Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Hi Nancy - here's my NB exerience. I have an older horse (16) who was  
starting to stumble more and more - both front and hinds. He used to  
go in NB (in the front), but we went to 'regular' several  years ago  
when my NB farrier had to stop working.  The horse also seemed to be  
getting sore in the hocks, constantly shifting his weight from left  
to right after a ride, and becoming sore in the loins too. He wasn't  
moving well at all - plus he's a horse that grows a lot of foot and  
his toes always seemed to be too long, both front and back. X-rays  
were ok - a little bone change, but nothing to really worry about.   
So I finally decided to go back to the NB, which meant switching  
farriers which is always a hard thing to do!  We did NB on all 4's,  
hoping that easing the breakover would also help in the hind end . I  
did a short ride with him after his new shoes and he seemed great  
(not a single stumble) and then I did a long ride after he'd had the  
new shoes for a week. We did a 20 mile training ride (pretty fast)  
and I ended up walking him in the last 5 miles! He felt 'strange'  
when we started out - like he didn't know what to do with his feet.  
Not lame, not uneven, just strange - careful - stilted. At 15 miles  
he developed a cramp in the rear.  He was fine after the walk home  
(though still moving 'carefully' on the lunge line) and fine the next  
day. I gave him a couple more days off and then went back to regular  
rides. He's absolutely perfect now - in fact it feels like I have my  
horse back! no more stumbling, no more hock or loin soreness. He  
feels better than he has in years.

To answer your question - I think the NB can significantly change a  
horse's way of going and it simply takes some getting used to. For my  
horse it changed his way of going quite a bit, especially in the  
hind. It was ultimately a change for the better, I have no doubt, but  
it took him a few weeks to adapt.

Steph

(from the airport in Taipai, waiting for the early morning flight to  
Kuala Lumpur)

On Oct 18, 2008, at 11:27 PM, Nancy Reed wrote:

> OK, I’m a total idiot and broke my computer and can not get  
> connected to search the net.  I can send and receive email.  Makes  
> no sense to me, but that is how it is until I can get a smarter  
> person than me out to fix it.  So, I can not search the archives  
> regarding Natural Balance shoes.
> My NSH mare had Natural Balance shoes (NBS) put on her rears on  
> Thursday and she is not right.  She had NBS on the fronts 6 weeks  
> earlier which stopped her from tripping.  She has been going down  
> the trail fine with regular shoes on the rears and NBS on the  
> fronts.  Why did the NBS on the rears cause her to have a choppy  
> gait, have a big bilateral head bob, be uncomfortable, etc.  I will  
> have the NBS removed ASAP and regular ones applied, but need a  
> better explanation as to why.  Thank you so much for your insight!
> Nancy Reed
> Lazy J Ranch
> Elfin Forest, CA


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