UGH, need to vent...

[patandchickens]

"how are his feet" means such different things to different people. To you it may mean "has he ever been lame or had structural problems or thrush or anything whatsoever". To others it means "do his feet crack and chip", or "does he hold shoes", or "does he stay sound barefoot". To some, it means "how is the structural and 'trim' balance of his hooves and foot structure'. To others, "has he ever been so lame that EVEN *I* have been forced to the realization there's something wrong". To others, "have his feet generally remained attached to his body most of the time". Etc.

I seriously, seriously doubt this is an honestly issue; just different people hearing different meanings in a phrase (and possibly with different, ah, knowledge bases involved).

Truly I believe that most horse sellers are being honest, not intentionally lying. Just, quite often, they're on a different wavelength than the buyer, or of a different state of experience/knowledge of horses, and sometimes just kinda livin' in a different world

Pat

 

[CountryMom]

I have to agree these things are minor compared to deformities or founder issues. The abcess is basically healed and growing out. So it just needs time to cosmeticly be nice. And thrush, well one of my daughter's show horses battles that all the time. We have been in drought conditions mind you and he isn't stalled. He does have shoes and it traps dirt and we have to clean him out all the time. Mind you this is a cutting horse that works in DEEP sand. Go to SouthTexasTack.com and order yourself some Thrush Buster. It will do the trick if you put in on once a day.

I guess I am different in that I like to work my horses from day one to get them use to a routine and surrounding. If you expect a horse to perform and do so the same day you arrive at a show, then you can't get them there an expect them to settle in and not work. So lunging him the first day isn't something I would avoid, but likely do. Even our little unregistered shetlands and minis get worked at shows and are expected to behave the same there or at home. JMHO

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

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[PineBurrowPeeps]

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I tend to agree with you here. There are bunches of people who would be telling me that I still shouldn't be lunging him but he's been great and I think the improvment I've seen has to do with him learning that I'm the leader from me asking things of him. Maybe it's the type of thing that differs from situation to situation, horse to horse.
He was being pushy when he first got here because he was unsure of who was the leader. The same day I lunged him and felt like we clicked and he did wonderful is the day that he stopped being pushy on lead, became very relaxed during grooming and hand grazing, etc.

Tonight I had my husband take him back to his pasture while I fixed his stall for the night and my husband had never led him before. He stopped and turned around looking for me and he neighed for me

It was nice. I still had hubby lead him down to his pasture but the recognition he showed there by looking for me was really nice to see. I have really been putting my all into bonding with him and I've been spending alot of time with him.