Frustrations mount

I tend to gloss over my every-day frustrations with hoof rehabbing, and maybe that makes my blog a little misleading.

Hoof rehabbing is incredibly frustrating. You make very little progress over months, and within seconds it can all be undone by a shoe getting ripped off or some other phenomenon.

I've posted on here about Buttercup losing shoes or having loose shoes, but probably not as often as it happens. We are at a critical stage in rehabbing during the summertime when nails loosen out of the hoof regularly without having hoof problems to add to it. Having some of her hoof still missing from where she ripped her shoe off a few months ago is not helping.

Bud was last done July 23. She lost nearly a week of riding time because she was incredibly sore (we think an infection flared up in her laminae to contribute to this). I was able to ride until Saturday, which meant about one week window of riding. What happened Saturday? She got sunburnt all over her back.

OK, no problem. We have a clinic scheduled for this Saturday, so I just worked her in the roundpen Sunday and Monday. By Tuesday, her sunburn was healed. Before hopping on to ride, I checked her shoes ... loose shoe on the front left.

So, no ride. No clinic. Nothing.

Being frustrated stems from two things: 1) I'm mad as heck at myself for letting her hooves deteriorate in the first place, and 2) I'm extremely selfish and darnit if I don't want to ride. But, there's nothing I can do about that.

What do you do when you encounter setbacks? I've decided to immerse myself in arduous exercise. Release some endorphins, sweat a lot, and forget for a little bit that I'm a screw-up and am missing riding days.

Last night, when I came home, instead of crying or re-directing my anger at my husband, I got on the treadmill for 40 minutes. It felt great.

On a positive note, Buttercup will be trying Equicast when she gets her shoe tacked back on. It is supposed to hold the hoofwall in place to allow the lamina to be able to reattach itself to the hoofwall – exactly what we need! I bet it will help with the loose shoes to boot! (I plan a post on this at a later date.)

In the meantime, I'm just going to have to take this lesson in patience and grow from it.