2008.07.14-The best local Hoof and Foot Professionals
November 24th, 2009
Dateline: November 23, 2008 5:18 PM
After spending a few weeks performing due diligence concerning Rody’s soundness issues, trying to find the best possible hoof and foot equine professionals to assess Rody’s condition for me, and to prescribe her rehabilitation/treatment (if any) ..
I finally settled upon a course of action: get a really good HorseDoc/AAEP, working with a really good farrier, and see what Rody’s real condition is, and how best to manage her.
follows: a “progress report” to a trusted individual ….
Dear M***A***,
Found Rody’s pedigree, published it online at >> http://www.lazyrminis.com/rody_the_showjumping_tb_mare.htm
(above includes a Buckpasser video, from the famous ‘chicken flamingo’ stakes at Hialeah Downs, etc.)
My decision to get Doc B******, and farrier g**** h**, to work together on Rody was the best thing I ever did.
> thanks for suggesting a good vet and farrier to me (I took a few weeks deciding which ones to use)
Within a week:
> she seemed like nothing had ever been wrong with her …
> she seemed to “forget” that her hoof hurt,
> and wanted to go faster and faster … (without asking her – at her own pace)
We have her back to about 95%-97% sound [my estimate]
(she sometimes starts a very marginal “quarter-game” limp when she gets tired, but often forgets which hoof to limp on, Hhhhmmm… do you s’pose she may have been scamming me? )
I think she has “the Winston Churchill syndrome” (she ‘does not gladly suffer fools’ – or incompetent riders/handlers; I know she already has me buffaloed, and I think she knows it, too.)
M***A***, Rody is
> an “ornery horse” (headstrong and challenging of the rider’s leadership and authority),
> but her temperament is as sweet as can be (her hunter event name was “Ain’t she sweet”).
She wasn’t a jumper, as we were led to believe. She was originally trained as a HUNTER! (big difference in that world).
> she passed around quite a few owners’/riders, eventually ended up in some Jumper facility/school near Mt. Vernon,
> apparently ridden by some rich kid,
> and when the girl did not perform at “grand prix levels” riding Rody,
(we also found evidence of a minor injury about that time, which probably was not correctly handled by the Rody’s owner; when I later contacted Rody’s vet during that time, the vet did not wish to discuss the horse or the treatment with me. fortunately, Doc Bridges said that she did not need, or even wish to receive, any information from any previous vets),
> the rider threw Rody in the trash bin…
In my unqualified, non-professional opinion: Rody never should have been a jumper,
> she was not bred for it, nor was built for it (she looks like she is ready to win a two-mile race on the senior mares cards – this is Kentucky Thoroughbred Racing stock, not tiny-arena showjumping stock).
> Her US Jockey Club registered name – “Wannabeajumper (unraced)” – may be a giveaway that the breeder intended ONLY to develop her as a jumper (which seems like a great idea to me, as well, until I learned more about the facility she ended up at…), hence she was never raced;
> but the above is probably only my opinion (what do I know about TB’s ?)
Anyway, just thought I would let you know what we found out about her.
\best regards,
mark rector