The Roaming Rider

Tropical Storm/Hurricane (I’m no longer sure which) Michael is currently pummeling us with high winds and an ocean full of rain. I got up early to help tuck the horses in the barn with hay for the day. I don’t think they actually cared about being outside in the rain. The temps are still in the mid 70s so the rain was probably a bit refreshing. They have plenty of natural shelter and instead chose to stand in the middle of the open pasture grazing, but I felt better tucking them in and letting their feet dry so in they went.

Last night though, I grabbed the Orange Beastie for his test ride. Thankfully all four shoes have remained in place and his bell boots seem to be preventing heel grabs. He over reaches with his hinds just hand walking him. You can hear his hind hoof hit the front as you walk him in/out of the barn, so I was a bit skeptical they would remain. I love to be proven wrong.

I put the Kieffer on him and still really like the fit. The cut back pommel gives him plenty of wither room and the panels tuck behind his massive shoulders nicely. It remains a size too small for me, but it is serviceable for now. Anyway…he lunged sassy and bit bratty trying to reach down and grab bites of grass (yup my arena still sucks and I can’t get anyone to actually show up to an appointment to quote me) but with a firm hand he got the memo that it was time to work. He threw in some bucks and squeals for funsies and was perfectly sound both directions.

I’ll admit to a bit of trepidation getting on him all alone in the arena. His theatrics were a tad impressive on the lunge and I wasn’t feeling particularly brave in a slightly too small saddle. He stood to be mounted (a feat that took about a month to instill in him) and off we walked. You know how you try to do what is right and think you are but then realize you weren’t the entire time and feel like shit?

Yeah. That was me.

Not only did he give me a gloriously forward and long strided walk, but his entire back felt freer and he was much happier with his existence. Sorry, buddy. I love the way he moves in the Kieffer and with shoes/not sore feet.

I don’t love the sass and he kept trying to curl back and offer up more than I was asking which awarded him with a ton of turns of direction and random halts to keep his feet moving and his brain engaged. I still haven’t figured out if he is really stupid or wicked smart yet. Really it is a toss up most days.

On to the trot work and um…where on earth did this guy come from? No more shuffling old man gait. Nope. He was on fire. He kept asking to canter instead and I’d continually bring him back and make him trot. He would then try to curl behind the bit and that rewarded him with a boot forward. This is all evasion behavior, by the way. Why trot nicely and use the hind end when you can blow out all the shoulders and whip around and pretend you have no idea what being a gentleman is all about? Maybe I’ll get scared and get off. When that didn’t work he began halting and standing there with his ears back on me like “Ok…that was fun. We are done now though.”

Big Orange Beastie has enjoyed his vacation.

I didn’t work him too much because the storm was blowing in and the skies were looking pretty angry. By the time I got off and put him out they opened up, so I stopped just in the time. While it wasn’t the best ride ever, and was a bit frustrating in all honesty, I’m glad he is feeling better and he was without a question 100% sound. He wasn’t bad by any means, just feeling fresh and sassy and trying to get out of going back to work. I know with a consistent schedule again he will return to his normal pliable self. I don’t fully trust that he won’t throw a buck or a small rear in there for fun, so I am a bit more tense and rigid than I know I should be. He isn’t the only one out of riding shape.

With him feeling better, I got back on trainer’s schedule for a lesson next week and asked if she would hop on him first to get a feel for him and help with a plan. She was game, so that will be fun!

It is a common theme on here that I truly believe the Universe has a wicked sense of irony and a dark sense of humor.

Last Monday, H’Appy went for his lameness eval and it turned out t was exactly as I thought: crap feet and a sore back from saddle fit. He got his new shoes put on that same afternoon and was given the vet prescribed week of pasture rest and bute.

Last week the weather was gorgeous. A bit hot and humid still, but the mornings and evenings were cool and the sun was shining. Nice weather to ride in. Or you know to walk your horse with expensive footwear in and out of the barn for food. Either works I suppose.

This week. Now this week I was allowed to do ground work Monday and if all looked good I could hop on for a light flat school Tuesday. I was excited. If all went right we could finally be back on track feeling good and working towards goals. I was a bit bummed when my body work lady rescheduled his Sunday session to this Saturday as I was hoping to get him feeling his best muscle wise before I hopped on and while still on the bute, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

And then Monday dawned cloudy but dry. I left work at 500pm and was excited to get to work the big orange beastie. I pulled into my drive and the sky opened up dumping a ton of rain on me. Ok…it can’t last long. I’ll feed the horses and start dinner and by the time Dusty is home it should be clear. And clear up it did. Until he came home after an emergency c-section at close to 7pm and the skies opened up once again.

