn't buy that leg."

Bc again, this is all about developing talent and models for the upper level of the sport. And at the upper levels.... conformation flaws can often mean breakdowns.

another example of commentary describing a horse the judges liked

Anyway, next on the sheet comes Movement, with individual scores (and different coefficients) for the Walk and Trot. Walk has a higher coefficient bc it's also the gait that tells you more about how the horse might canter or gallop. This is always so important for me personally to remember bc I fully admit to being suckered in by a pretty trot.

But.... The trot alone ain't enough for a winning event horse. As evidenced by the fanciest trotting horse we saw all day actually ending up scoring the worst over all in his class, oops!

this horse looked like he kinda wanted to play with us under the tent lol

For the walk, they wanted to see a very fluid, natural "throughness" in the horse that presented as good overstep and relaxed oscillation in the neck. They wanted "march" in the steps too, placing each hoof with purpose rather than kinda just plodding along.

this little filly was fancy and she totally knew it haha via GIPHY

In the trot they wanted to see engagement and hind end activity, combined with good reach through the shoulder. Tho it was my impression that the hind end activity was the priority here. Funnily enough, tho, in some ways the puddles worked to the handlers' advantage since a lot of the baby horses were especially active through the muck haha.

For both gaits, tho, a correct rhythm was a must. And while obviously it's tough to ask baby horses to not have tension in this sort of setting, they really wanted to see those moments when the horse would really be loose and soft over their backs. 

hijinks abound!

I thought it was cool tho how forgiving the judges were of all the baby horse shenanigans. There was zero commentary, actually, on presentation in terms of grooming or tack. And while one handler went a bit off course in her presentation on the triangle, quite a few got dragged wayyyyyy off their lines, and almost all experienced breaking gaits at some point or another, the judges really didn't seem to mind at all.

They just went wherever they had to go to get a good look at the horses. And if they felt like they needed to see more walk or trot, they just asked the handler to do another circuit. Nbd, and no impact on scoring.

unrelated: loch moy always has a collection of shoes found on the xc course, many of which still have the studs attached. i'm always fascinated by the different shapes, sizes, types, and materials!

Tho they did often observe on the quality of handling we saw at this event: saying that all the horses seemed very well presented. Which makes sense since a lot of the pros in these classes have specifically carved out their niches in the horse world by focusing on developing young talent. So... ya know.... this is basically what they do haha.

Anyway, last score on the test sheet was General Impression, which also had a high coefficient. The judges would often provide commentary on the "whole package" of the horse, like the above comment "Athletic prospect with conformation to match." And this is basically the score that kinda separates the "would buy" horses from the... rest haha.

Personally I probably would have taken literally any of these horses home lol. A few in particular just had such sweet eyes and expressions! But. Ya know. Maybe in another lifetime! All the same it was really cool to get to see such amazing young horses and listen to the judges converse about the ideal "model" horse for the future of eventing.

From a volunteer perspective, it was a pretty easy gig. If you like scribing and don't mind being on your feet while doing so, it's totally worth your time! Think you'd ever sign up for something like this? Or maybe attend some sort of clinic or educational program focused on this topic?

Is conformation something you're really passionate about? Or are you more like me, kinda fuzzy on the finer details but think it's interesting from an academic perspective? Or maybe you have a young horse and see these types of classes in your future? Or have already participated and have a different perspective to offer?