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Nat was hard to shoe on the right hind when I got her... she'd been 
quicked, and when she jerked, the "shoer" (Read ex-owners 
father-in-law) beat the crap out of her.  I spent a lot of time working 
on getting her over this.  She got much better, but it was pretty hit 
and miss as to whether my shoer would have trouble or not.  In the end, 
she cured herself!

The first ride I took her to, we had the camp all to ourselves for 
three days.  I was really lax in letting the horses roam around, 
knowing Nat wouldn't go far with Jynxie the Wonder Pony refusing to 
leave camp.  One evening, I took both of them down to the creek.. 
let'em drink, splash water on 'em, let Jynxie do her Labrador thing... 
you get the picture.

I was leading them back across the creek, hopping form rock to rock 
trying not to get my feet wet (one lead in each hand of course) and Nat 
decides she's gonna do one of those "Oh my god! It's water, I gotta 
JUMP!"  Jerks the lead outta my hand, and takes off like a bat outta 
hell, bucking like a rodeo pony, and I realize she's bucking because 
she managed to get the leadrope caught in her right hind shoe! (or vice 
versa)

Jynxie and I climb up the bank, and Nat is no where in sight.  I took 
Jynx back to camp, and headed off down the road looking for Nat, with 
Jynxie calliing her home the whole time.  I was on foot, because the 
kids had taken off with my truck, putzing around the backroads.

I was about two miles from camp, following the galloping horse tracks 
down the road when a guy and his little boy stop.

"Are you looking for a horse!?"

"Yep"

"Well, she's about another mile down the road, running like hell.  I'll 
take you to her"

So, we head down the road, and finally spot Nat.  She was standing in 
the middle of the road, head down.  As I got closer I realized she 
still had the rope caught! I couldn't believe it!  And it was really 
jammed in there. Clear up to the back nail.  I couldn't get it out, 
(and the helpful guy had nothing to cut it with, so I started leading 
her slowly back to camp.  Soon, a couple of women stopped, so I asked 
them if they had a knife.  Sure enough, out comes a Leatherman!  So 
that little problem was solved.

I rode back most of the way from there... the kids found me just 
outside of camp.  Jynxie had run around in circles screaming on the 
highline the whole time, so the kids knew something was up when they 
came back through camp.

The shoe on Nat's hind foot was bent (and still had a foot long piece 
of lead rope crammed under it), but I had no way to pull it, though I 
tried using various tools from the toolbox.  Next day, a farrier showed 
up. He pulled it, straightened it, and reset it.  Nat was perfect.  And 
she has been ever since.

So, I suppose you could duplicate this incident, and perhaps cure your 
horse this way, but I certainly don't recommend it!  I was amazed that 
Nat hadn't broken her silly neck, or torn a ligament, or sprained 
something... but she was absolutely fine.

Sorry for the length, but I love telling horse stories!

Julie


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