The Missing Shoe

After our fantastic hack on Sunday, I gave Wolfie a day off on Monday. When I brought him in on Tuesday, he had lost a front shoe, typical. He was only shod a couple of weeks ago, but as his front feet had grown, the farrier put on a bigger, heavier shoe on the front. This has slowed his front feet action and he has been forging a bit - a combination of the heavier shoe and him being unbalanced. He's obviously pulled the shoe off. The farrier came up today to put another shoe on. So now he's got a double clipped shoe on his near fore. When he gets a full set on in a couple of weeks, he'll get double clipped shoes on both front feet to see if this makes a difference. I find the whole art or science of shoeing horses really interesting. And it really is true the saying 'No foot no horse'. He didn't stand great tonight for the farrier, he just had a kind of 'I don't think I'll bother with shoes today, thanks' attitude.

I went to a Monty Roberts demonstration at Gleneagles Equestrian Centre last weekend. I have seen Monty Roberts demonstrating his methods about 8 times now. He gave a really interesting demonstration on two line lunging and the effects one line lunging can have on the anatomical structure of the horse. He had a young horse in the round pen moving freely. This little horse had been lunged but was not backed. She showed a definite one-sidedness and became disunited and rabbit hopped when put under a little pressure.

As part of my Equine Studies degree, my dissertation was on laterality or 'handedness' in horses and how this is influenced by age and training. Although symmetry of appearance and locomotion in the horse may be desirable, it is seldom the case. There are very few mature horses that show totally symmetrical development, with the majority showing a marked tendency for a stiffer side or a favoured lead. In the case of a quadruped such as the horse, the tendency to exhibit lateralization of posture is referred to as sidedness and is commonly displayed as ipsilateral limb dominance. This is revealed by asymmetries in the movement or weight bearing patterns of the horse. Under the weight of the rider, the young or unschooled horse is often found in the early stages of training to have one side stiffer than the other. I have been conscious since I got Wolfie to try and handle him and lead him from both sides. I always use a mounting block to get on him, but the other day I thought I would mount him from his off side. The problem wasn't him, it was me. It was completely alien to me to get on from that side and I couldn't co-ordinate myself at all. I am inherently right sided, but couldn't move my body the correct way with my right foot in the stirrup. I think I will have to work on my own posture and sidedness as well as Wolfie's.