Please, think about this. I bought my Big Mac for the wrong reasons in 1988. I felt sorry for him. I had barely started riding lessons when I bought him to free him from the stall he lived in 24x7. He was a padded Big Lick horse, one of a handful in the big self-care boarding barn where Emily and I were taking lessons on some three-gaited horses. I couldn't stand to see him, not quite five, confined to that stall all day. He was so personable - he'd nod and shake his head as anyone passed by, totally craving attention. So I inquired, found out he was for sale. I tried him, leased him for a trial and a month later I bought him. The day I wrote the check, I called a farrier out to start taking the pads off and trimming the feet down. (It's too dramatic to do it all at once - it has to be done gradually.)
So, I had no choice about his feet during the trial period. He wasn't mine, so I couldn't trim him down. Mac was just shown on a local-regional level, so I don't think he was ever chemically sored - but the long toes and pads were bad enough. Why do you think the practices of letting the feet grow long started? Because it can make the horse wonderfully smooth to ride! Mac was amazingly smooth. But that is no excuse! I could have chosen to ignore the pads and just enjoy my comfortable-to-ride but padded horse. Would that have been right? Heavens no! There are many cases less dramatic than Big Lick horses. I just wrote up two others: Loftur's back pain, and Skjoni's saddle fit. Oh yeah, there was Sina's initial paciness due to saddle fit and my stiffness - but she was smooth to ride too! All of these were smooth to ride, despite the problems! And Nancy wrote about her horse's lameness that showed up in his gaits. You can simply ride a smooth horse without questioning, but please, think about it. Even if you don't learn all the subtle difference in all of the gaits, please start by learning some of the basics. Your horse may be fine now, but odd are, over the course of his life, he'll give you some clues about his soundness via his gaits. Bottom line: Ignorance may be bliss, at least for the rider, but it's often not so blissful for the horses...I've learned a lot from these rehabs I've taken in, but believe me, I don't want to take in YOUR horse as a rehab someday in the future. Karen Thomas, NC
