And the conclusion of "Shanghai Trails" or..."How I learned Ground Controls Don't Work For Strider"

I promised I would do the conclusion, did I not?  I usually try and deliver....

I spent much of the day Saturday waffling on if I was going to ride Sunday or not.  I knew I wasn't riding Strider, but I had Dakini.  I even went and changed my entry to her.

And kept waffling.  And talked myself out of it.

Joe had to work his volunteer police gig Sunday.  I had surgery scheduled on Monday.  And, I know Dakini could have done the distance (27.5 miles), but...I was just fried emotionally and mentally and not on my game.  So I decided as I went to bed Saturday night I was heading home Sunday.

Which is exactly what I did.

I was able to break camp fairly quickly and easily, despite some SNAFUs getting out of camp (a truck and trailer parked right where I needed to drive to get OUT and a car also in the way).  Stood and talked with a friend's husband for a little bit...cleaned up the pen area as well as possible...loaded the kids and headed for home in a daze. 

I honestly don't remember much of the drive home.  I'm usually kind of zoned out, and I'm sure I was still decompressing the ride itself.  And turning my mind from "Ride weekend" to "I have surgery tomorrow!"

Unloaded the kids at the barn.  Noticed Dakini had pooped in the trailer...and, disconcertingly, Strider had not.  When I unloaded him, he ran off into his pen, bucking and farting, and then ran and grabbed a BIG drink of water.  Rolled.  Acted utterly and completely normal.  I thought back, remembered seeing a fresh pile of poop by the trailer after I loaded.  Told myself it was his, and then dashed off a message to a friend who had also been at Shanghai to see if she could look in on him when she dropped her boy off to make sure he was okay.

So, Monday is surgery.  I'm not even wasting my time talking about it.  Surgery is what surgery is.  Sayonara gall bladder!!

But, Monday evening I get a text; "Your horse is lame."

I get this a LOT.  Figured he was just sore from whatever he'd done to his left front, so fired a message back "Sure he's just sore from the ride.  Thanks for letting me know!  I'll check on him as soon as I can."  And then I promptly passed back out in that post-anesthesia haze.

Tuesday afternoon late, a new friend I met at the ride who is leasing one of my friend's horses says "He's lame." 

Told her "Yeah, I hear that a LOT.  I'm sure he's fine."

"No, he's LAME.  Right front.  Want me to send a video?"

And she does.

And I lose my mind.  Oh yeah.  He's LAME.  And I start to cry.  I can't get to the barn.  I cannot PHYSICALLY do ANYTHING for him because I'm not supposed to DO anything.

She's pretty sure it's the nails.

After seeing these photos, I agree.

Can you see what I see?

That nail RIGHT there is what we suspect was part of the problem.

Not going to lie, I started calling in favors I probably had no right to.  I was in a state of panic and hysteria.  My new friend said she'd pull it, but didn't have the right tools. 

Thankfully, my amazing farrier, who had JUST gotten home from a long day of trimming horses looked at my pictures of it after listening to me, said at first she'd check him tomorrow, but after seeing the video said "I'm going right now to pull those shoes and see if that helps."

So she, her son and, well, basically her "crew" rolled over to my barn, relieved my new friend from the whole thing and pulled his shoes.

She noticed that he'd ripped off a large flap of sole, but even after removing shoes, while he was better, he wasn't sound.

Obviously.  :(

So, suggestion of call the vet and go from there. 

Which I did on Wednesday morning at around 8:10am.

Now, we'd had a NASTY storm Tuesday night (this did NOT in any way reduce my anxiety or concern for him), so the wonderful vet at OnCallVet said I would be shuffled in as soon as possible, but it would be in the afternoon.  I explained to them that I physically could NOT be there due to my surgery.  Now, I had friends at the barn volunteering to hold him for the vet and offering to help (just thinking about the outpouring of generosity makes my heart swell).  THANKFULLY my farrier happened to be trimming at the barn when the vet made it out there, so she was able to hold and tell me what was what.

Due to the unshapeable ability of composite shoes, we feel that he got a hot nail in.  NOT my shoer's fault.  Just the way those shoes are made, they do not work for Strider.  So, vet said remove the back shoes (we'd left them on HOPING we could salvage and reset...not doing it though), antibiotics and to use his sole paint to toughen him up.

Holly went to get the sole paint for me (did I mention my farrier is an angel here on Earth?  Genuinely and truly sincere) on Saturday from the vet's office, and Joe and I met her at the barn that Saturday to see it go on.

Now, to wait.  To let the antibiotics do their job.  To let the sole paint do IT'S job.  And for me to figure out what on earth to do next for his feet.

My gut says "Just go steel shod.  Pad for rocky rides.  Stop fussing with composites."

So, with that said...anyone want to buy 2 BRAND NEW un-used Ground Control shoes in Size 0?  Teal.  I happen to have some.  *sigh*