“NOW PAY ATTENTION!” – Email 13

Hello ,

I’ve heard in the last month of two yards that have each had 3 horses develop hind leg suspensory desmitis within a year. To misquote Oscar Wilde “One, may be regarded as misfortune, two (or three) looks like carelessness.”

I don’t want to get preachy here but as with most injuries, the earlier you identify it, the more chance there is of the recovery for your horse. There are various reasons this injury can happen – straight hock conformation being one (see picture below), bad shoeing/hoof balance, for instance, long toes, narrow heels being another cause.

It can be caused by a bad arena surface (deep and uneven), too much arena work, extreme sports, slipping and plain bad luck. The thing is to PAY ATTENTION and notice when something is up as soon as possible. In fact, sooner than that is best – I guess that comes under prevention (we spend a whole week covering this on the Online Horse Psychology Course, and for good reason). Make a point of running your hands down your horse's legs every day (gloves off!) feel for heat or filling.

We knew Hugo wasn’t going to pass his vetting because of THIS video.

People spend a lot of time watching the horse's legs or looking for head bobbing but can forget to watch closely how their hind quarters move. Video footage is extremely useful. The more you watch this the more you can see how the right side dips down more than the left. Once you’ve seen it you can’t unsee it! But it’s very easy to miss this when you're watching a horse walk up and you’re trying to take everything in.

Here is how Hugo is now after his rehab.

Something else I videoed was how Hugo chewed when he first came. I couldn’t put my finger on quite why it wasn’t ‘normal’ but once I got him to the equine dental veterinary practice they discovered he’d have been in a lot of discomfort particularly on the right side of his mouth, where he needed two root canal treatments to avoid losing a tooth altogether. He’d had regular dental check ups before but this had been missed through lack of specialist equipment (I imagine).

Pay Attention to how your horse chews, does it seem one sided? Does he drop food? Is he happy for you to touch the side of his face on both sides? If not why not? Try it today!

If we’re privileged to own one of these beautiful animals it’s up to us to make these checks.

That's All. (Loved 'The Devil Wears Prada' 😂)

Lots Of Love

Kelly xxx

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