James & I took Muddy & Star for a walk today. We went down the road and back. I want to start Muddy back slowly. I don't want to risk him pulling a muscle, getting sore, or injuring his hocks. His age is a factor as well as he hasn't been worked for a month. The plan is for this week to hand walk him quite a bit. We're going to walk him over trot poles & work on his halter skills. If everything goes according to plan, then this next Sunday I'll actually get up on him. He's eating better & doesn't appear to be gassy anymore. One thing to note is that he seems a little sensitive when I'm cleaning his front feet. He has thrush pretty bad. We're still working to correct his feet. When we got him, his feet were very underslung and had contracted heels with deep heel cracks. Muddy's feet are getting better with the help of his farrier Sarah Riggins, but it will be a long process.
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I would be careful about using Sarah Riggins as your farrier. I was warned about her but didn't listen. She has a much higher opinion of her abilities than she should. She is much too busy to be responsible enough to care for horses at her barn. Mine grass foundered after she left for a show leaving a TEENAGER with a pushy boyfriend to care for the horses. She didn't wear her grazing muzzle for 3 days. (I discovered this later. She never even told me that someone else would be caring for my horse, or that she would be gone. Shouldn't I be so informed?) When my horse came up lame, Sarah said she had just a "touch" of grass founder and a vet was unnecessary. She she knows when a horse should be "up on blocks". A week passed and no improvement. I then discussed with her giving the mare 2 grams of bute for a few days to combat the inflammation and then back off to 1 1/2 and then 1. She agreed wholeheartedly. Well, Sarah never followed through. I would give her the two grams in the evenings and since she "seemed better" Sarah decided not to give her the proper dose in the a.m. Does it not make sense that if you take medication for a condition and it is working that you would be "some better" with it in your system? The result? Much longer on the bute than necessary, a dangerous thing, and NO PROGRESS IN HER CONDITION! She severely foundered, with her right front coffin bone actually SINKING and leaving her with 6 millimeters of sole left to walk on! At the same time those "other" boarders who are SO very experienced kept telling me there was no problem with my horse, and it could not possibly be grass founder. I had to forbid them to take her out of her stall, and surprisingly she began to improve a little after that. I also called a very competent vet. (Sarah actually forbids this vet on her property, even if the client requests it. I had to beg him to come and since Sarah was on vacation that week and she would not be able to confront him, he obliged). I tell ya, it's Sarah's way or the highway. She is not in a learning mode cause she knows it all. Needless to say I moved my horse and we are in the rehab process right now.
Sarah has waaay too many people with their fingers in the care of the horses. I can think of at least four besides herself, and she never told me that the "other boarders" were authorized by her to care for my horse. What a nightmare, they put the horses in different stalls at different times so that if one did not know the horse they would assume that the feeding instructions on the board were for the horse in the stall! The WRONG stall.
She has "paddocks" on the backside of some of her stalls. They are constructed with high tensile wire that is electrified but never turned on. They switched my horse to the "other" stall at night while she was on rest and one morning I found her with her back legs all cut up from getting hung up in the wire. The cuts were much deeper than I originally realized and they got infected. Did Sarah notice? NO. Did she even examine her legs after I told her? NO. She did say she was sorry, I'll tell you that. Sorry does not help.
My horse was under weight and has gained 100 lbs(from getting free choice grass hay only)since I moved her in August. Sarah is very stingy with the hay which is very poor quality and wants the horses to be on grass for most of their nutrition. The fields are fertilized constantly and are much too lush for some horses. Like I said, I was warned, but her place looks very nice and all seemed to be great. WRONG! A shiny new barn does not a horse person make! Just be careful even if she is only shoeing your horse. She is full of herself. I am not the only person this has happened to.
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