If your feet hurt....

....you're miserable! Or at least Curly was today. His tender feet finally got the best of him. He has been favoring one side to compensate for the pain in his feet and consequently threw his back out. E. was participating in a "horse camp" and all the gathered trainers and "experts" agreed that Curly was in too much pain to be ridden today. Poor guy! He really wanted to please E. and do what she asked, but just wasn't able.

So....he was given Bute (horsey equivalent to Ibuprofen), massaged by some expert hands (this turned into a "teachable moment" for the camp and all the girls learned a bit about horse anatomy and massage techniques), and then given the rest of the afternoon off. This evening we had a friend - who is also a farrier - come and shoe his two front feet to relieve some of the pain on the soles of his feet. She added rubber "wedgies" between the hooves and the shoes to bring his heels up and create a better angle to his feet too.

(This picture was taken a week after the shoes were put on - and he's still loving them!)

Curly was immediately happier. Tomorrow the chiropractor is coming to adjust his back. Who knew there was such a thing as a horse chiropractor!

E. should be able to ride again tomorrow and join in the camp fun.

Oh, and we discovered that Curly loves blackberries. He was disappointed that we had only a handful to share.