Breezy was having some trouble when lunged and also some tripping under saddle. She tossed her head cantering on the lunge line and didn’t look right. I couldn’t quite spot the issue though, so we rode a little. When I asked for trot, she tripped a little. I stopped the ride at this point because she didn’t feel right.
It’s easy to overlook the front feet when you’re seeing an issue on the hind. You just have to remember that a back right issue might indicate compensation from something going on with the front right. And yup, the front right looked different than the front left. The angle and spread of her feet were very different.
Farrier to the rescue
Thankfully my farrier came out at the end of this week. He noticed that her angles were different and that she was putting more weight on her front left. When you watch her stand and eat, she puts all of her weight on that front left more often than the right.
When we watched her walk, we could see that her front left shoulder was more developed than her front right. He put a pad on the front right to help even out her shoulders and help. Most likely, this pad will come off after the next trim.
Recovery and rehab
Because of the differences in her shoulder muscles and the impact of putting the pad on, I’m going to start her back into work slowly. We’re going to work on lots of walking and getting her to stretch out. It’s about helping her get any knots and tightness in her shoulder worked out. We’ll use some ground poles, lots of long, straight walks, and then, as she starts moving better, lateral work like leg yields and shoulder-in. Light trot work also very stretchy.
I also have the body work person scheduled and the chiropractor just to make sure everything is in good shape for her.