No working him Monday.

Yesterday the day was clear and bright but cool and wonderful. I figured I’d lunge him first to watch him go and then hop on him if all looked good. Hahahahahahahah!!!

Yup. You guessed it. Once dinner was started and I was heading out the door to ride it decided to pour once again. As of writing this Wednesday morning it still hasn’t stopped.

Sigh.

I’m telling myself that waiting isn’t a bad thing. More time off can only help his feet heal and after waiting 5 months what is another few days to a week?

In the meantime I’m making plans. Nothing set in stone but I’m looking towards the fall and penciling in some fun horse times because damnit after the summer I’ve had with him I deserve it!!! Between some hunter paces and a couple local schooling jumper shows it could be quite the exciting fall and early winter around here. If the weather cooperates and if my horse is sound. You know, the minor details.

When I started this contest, the goal was to get people thinking about giving back and spending maybe a little less time competing and more time lending a hand to allow others to do so.  Amy, you really knocked that out of the park. I know WEG helped that number out, but that does not detract from the fact that you took time away from work and family to go volunteer several states away.

Typically this prize package is worth around $50, but I thought of something you might really like and it is a stretch over that. Since I fund this myself nobody can argue about my spending, right? (Except the Hubby, but shhh…) And you deserve the extra bit spent with all those hours.

I’ve been reading a lot about these new mohair endurance reins by Wild West Endurance Company. Apparently they are absolutely amazing and while I’m not currently competing in that sport, I am already drooling over a pair. Mohair for life for me.

You like purple, or at least that is what my stalking abilities came up with, and so you will get purple. Exactly what type of purple and what else is added in will be a surprise. Something has to be a surprise, right? Anyway…I hope you love them as much as everyone else seems to and thank you for getting out there. Email me your mailing address at agemofahorse at gmail dot com and I will get them ordered.

I know…I have to figure out the Q3 results but that takes a lot of mental power to come up with a great prize and I haven’t done it yet. It will get done by the end of the week.

In the meantime, I need some help. H’Appy (you all can thank Amanda for this new name. I LOVE it and can’t wait to use it as his show name) needs a new saddle.  Thankfully Trainer has offered to have me try any of the saddles she has at her barn on him to get a good idea of what to look for and I plan to spend a day doing just that once he is cleared for riding again. I have no idea what all she has beyond a Thorowgood (fit Gemmie well when I tried it and is the reason I got one for her) which obviously I won’t try, but beyond that..no clue.

He found waiting for custom made shoes very boring

Doofus was very bored waiting for the farrier to make his custom…yes custom…shoes. Horse, I’ve never had custom anything in my life. I found it fascinating to watch him make a shoe from a bar of steel. 

Saddle shopping is a bit mind boggling to me at the moment. Many moons ago with Gem I was shopping for endurance saddles and tried every possible english saddle I could think of before giving up and going with my beloved Advantage endurance saddle which someone will have to pry out of my dead hands to get from me. That saddle, BTW, does not fit Doofus one bit. Of course not, right?

But anyway…I spent over a thousand dollars on trial fees and return shipping trying everything I could think of that might work for her. I really don’t want to go that route again. I mean, opening box after box of nice leather goods wasn’t terrible, but it was expensive and tiresome. Even going through a reputable dealer with tracings went haywire as they sent me very much the wrong size and I still had to pay return shipping fees.

With Doofus, I’m a little clueless as to what will work and what won’t. The T8 was fitted for him and looked really good…until it didn’t and the Big Orange Beast is extremely sore. I would not have guessed based on the way it looks to fit him that he would be this reactive and while I know endurance saddles inside and out and what I need/like, I am a little lost when it comes to jump saddles.

