________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CONTRIBUTE | ADVERTISE | SHOP | COMMUNITY | CAST | REVIEWS | CONTACT
2015-12-15: Hi! You're probably here because you did a Google search for 'plus sized horseback riders' or you saw my content quoted elsewhere. There are a couple of things I'd like you to know.

I am still here! But I am living away from my horses and not riding often. I could tell you a lie and say that I am, but I have always endeavored to give you the truth here. As a result, I'm not feeling terribly motivated to write blog posts and I feel out of touch with the community.

I'd love for you to stay a while and look back through the archives. Visit the links listed below. We still have an active forum community and I post on the Facebook page from time to time.

I have tentative plans to try to get more involved in the horse world in 2016, and I will absolutely share whatever that adventure becomes with you, so keep checking back!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Relieved!

Just a note to say I feel like a dunce.

In my brain, I have had images of laminitis, long term treatments, chronic lameness and a pasture sound only mare over the last two or three days.

I soaked her last night because I figured it was an abcsess - or at least that was what I was determined to decide that it was because the other options were too scary and daunting. After that, I brought her out into the yard to take some pictures of her feet as some members on a forum I frequent wanted to see. She was MORE lame than before, so I figured "hey, abcsess is drawing out!". Squared her up to take some pictures of her (mostly to prove that she can't be obese enough to be laminitic - or that was my argument anyways), and then lifted the "bad foot" to brush it off and take a picture of the sole.

After some digging with my bare fingers, I discovered a small black crescent shaped rock lodged in the spot where her frog divides toward the heel. I had looked over her feet time and time again looking for something but never noticed it. The soak must have drawn it out a little - dug it out and there was a bit of a hole, so we're going to go aggressive to avoid any infection. Why did my farrier miss it? Because it appeared to be a natural part of her hoof! I missed it for days.

I've never been so relieved in my life! I was completely ready to pursue aggressive treatment for whatever lameness she had to figure out what was going on with her, etc. Boy am I ever glad I didn't call the vet out and run up a few hundred dollars' worth of diagnostics bills! Hopefully she will be right as rain within a few days - I'm going to keep soaking her to keep it clean and keep some dressing on the hole to avoid infection.

In the meantime, here is a picture of her *sad face* "Why do you torture MEEEEEEE?" last night while I was soaking her. Yes, there is too much water in there - I was trying to get the temperature right!

7 comments:

  1. Please don't feel like a dunce...or at least, don't feel alone in feeling that way!! A couple of months ago I went through something similar with one of my geldings. I'm sure I engaged in "overkill" trying to treat a case of thrush (at least, by the time my wonderful farrier arrived he didn't seem nearly as worried about what was going on as I was. He was rather matter-of-fact about it. Although he has seen a lot more feet than I have over his 20 year farrier career.) You love your horses, you take great care of them...and apparently, this crescent-shaped foreign object in your horse's hoof was NOT easily visible until you did some soaking. So take heart...and thank goodness, it doesn't seem that you're dealing with laminitis. You're doing a great job!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have to say I am a worrywart too. I felt horrible when I noticed that I had ridden my horse without a shoe without noticing even though she was still sound. It wasn't even painful for her but I still felt really bad. I resolved to pick out her feet every time I ride so I can get the farrier out sooner if I need to.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Amanda - do you ever post to the COTH (Chronicle of the Horse) message board? There is a gal over there who is asking if she is too big for her horse and who seems discouraged. I thought maybe if you have time you can pop over there. You are such an inspirational person! http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=264376

    Char

    ReplyDelete
  4. Char, I went over - I am not sure how coherent I was! I go by 'wasagroom' there, and have gotten into my fair share of arguments about fat riders!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Amanda - I didn't know how to email or PM you privately.

    You really are inspiring you know!

    I am conditioning myself and Delight for a 30 miler next month. My horse is less than 15 hands and I am in the "heavy weight" division with out my tack. Have lost a few pounds though, and we are both getting into shape! I am tired of waiting for the planets to align, because I know they are not going to until *I* make them.

    My riding buddy and I have a new blog if you want to check it out - http://sandrachar.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  6. hi amanda.
    could you possibly send me an email. I want to talk about your horse Brownyn.My mare is the splittin image of her except she is 13hh.maybe related?
    thank
    janine

    ReplyDelete
  7. hi amanda
    my email janineandsandy@ns.sympatico.ca.i am the one that's mare looks just like bronwyn.
    thanks
    janine

    ReplyDelete