Gel Shoes and Other Stuff

  I have not wrote in a little while! Man! I have found I just don't have the drive to write at the moment. So much has happened though! Isn't that how it always goes when you skip writing for a few days?
   The farrier came for Udex and put on really neat gel shoes! He only has shoes in his front feet since it isn't necessary to put them on the back. About two-ish months ago we had a different farrier trim Udex's hooves. Biggest mistake ever. He ended up cutting waaay to much out of the soles of his already flat hooves, resulting in a few abscesses and lameness for around a month. There was quiet a few little abscesses that popped on their own within a few days durning that time. However, there was this one really nasty abscess that took about four days to pop. It was in the heel of his hoof! Eventually, -after epson salt soaks-, it popped!! He was good to ride right then and there! He was turned out with his friends and the next day we started work like normal.
  When the farrier came again to re-shod him, he showed us something interesting! In Udex's abscess hoof he had grown two soles!! Instead of just one sole there was now two, messy and all over the place. It was interesting to see, and watch him get rid of! Lots of cutting and snipping! His hoof was over exposed, and probably would have bruised or abscessed if left without any special attention. The solution? Fill the hooves with gel!! I was really excited to see that process happen! "Too cool" was the only thing that went through my mind! Anyways, he put the shoes on Udex with a chicken wire mesh as well. After his shoes were on he brought his little "gel gun" and squirted lots of the liquid into the hoof until it touched the brim of the shoe. Then he wrapped the hoof and let it set for about fifteen minutes. He did this to both front hooves.
   After the wrapping came off, he had a nice, soft, squishy gel in the hooves!!!! If I was a horse, I would love to be walking on that! Mr. Rau is an incredible farrier!! He has a natural talent for the job, and is a horse person as well. Udex stood extremely calm for almost an hour.

  Besides new shoes, lessons have been going well. We are working a lot more in trot now, which is both exciting and challenging at the same time. Udex is a "rocking horse," and really skinny at that. That makes him super challenging to sit! The way he moves is rather choppy. He is a horse that you really can not sit without having the right muscles, practice, patience and drive. All my friends almost flop right off him in sitting trot, canter, and rising trot even. His walk is even enough to make you cringe. You can only feel it when your riding though. When watching him move he actually looks surprisingly smooth!
  I have been getting sitting trot down with him. My seat isn't anywhere near as good as it is with other horses, but it's enough to call it a working process. The other day we were leg yeilding in trot and it wasn't working as well as I'd like it to have. As my trainer was yelling at me I caught myself thinking "ughh. It's not my fault that this horse is impossible to sit!!!!" Then almost a second later I felt really terrible when I thought that it wasn't Udex's fault either. It wasn't his fault that someone put him through years and years of rollkur pain, causing him all this damage. He was born a perfect, healthy, talented foal. Someone did the damage to him, he had no say in what went on.
  I gave Udex and pat and told him he was a good boy. Not everyday can we ride and get the expected results. It takes time to get it right. I have a lesson today, hopefully it goes well!! Even if it doesn't go too smoothly, I'm still going to be proud... Because six months ago, my horse was not rideable, not sitable, a failure, a "cow" and a lot of other things according to a lot of people. Today he is one amazing dressage horse, happy as can be, super talented, and lots of other amazing things. (-: I really, really, really love and appreciate my horsey. He's really just so amazing, I don't know where I would be without him!