There are no independent fitters in my area. There are a lot of brand specific ones and while I’m not opposed to any single brand I also can’t afford to spend money on a fitter for every single brand to figure out what I like and need. Every time I try to search online I get stuck. Where do I even begin? I have a small budget and prefer used to new, I’m talking maybe $1500 max here, and I don’t mind waiting for a good deal but I need to know what deal I am even looking for and that is where I am stuck. I test rode one of the sales horses in a CWD and adored it, but yeah…not going to be affording one of those any time soon and to have the rep out to give me his specs to still not be able to afford it seems wasteful and sorta mean to myself. I don’t know. Someone better at shopping may be able to give me some tips here.

So…blogger friends who are always amazing…where do I begin? What saddle brands are typically pretty good for low level jumping on a wide horse? Anything to absolutely stay away from? Do I just pick something at random and try it or is there a website that I am not aware of that can help with these things? The used tack shop in Aiken allows you to bring the horse with and the owner is apparently pretty fit savvy, but there is no place to ride and really ends up depending on the current inventory which can be pretty hit or miss. The only wide they had was the Kieffer I brought home and the MW I also brought to try was way too narrow. That cost me $70 to ship back. Ugh.

My old BO is a Stubben dealer. She can come do a fitting, but I wasn’t very thrilled with the Stubbens I tried on Gem while I boarded there. I mean, it was Gem and she was a fitting nightmare but they all seemed so very expensive for what I was getting. They are easy to find used though, so maybe it is worth it?

Basically what I am rambling on about is that I need a starting point. At least a rough idea of what to look for, where to go and where to begin this search beyond opening Smartpak and randomly ordering saddles because they offer free shipping. I know that each brand fits differently so having a fitter out for one brand may not give me very useful information to put towards a different brand…ie: Stubben measures in cm and others in Medium/Wide etc… Plus you know there is flap length and how forward it is and blah blah blah.

So….help?! How did you all begin your saddle search? Did you happen upon your saddle through your Trainer or a friend? Did you pay a fitter to come out? Was it helpful or did they only know one specific brand and it wasn’t applicable to others? I’m pretty fitter skeptical based on previous experiences that ended in saddles that very much did not fit in any way, shape, or form and fitters not standing behind their decisions and making it right, but maybe I’ve just had bum luck I don’t know. Where would you suggest I begin?

Eeyore went in for his lameness evaluation this morning. I had the day off work for a trip to Chicago that never happened. The drug rep cancelled my flight in August without telling me and I had no way to get there last minute. Shucks.

I was a nervous wreck all morning. I bothered Michele a lot and KC had the bad idea to text me to see how things were going and probably immediately regretted that decision 🙂 Thanks girls for the support!!!

In my typical type A ways, I left really early and arrived 30 minutes before my appointment. Eeyore travels better each time and unloaded only a tad sweaty. They have lovely sand paddocks for the horses to wait in and I let him chill outside while I went in to fill out paperwork.

And by chill I mean run around like an idiot, work up into a thick lather and then roll in the sand. I swear I brushed him and made him clean for the vet. He was disgusting by the time the vet met him. Doofus, try not to embarrass me ok?

I had verbal diarrhea all over that poor vet as soon as she asked. I mean every tiny detail I could regurgitate came out. It was her birthday too. I wasn’t a very good present.

First was a basic exam followed by flexions on the cement slab. I was a bit anxious about the whole cement slab thing. Poor guy hurts on good footing let alone cement, but I watched and mostly kept my mouth shut.

I need to give him credit here. He was a saint. He trotted when asked, let everyone poke and prod and generally annoy him and he took it all in. Thankfully no other horses were around or it would have been a different story. He is an angel when he thinks he is all alone in the world but gets a bit fixated and unruly if another horse is in sight. We will work on that.

Anyway my Big Orange PITA flexed normal all the way around. No left hind creating front right issues. He did palpate strongly positive to the back and that is having had all last week off.

Diagnosis #1: bad saddle fit. I already knew this and the T8 will never touch him again. More on this later though.

It was on to the round pen for lunge work. They started going left since he is better that direction.

He was 1/5 going left but was being super good and moved out well. They kept him going left for a while and the vet mentioned at least half a dozen times that he was a really cute mover and she liked him a lot. She told me to imagine what he will be like when he isn’t lame. My response? “Not rideable” I’m so very funny.

Off to the right and…3/5 lame. Which surprised me actually having not been worked in a week but thinking on it I’m sure the trotting on the cement hurt and this was residual from that.

