Sad! :(

Well, I really thought I would take some more video of Peg with her shoes, because she is so free moving now, I am amazed, and, at the same time, sad that these shoes don't work for her. I have had the chance to look closer at how she walks and have noticed that her two front feet rub against each other at the walk, so she gets rubs on her coronet band from the opposite hoof. I know, this is a special case and will require extra care to make sure she is comfortable.

I have made her more comfortable on her feet by putting shoes on her, but created another problem bby having her hit her coronet band when walking... which was probably happening before, but with bare hooves, it is less likely to leave a mark. I am so sad to have to take the shoes off, she is just running all the time now! But I will have to find something else that doesn't create another problem, like the one she has right now.

On other sad news... this is why I haven't spent time taking pictures this weekend. Dandy is getting progressively blinder. She is now running into things, I'm afraid she will get hurt and I am extremely sad that she will probably be completely blind by age 6. There goes my dreams of barrel racing and jumping. My plans with Dandy have to change, she will not be able to succeed and I want to prevent any kind of injury that I can.

This is my first horse, I've trained her from the ground up, she knows me and I know her, she trusts me entirely and I trust her just as much. Dandy trusts me completely to galop in a field that she doesn't know, she knows that I won't hurt her and guide her in the right direction. She is not completely blind from her right eye, but she is completely blind from her left eye. I think she only sees from close and cannot distinguish things from afar.

Friday, I was out to have a look at Peg's shoes, since I need to keep a close eye so that she doesn't get injured. I couldn't catch her and Pearl and her were running around the 40 acre pasture. Dandy is not quite accepted in their group and often stays on her own, but she was trying to follow them at a canter, she was calling out for them. We have a treeline that separates two parts of the pasture and there is a trail wide enough for a tractor to pass through if needed. When the two mares galopped back, they took a different trail, Dandy swung around to find the tractor trail, and she couldn't find it, so she cut through the woods and hit several small trees with her face. My heart was broken... she gave up and followed me around instead. I caught up with Peg and checked her, as well as Pearls feet and Dandy's. Next day, I wanted to check Peg's feet again, so we caught her, after they ran the 40 acre pasture again... Dandy in tow, Dandy crashed in the round bale cattle feeder. I was so scared! I called her back to me and checked her all over for wounds, nothing, I guess we got lucky, but she seems to have spotted the feeder at the last minute and did one good reining sliding stop, but it was a bit too late. Fortunately, she was not hurt.

I trimmed Dandy's feet this weekend also, I didn't take any pictures, I really wasn't in the mood. Her feet are great! I did pare out some sole (although I never advise of doing it), Dandy's sole was so thick and full of dead stuff, even after paring it out (a little bit), there was still dead stuff in it, I didn't go the the live sole at all. It was super windy on Saturday, so our ride got reported to Sunday... which was still windy, but not as bad and a little warmer! We took the three horses, Pearl was on her second ride of the year, the first one being in January, I think. Peg was great and Dandy was as good as always, though she jumped a creek, she never does that, and I wasn't really ready for it, I didn't pull in her mouth, but she has such a push off that my butt hit the cantle and it hurt a little bit! :) The rest of the ride was spotless for me. Pearl always gets a little excited. She likes to intimidate her rider before he / she mounts up. My poor sister who worked with Pearl since the start was truly intimidated. Pearl jumps around just before you put your foot in the stirrup and she actually kicked at my sister... she got reprimanded quickly enough and didn't try that again. She cannot stand still, so we make her move around... she isn't dangerous once your are on her and she seems like a blast to ride. She is truly gaited and does a nice little running walk that is TO DIE FOR! I rode Pearl for the first time, and I've vowed to never do it again, but I might reconsider, she has calmed down significantly, doesn't mini rear anymore, just fakes it by "Sitting down".

We have an appointment with the vet next Saturday. My sister is getting her little yearling gelded and I am taking Dandy for her shots and a complete physical examination, especially her eyes!!! I am very concerned and I want to know if there is options out there to treat her... I will consider any price, Dandy is worth everything to me. I would love for her to be able to see... although I am not sure how many options there is out there. I can't stop thinking about it... what do I do... I will eventually need to retire her, or she will no longer be a match for me, since I would like to move on and do something besides trail riding. She is an excellent horse, I will never find another one like her. I will have to wait and see what the vet has to say about it. I hope there is something I can do that won't cost an arm and a leg.

So here, this is why I am so depressed lately... I feel like I am losing my best girl. I am so attached to her, I don't want anything bad to happen. Wish me luck... I'm pretty down right now. :(