Step & Twirl

Dianne took Lily's wraps off in the morning, and texted me to let me know that her legs looked great. Even by this afternoon Lily's legs were still nice and tight and she showed absolutely no signs of being sore anywhere, foot, legs, body or otherwise. I took her out to the arena for some groundwork. I warmed her up on the lunge, and she was still tired enough from the day before that for once she just wanted to trot. She was tracking up at the trot, and overtracking by a good 6 inches at the walk, back swinging. Nice!

I set her free and let her work at liberty for a few minutes so she could stretch out as she pleased, and she trotted around the perimeter of the arena, obeying when I requested changes of direction. I then let her walk herself out to cool down and eventually convinced her to come to me. I clipped the lunge line back on and was re-rolling it up so I could bring her into the barn, when she started acting up over my motions of rolling up the lunge. This was new-I do this ALL the time in front of her-at least once every time I lunge her, because I'm a klutz with the lunge line and am constantly getting it all tangled up or tied up in knots.

So I asked her to stand until she held still while I re-rolled the line, then we worked on side passes and shoulder-in in both directions from the ground. Then I asked for a full turn on the forehand in each direction, then a turn on the haunches. I had never asked for a turn on the haunches from the ground, and initially she was confused and tried to sidepass away from me. I played around with where I was standing for the request, based on the little Parelli I know, and figured out that she would turn away from me if I stood next to her neck, facing her rear, and turned her nose slightly away from me with the lunge line. For once we figured this out together calmly, with no outbursts from her.

For the sidepass, I stand facing her, even with her barrel, and for shoulder-in, I stand by her shoulder, facing forwards (same direction as her) and turn her head a little towards me as we move diagonally opposite Lily's bend. It's cool-I cross my legs and she crosses her legs. I guess this would be more of a leg yield than a shoulder-in if I were riding her during this movement.

We did all of these a couple of times, then practiced a lot of backing up to work her butt, and then I had her do the step and twirl with the lunge (this is what I'm going to call this move from now on. Someday I will get Charles to video it and I will have a computer that doesn't lag on YouTube for 2 hours so I can actually post the video afterwards!) Initially she wanted to be hypersensitive and tried to step away from me when I'd move to pass the lunge line under her neck, flinching at my touch. I asked her gently to be still by placing a hand on her mane at her withers to keep her from sidling away, but this did not work, so I stepped back and asked her to stand by giving the lunge line a light, firm jerk, just enough to get her attention. This worked well-she stood and looked at me, licking and chewing. Back to the step and twirl, and this time it was like someone had flipped a switch in her head-she was calm and steady, and allowed me to pass the lunge line under her neck so I could hold it on the opposite side of her body before sending her forward into the twirl.

She received a lot of "Good girl!"s and after that we went into the barn, where I soaked her foot for a good 30 minutes while I cleaned her stall and set up her feed. She is completely non-reactive now to the iodine spray on her frog and the cotton in the crevice; only her abscess is still a little sore.

I have continued reading everything I can find on barefoot trimming, and can see more in Lily's feet than ever. I knew she had flares in her fronts from being slightly toed-in: she wears the lateral portion of her toes faster than the medial sides, especially on her left front, which has now created a small stress crack on the toe. However, she wears her medial heels faster than her laterals. I guess if she were a person, she'd be an overpronator in the front. In her hinds, she also has flares and some white line separation from also having her toes left too long (I am itching to do a white line strategy trim on her hinds, but I'm waiting for the trimmer first...plus I'm afraid of doing something wrong!) On her hind feet she wears her lateral heels faster than her medials from standing around, especially these past couple of weeks with her wounded frog, just like it says in the "Hind Feet" section in that same link. Looking at her feet, it suddenly feels like when I first started using glasses-the more I read, the more I can SEE.

Diana told me about the barefoot trimmer a friend of hers uses. The trimmer's name is Marianne Allen. You can read one of her stories here. She is also a contributor of The Horse's Hoof magazine. I initially e-mailed her, telling her Lily's story and about my problems with farriers, then the next day decided to just pick up the phone and call her. My first conversation with her was fascinating and exciting-she does a full evaluation of the horse when she comes to trim: conformation, way of standing, way of moving, and then looks at the feet. It takes her a minimum of an hour to get everything done, but it is because she takes all of these things into account. She confirmed what I've been reading: a horse should never be sore after a proper, correct trim. I told her that I was interested in learning, and she was very excited about this, as she loves to teach, especially when I told her I'm a vet tech and she realized I already know my equine anatomy. We continued talking, and she realized that I have, indeed, been reading, and was thrilled when I told her about Lily's exercise and turnout schedule (riding a minimum of 4 days/week, and turnout 12 hours a night-more than a lot of horses get down here in South FL).

Marianne is supposed to come out to trim Lily next Sunday September 23rd. I can't wait!