They didn’t ask much to the right. There wasn’t much point, so from there we went back to the cement and she got out the hoof testers. Trying to be nice she started on the front left. And boy did he react! He wasn’t mean but he hurt. Everywhere she touched. When she moved to the right foot he shied away and looked at her like “No way! That thing hurts!” The right front was equally positive but to the toe only.

Well dang. Sorry guy your feet hurt so bad.

We agreed that X-rays would be beneficial for a lot of reasons, most important to look at angles and help the farrier better do his job. I was nervous here too. I knew the PPE had some odd questions about his navicular and I worried she missed something awful that would show up and cause his permanent retirement at the ripe age of 7. I expressed this and the vet told me he was too young for that and she could fix just about anything.

Eeyore is super light weight and enjoyed his time inside with sedation an awful lot. Between the air conditioning, the cushy mats and the happy juice, all the techs and the vet were laughing at my poor Doofus. He wants to be an inside horse.

A lot of snaps later and the results were in. Nothing wrong with his bones or his joints. This is when I finally let go of all my anxiety and concerns. No navicular changes. No arthritis. Big deep breath.

What they did show though was interesting. I’ll start with the RF. The new hoof growth is growing in parallel to the bone and is healthy. The articular angles are spot on. All good news. The sole is barely there which I knew from my farrier telling me that months ago. The main thing is that the old toe is super long and is creating a mechanical laminitis. Basically every time he pushes off the slope of the toe is pulling the hoof wall off the bone creating pain. As the hoof grows in this will self correct but yikes! Not good. Cutting all the toe off should improve his pain immediately.

The LF was surprising. It is his low heel, but looks like it is growing in nicely. Yeah, no. No laminitis and the hoof is growing nicely parallel to the bone but the angles are all sorts of bad. This puts him at high risk for ligament and bone issues in the future if not corrected.

Diagnosis #2: shit feet. This I also knew.

I was relieved though. No tendon or ligament issue. Just bad feet and bad saddle fit. Both of which I knew going in. I asked if she wanted to block him and she saw no need today. With everything else he was literally screaming “my feet hurt!” If our plan doesn’t work that will be the next step.

What’s the plan?

Shoes. She wants the toes cut off all around and steel put on. He can’t get full pads because he is so sore he won’t tolerate them. RF will get a pour in rear pad to offload the toe and spread the weight out more evenly. Eventually he should be able to get out of the pad. LF needs a frog support pad to raise that heel and correct the alignment. She doesn’t trust that a bar shoe will stay on and he barely has enough to shoe. If he rips it off we are screwed. He may never get out of a pad to the left but time will tell on that.

She gave him bute IV and wants him to remain on bute daily for the next week. Farrier is scheduled for this afternoon so hopefully the bute makes shoeing not too much of a torture session for the poor guy. No riding for the next week but she wants him out in pasture.

Next week I am to do ground work Monday and a light ride on Tuesday. In a different saddle which fortunately I have. If all is good then get the massage/chiro out and get a new saddle (my $200 Kieffer is too small for me but works for the short term). She doesn’t think chiro will help until after the feet are better since he isn’t walking normal. Same with the saddle really. Bad gait can make the saddle hit weird so no use getting a saddle fitting until he is sound.

I’m happy. I’m glad my gut wasn’t wrong that saddle fit and bad feet were the cause of this. I’m glad she liked him and he flexed fine. I’m glad it isn’t anything worse.

I’m sad that his feet suck so bad and that he lost so much hoof we couldn’t shoe for so long. I’m sad that I rode him when he hurt and I’m sad that we lost the entire summer to this.

But it could be worse and she told me she saw no reason we can’t be jumping our tiny jumps for years to come. I’m hanging on to that as we move forward.

Dusty thought Eeyore was dealing with saddle fit induced muscle pain and prescribed a new saddle. I was not convinced but there is no way I’m going to turn down a new saddle when offered with no strings attached (he specifically said he didn’t want me to sell Gem’s Thorowgood to buy a new one). Plus it sorta made some sense with the quick recovery with time off, the new issue with the T8 sliding forward over his neck, the onset of pain halfway through a ride and his new found affinity for stretching once the girth is loosened. With everyone closed until Monday anyway, it was worth a try.

Saturday afternoon I drove down to Aiken which is a single right turn out of my drive followed by two boring hours of driving straight. There is a nice used tack store there that has a lot of inventory and a free trial period. The most I would be out would be the price of shipping it back to them. Seemed harmless enough.

