Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Hello Julie,
You said "and he stocked up on the front legs, which is
not uncommon." 
IMHO, a training ride for me should not ever produce filling in
the legs. If it did I would think that something was done wrong. Too much
time or speed on a hard surface, improper hoof form, something, who knows
but I would try to figure it out. I would alter my conditioning rides
until there was no stocking up and then add more time not speed.
Ocassionally my horse will stock up after a 50 but it is always because
of something I made (or let) him do like gallop a mile of perfect firm
but sandy desert road when I knew he was tired (he didn't think he was
tired at 45 miles and I didn't stop him, both fronts stocked up) or not
let him stop during a really hard climb when there was a perfect place to
catch a break (both rears stocked up). When I do that stuff it usually
means that I have slipped into "race mode". I have no way to
really know if those things caused the stocking up but I do know that
when I stay out of "race mode" my horse looks much better in
the morning. :-)
Here is a gentle reminder because you also said "Juli
(who is wishing that Alpine would pretend to Mr. Ed for just a minute and
tell her exactly where it hurts)" well IMHO the "stocking
up" is telling you exactly, now all you have to do is figure
out why.
Don Huston (who sometimes forgets that "To Finish Is To
Win")

At 01:57 PM 8/16/2007 Thursday, you wrote:
> Ok...I need
> ideas. 
>
> Alpine has been coming along GREAT in his conditioning....even in this
> horrible heat.  About three weeks ago, we went out for about a 10
> mile ride.  we did it in about 2.5 hours.  This is not fast for
> him, nor is it far...kind of a medium ride.  It was hot, we kept it
> pretty slow.  A lot of slow trotting/gaiting (he interchanges the
> gaits at a slow speed).  He came in just fine.  I stalled him
> overnight because we had just sprayed some weeds in the pasture, and i
> didn't want him out there until I got them pulled, and he stocked up on
> the front legs, which is not uncommon.  After 12 hours of turnout,
> the right leg was fine, and the left leg had a little bit of filling
> left.  No heat, no lameness.  Two days later, no filling, no
> heat, no lameness.  About three days post ride, Alpine was off on
> his right front (which is the opposite of the leg that had the persistent
> filling).  I wouldn't call it lame.  If you don't know him, you
> might not even see it, but just a little off.  The farrier came out
> and redid his shoes at this point, and noticed a bruise on his sole, so I
> thought maybe he was sporting an abscess. It's been a little over three
> weeks now, and he is still VERY slightly off.  He seems to work out
> of it...I tried just taking him for a 10 minute walk to see if he
> would.   I had the farrier out to check him again, and he can't
> find anything there...no soreness on palpation or anything. 
>
> I have made an appointment with the vet, she'll be out
> Tuesday, but I'm baffled.  I would think if he'd pulled a
> suspensory, there would be heat and swelling somewhere, but his legs are
> cold and hard.  He was in a stall overnight a couple of days ago,
> and he didn't even stock up.  His energy level seems fine, the only
> thing I've noticed is that if I lunge him to the right (bad foot...), he
> brings himself back into a walk, which I kind of expect if he's
> gimpy.  His back seems fine, he has no sensitivity there, the
> shoulders don't look like they have a problem, I just can pinpoint
> anything.   
>
> I really, really want to take Alpine to South Carolina and
> do our first REAL endurance ride, but will scrub that if I have
> too.  What's truly annoying is that Al is my only riding
> horse.  Merlin is just a hair under two, and I firmly believe that
> two year olds shouldn't be ridden...I'm planning on waiting until he's
> between three and four before starting him.  So if Alpine goes out
> of commission, I have no riding horse.  I might go into
> withdrawal.  My husband will disown me!  I can't afford three
> horses! 
>
> Juli (who is wishing that Alpine would pretend to Mr. Ed for
> just a minute and tell her exactly where it hurts) and the Herd
> Alpine (I'm on vacation...mom just keeps obsessively feeling
> my legs) 
> Merlin (who doesn't know what a vacation is since he has
> never really worked in his life) 
>
>
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Don Huston at cox dot net
SanDiego, Calif