Sorry for the lack of updates, Mojo is intermittently lame still so we haven’t done much. I have taken him in the school to do some straight lines over poles and last time Liz lunged him – before the trimmer was due – we thought he was just a bit stiff but he was slightly lame still after a little trot.
Liz and I got Mojo and Smoke in yesterday, nearly fell over in the puddles. So we left them in to dry out a bit. Mojo was good with his feet, all cleaned and field paste applied. He did trot up lame on his right fore, more so when he tripped as he turned to trot towards me. He was sound when the physio came a couple of weeks ago.
A few weeks ago Mojo was in the school, fine in walk but when I asked him to trot he was hopping. We took him back to the yard to check him and his feet were hot and pulses were felt to be bounding. So he was stabled and a visiting farrier had a look at him and thought he had an abscess, so we poulticed his foot, he was extremely good about it.
A nice pink bandage on Mojo’s foot.
Over the next few days there was some black gooey stuff on the poultice so we then dry poulticed. He was then seen by another hoof trimmer as I couldn’t get mine out at short notice. He suspected something metabolic, so we called the vet to check and take bloods.Trotting up for the vet he was not as lame but still sore and worse on flexion tests. No pulses felt.
Bloods came back negative for anything metabolic, but he was still 3/5 lame on his right fore.
On the 8th April 2021 Mojo still slightly lame, vet came out and did flexion tests, positive on left fore and very positive on the right. Back on bute and rest, and x-rays booked.
23rd April 2021 x-rays taken of front feet and both hocks.
Mojo was very good, he put his feet on the blocks and stood still for the front feet and one hock. He was very protective of his right hock but it was done with no sedation – just lots of treats.
Lots of changes in both fetlocks and multiple small avulsion fragments of the sesamoids.Hocks didn’t seem too bad so the plan is to turn out – he doesn’t run about anyway, and keep on bute for now.
One of the x-rays – not easy to see as he wouldn’t put weight on it so it isn’t straight.
Mojo had been got in by the yard – too muddy for me to get in the field. He seemed relaxed but did have his ears back, so may be there was some frustration creeping there. I tried to slow down and speed up my walking but there was no way he was going to trot. Trot needs much more work – he will trot if I have his head collar and lead rope on. I will re-watch the videos with regard to getting trot on cue. He will trot over poles if I throw a frisbee or have him on line. Will try and video that next time.
I am doing the Connection Trainings course on starting to lunge, this starts with going round a round pen.
We have done this before but Mojo was a little unsure what to do.
Around a round pen.
Mojo wasn’t too sure what to do as we haven’t done this for a while. He was a little distracted by the sand school mirror and the other liveries going down the drive.
The first video shows him following the longer target and he is a bit sticky and shows some frustration when it keeps moving.
The next video I tried a longer stick but he got totally confused by that, so we did some poles exercises and some cone targeting. He then seemed ready to have another go.
The last video I walked on the outside of the pen and he seemed more confident doing that, then I went back in the pen, and he followed my hand rather than the target stick. He is a little distracted as one of the other horses is going down the drive.
We are still in lockdown so I try to keep my journeys to a minimum.
Mojo has been good with his feet, but when the trimmer came we had to go to the pony yard. Our part of the yard was having a new stable built. So he was a little on his toes to start with. He did settle but then spooked big time when the trimmer arrived. We tried to do his hinds first – as they weren’t done last time, but no he wasn’t having that. So we did his fronts, he settled and lifted them up, he did fidget a bit but was good with them on the hoof stand.
Mojo waiting for the trimmer
When I got him out on Monday he was very lively but after a little trot round the school was very good with his feet, they were picked out, sprayed and field paste applied. So it is not that he can’t lift them up but there is a deep seated mistrust of trimmers/farriers.
August 20th 2020, Mojo had his teeth done by the vet under sedation. So I asked my hoof trimmer to come at the same time. We have been working on getting him OK with putting his feet on our small hoof stand.
The hoof trimmer did as much as possible on his front feet before he was sedated. Then once the vet finished his teeth, she started on the hinds. He did need a bit of extra sedation but the vet was fine with that. Mojo only had a small amount for his teeth. All four feet were trimmed well and treated for thrush (it as been very wet recently and even though his feet seemed fine 2 days ago they needed treating).
I am so pleased with how well he coped with all this. We will continue with the hoof stand training, it did seem as if he was better for me to clean his feet with them on the stand. I wondered if he felt more secure with them resting on something more solid than my hand.
Mojo had his feet trimmed today – July 3rd 2020. This was the first time the trimmer had been since January. He was very good with all but the right side hind, he had a little bit rasped of that but not done completely. Mojo even held his front feet on the hoof stand, so very pleased with him today. All that rasping with him resting his feet on the mini blocks seems to have paid dividends.
We managed both fronts yesterday and got him to put his hinds on the block. Today Liz’s farrier came and looked at them, showed Liz how to nip bits off and even nipped some excess frog off one front. So we are doing things right and his fronts look a good shape.
Mojo was great with his feet, we only did the fronts. Liz feels it better to get those solid resting on the block before we go to the hinds. This was the first time with the block too, he sniffed and then wasn’t bothered when Liz placed his foot on it, he just stood quietly even when she wasn’t rasping.
I then trimmed his feathers whilst he ate, I got my scissors sharpened as they were pulling a bit last time. I may need some new ones though as they don’t stay very sharp.
Mojo had his left front rasped well by Liz. He kept his foot on the block after a little fidgeting. Plenty of reinforcement with carrots.
We plan to do one foot at a time so he doesn’t get too frustrated by it all.
I then trimmed his feathers so we can actually see his hooves.
Positive Horsemanship. 