There were several in my made up price range of $1500 or less and I sat in quite a few. In the end I brought home two Kieffer saddles: a MW 17.5″ Norbert jump and a W 17″ GP both with cut out for extra wither clearance.

Sunday afternoon I hooked Eeyore up to the lunge and had Dusty watch from the rail. He was intermittently lame at 1/5 on the RF going right. He’d go a full circle no issues then take a few bad steps and return to sound for another circle and a half before showing another few bad steps. At that point I was ready to cash in my chips and call the vet in the morning upon opening to set up a lameness eval.

Back in the barn Dusty convinced me to try the saddles out. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to see if they fit him since I had them and he wasn’t full blown three legged lame. The MW was way too narrow. I didn’t even bother getting a picture it was so obviously not a good fit. The wide GP though. I really liked the looks of it and decided to at least walk around in it. I was a bit worried it would be too small for me as I am usually a 17.5″ but it was worth trying.

Plus it would appease the hubby.

We returned to the arena and I climbed up and asked him to walk off. He took a few stubby steps and then blew out and gave me the most forward, relaxed walk I’ve gotten out of him. No lazy, behind the leg oaf. No coaxing. It was an immediate difference.

I had him pick up a trot left and he felt amazing. No tantrum, no sucking bad. Dusty encouraged me to try going right. If he took a bad step I could stop immediately and call it a day. He picked up the trot and….I’m not sure. During the ride he felt really good. The trot was rhythmic and he was relaxed. In fact during and after I was convinced he was sound as he felt pretty great. He is always fussy with his head probably because I’m a rigid steel beam in my arms and don’t give him the ride he needs, but otherwise he felt really really good. Plus he likes to try to stop and walk and reacts by either lifting his head or dropping it when I boot him forward, so it can be hard to tell.

But in reviewing the videos Dusty took…I’m not so sure now. It’s hard because he is fussy in the bridle so looking for a true head bob when he isn’t super lame is hard and I can drive myself crazy looking at the footage all night long. But…it looks a little off to me. I don’t know. He is truly lazy, feeling good or not, and asks to stop or drop to the walk and he looks way better when he moves out versus sucks back and barely trots but I don’t know. I also am really, really good at making a sound horse look lame to my eye. I spent years of Gem’s life thinking she was lame and the only thing that stopped that was her flying through the 100 with all As. After that my brain shut up. One thing was certain: he was way better than Friday when he was very obviously head bobbing and the only thing that change was the saddle. I’ll take an iffy, maybe maybe not gait versus the head bobbing 3 legged lame ride from Friday.

Here are some videos. I don’t have speakers at work and the sound was off on my phone when I watched them so I have no idea if you can hear a cranky, bred Wyatt in the background or the husband making fun of me. I’d recommend turning your sound off because neither of those things are enjoyable.

Going left:

Going right:

Going right on a smaller circle:

He was slow and trudgy but that is him on a good day. Big man doesn’t like to move when he doesn’t have to. But he was relaxed, responsive and not fighting me which wasn’t the case last week leading up to the lameness and there was no question he was 3 legged lame on Friday.

In fact he felt so good I asked him to pop over the vertical he refused to actually jump over last week. He popped over happily.

I called it a day after that and returned to the barn. Dusty palpated his back after and he was a little reactive in the loin region but after trying again he was fine.

I don’t know. He moved better and was happier in this saddle and for only $200 I’m going to keep it. I’d prefer a 17.5″ and I’m not crazy about the spine clearance in the rear of the saddle but it is better than the Thorowgood and didn’t budge. It’s only $200 and not worth the $50 it would cost to ship it back.

But…in reviewing the video I’m not sure if he is normal or not. Opinions?? It looks like he mostly is but then I see some off steps but that could be the complete crap I’m riding him in. I just don’t know one way or the other.

I’d love for it to be a saddle issue but ugh. He felt sound. He looks..I have no clue. I’m planning on hopping back on again tonight and seeing what I feel and how he acts with two days of riding in a row. I’d expect him to be worse if it is soft tissue after being worked the day before. If Dusty is right and he has muscle soreness from the T8 pinching him that wouldn’t magically completely go away either so some intermittent bad steps could be residual from that and don’t forget the crap right front hoof. Having a chiro/massage person out could really benefit him, but not if it is an internal hoof injury so…yeah. I just want to ride my horse.

