Today, I decided to take Max on a bit of a trail ride. Due to committments the night before, I didn't make it out to the stable until about 10:30 but the heat wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
After a short warm-up consisting of trotting and cantering around the track, I decided to go for a relatively short trail ride. I decided to take the short cut behind the nursery and go to the Orcas Arena first where we did some more cantering combined with some transition drills. Max likes the sandy arena so he definately perked up and since there were other horses around, he also used it as an excuse to show off a bit.
Afterwards, we headed down one trail that heads towards the river that's shaded with various trees. The footing is especially good and it's all sandy but not too deep. There's also a small stream crossing the trail which is nice also.
We took a drink at the river and then crossed. On the opposite bank is a steep hill that we have to climb but Max had no problem with that! We then made our way over to where the actual Hansem dam begins and rose around there for awhile.
Finally, we took another trail that took us home and crosses the river at another location.
So why all this talk about footing and such? Well, for the past two weeks or so while cleaning Max's hooves, I started to notice a 1 inch hairline crack running horizontally along the inside of Max's front left hoof. Because it's been so dry, I've been putting on hoof dressing almost every time after riding. Normally I might apply the dressing once weekly but with the extreme hot weather, I'd stepped up the schedule to the point where it was three or four times weekly,
For any horseowner, what you don't need is major cracking in the hooves, especially running vertically into the Coronary band- if that happens, you'll need corrective shoing and run the risk of lameness. Sometimes, you can even apply a sort of Bondo that's formulated for hooves (you literally trowel it on, just like cement). In extreme cases, wire is used to keep the hoove together along with Kevalar strips wrapped over the wire sutures.
For Max, it appears that a 1" x 1 1/2" chunk was separating. The shoe appears to be sound and there's no lamness. After talking with my trainer, it appears that it won't be a problem and should eventually grow out with a couple of shoings. It's kind of scary though, especially since we do a lot of trail riding over rocks and hard surfaces.
It kind of gave me a scare and although the consensus is that it's nothing to worry about, I'll keep an eye on it. I also plan on giving Max a few days off this week so that should also help- better to play it safe.
For the hooves, I use Valentine's Hoof Ointment (it's a strange mix of fish oil, beeswax, and some other stuff so you have wash your hands after using it). Here's what it looks like:
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