Tristan's New Year's Resolution

...well, his first resolution is to get sound again already, but he also has a more traditional one.

Last week, I pulled him out of his stall to groom and fuss and work on banging his feet with a hoof pick to keep him on his behavioral improvement track for the farrier. I looked at him in the light of the aisle and my heart stopped: was he getting bloated?

I checked gut sounds, I checked gum color, I checked his water and hay, I checked his general demeanor.

No. Not bloated. Just fat.

Soooooo, starting this week, my easy keeper little mustang will have his grain cut back. He'd continued his feeding based on what he was eating at Flatlands, but he's definitely added weight. I'm sure it's a combination of smaller turnout + not walking around in said turnout as much due to being alone + possible differences in the hay.

I'd like stick to cutting grain instead of cutting hay, as the grain gets inhaled in a matter of minutes and the hay keeps him occupied for longer. We'll see how the diet plan goes in the next few weeks!

No news is...no news

Well, there is some bad news, which is that Tris is quite lame on his right front. It could be aggravation of the abscess holes. It could be the poor shape of the foot from being left to grow for so long. It could be that he has strained some of the soft tissues and tendons in the foot.

The cure for all three will be time, so for now we are waiting. The real litmus test will be after his next farrier visit, at the end of January. The foot has grown enough that the bottom hole will be almost to the toe by then, and miiiight even open up with the next trim. We'll see.

In the meantime, he's happy and I get to see him every day. I've been easing him on to his new Reitsport Senior, and he'll be on full doses by Saturday. He has a turnout buddy, whom he likes enough to do some playing with. He's even getting a little fat, so we may be easing off his grain a bit. I'm glad we're in a place where I'm happy to keep waiting, nervous as I get sometimes.

Make that ten steps back...

So. The report from the farrier.

As I suspected, Tristan's hoof was grown out to the point where its flare was putting additional pressures on the hoof wall, separating them even further. This would be exactly why I asked the farrier in MA to trim him before we left.

The farrier will work on Tris in the morning. The holes are expanded to the point that he fears there is a very real chance that as he defines to trim, a chunk will fall away entirely. If that happens, he will have to rebuild with epoxy or by casting the foot.

I have my fingers crossed that his naturally good hoof strength will help him here, and the wall will hold. I don't know whether that's a pipe dream or not. After a day spent on the edge of my seat waiting for a diagnosis, tomorrow might be even worse as I wait to hear whether Tris still has all if his foot or not...

Two steps forward...

Saturday night, Tris got a massage from a dear friend, and she found and worked through some nasty tight spots from his right front. Sunday, I hand walked him for a bit to get his kinks out, and did some stretches with his right front leg.

Today, he came in from turnout really quite lame on that &$&)€}% right front. He did not loosen out of it with a turn around he indoor, so I cleaned out his foot and soaked it. I am holding off on despair until the farrier looks at him on Wednesday, an event I will hopefully be able to attend.

Sigh.