Farrier is set to come out the 1st but I may cancel that and schedule a lameness eval instead or push my luck and try to schedule the vet in the am and the farrier in the pm after they give recommendations but who knows if that will work or not. If he is sound and I’m seeing things that aren’t there (which could be the case) then I don’t need to shell out a bunch for a lameness eval on a sound horse so ahhhhh!!!!

The plan? The ever changing plan? Ride again tonight unless the pending storm comes (its dark as all get out right now with a black threatening sky and lots of wind but I don’t care as long as it stops for 5 pm) and see how he feels. If he still feels really good I’m going to keep the farrier on the 1st and add in a chiro/massage appointment for that day as well. If he feels questionable, make a vet appointment instead. Oh…and drink a whole lot of alcohol in Chicago when I don’t have to drive and have no child around.

Lame.

Again.

Maybe still?

Monday happened and he was fine. Not noticeably off at all but sulky, behind my leg and refusing to leave the ground instead opting to trot a 2′ pole awkwardly.

This is where I get frustrated that I don’t know him well yet. If that had been Gem I’d have known. But I thought he was being sulky and behind my leg like he can get when he doesn’t agree that work needs to be done. Plus it was after dinner and his friends went out without him. He was in week three of being ridden 2-3 times a week and had the weekend off. I thought he just wasn’t working well.

Tuesday evening Dusty does the chores as he gets home before me. I watched him walk Eeyore back out and asked if he looked off or was it just me. He thought he looked fine.

Wednesday he looked perfectly fine.

Thursday I went to WEG and missed both morning and afternoon chores (thanks Hubby!) so I didn’t get to see him.

Today was my first lesson in months. It only happened because both my surgeries canceled last minute and I had a free afternoon on my hands. With a sound horse and free time what better is there to do???

He loaded fine. He unloaded awful and scraped his left hind a bit but it was dry and fine in minutes. I lunged him to get him freed up and moving and he was sound and moving normal.

After we returned to tack up I palpate his left hind and he had no swelling and was not reactive. Got on and got started walking. Trainer was happy with my position and improvement in flowing elbows and seat. I still need to sit up taller and rock my shoulders back, but it is way better than before. She hadn’t seen him go in months and was pleased with how he was being and his response to my leg.

Then we trotted left and right going large and doing circles and everything was going ok. He was being a bit sassy and the neighbors were blaring music that captured his attention more than I did, so we gave a brief break and started doing more figures to keep his brain more engaged in the ride.

And that’s when I felt it. 15 minutes into the ride. Three legged lame on the front right. I stopped and slid off with my stomach in a knot. I picked up his hoof and inspected it. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Well, for him anyway. Lots of chips. The odd ski slope shape. A new bruise to the outside heel but he wasn’t reactive to me palpating it. No heat. No visible area of abscess.

I got back on. Left was normal. Right : three legged lame.

Lesson over.

I’m not a crier. I’m usually pretty pragmatic in life but I admit to almost bursting into tears right there. The same crap as in August. Pasture sound at all gaits and playing with Pete. Sound at the walk. Dead lame on that front right at the trot. Odd that it started 15 minutes into the ride but it was very much there and likely it started way back on Monday when he refused to leave the ground.

I’ve texted my farrier to see about scheduling an emergency appointment for him to look at the hoof. It’s probably time for glue on shoes.

I’m worried though. I’m worried the shape of the hoof is so wonky that even shoes won’t help. I’m worried they won’t stay on. I’m worried that I keep blaming these bad feet when in reality there is some nagging soft tissue injury that heals just enough during his rest period and then flares when back in work.

I’m worried I bought a lame horse and my riding career is over for the foreseeable future because I can’t afford to have three retired horses and buy another to ride. And I wont sell him lame nor will I put him down just because I can’t ride him. So if he doesn’t come sound I’m screwed for hopefully many years as it would require the loss of Gem or Pete to get another and that isn’t allowed to happen for another decade.

Hopefully the farrier responds. That can be tricky sometimes. Hopefully he agrees he needs glue on shoes and can do it soon. Hopefully he comes sound with that and grows out his hoof beautifully and all this can be behind us and I won’t have to send frustrated, probably mildly depressing, texts to Emma about my lame horse being lame.

Hopefully.