Trail Ride in the beautiful Sonoran Desert!

by Zoey
(Gover)

I cantered Wildfire up to the state land gate. I got into two-point position as best as I could in a western saddle, as he lept over the small gate with ease. I slowed him to a walk and our trail ride began! With no shoes on, Wildfire's tender feet began hurting when he stepped on rocks. I did my best to guide him to a dry riverbed that was full of nice, soft sand.

He worked his hardest to climb carefully down the steep slope that led to the bottom of the riverbed. He had to change paths several times to avoid cactus. Finally, he was close enough to the bottom that he jumped down. When he landed in the soft dirt he sighed a sigh of contentment. He realized that soft sand meant running and pulled on the bit to get me to allow him to run. He stretched his long neck out, his curved, elegant ears swiveling back and forth. He pranced a little and stopped.

I chuckled, patted his red neck, leaned forward and squeezed with my legs. Excited, Wildfire did a half rear and took off at a canter. His pace quickly extended quickly to a gallop. I felt his body become close to the ground as he prepared to run full out. I could only imagine how beautiful he looked, his tail carried high into the air, ears forward, head high, legs stretching forward to cover more ground. I hunched close to his neck, trying not to get caught on the horn and suddenly a sharp CRACK broke my thoughts. Wildfire lunged forward and gasped in pain.

I grabbed up more rein and slowed him to a lope. He would lope a stride and then awkwardly hold up a leg and lope with 3 legs. I tried to stop him but he wanted to continue. He pulled back on the bit ad I pulled. Finally he gave in and stopped. I dismounted and it nearly brought him to the side. He held up his right front foot and pranced around on 3 feet snorting and gasping in pain. I carefully felt his leg. Nothing was swollen it he didn't pull back as I applied pressure to joints.

So i picked his foot up. I gasped in shock. His heel was busted up so badly. The frog was missing chunks and had a crack running down the middle. Unconsciously i touched his frog and he pulled back, wincing. I stood and looked behind. Right in the middle of the riverbed, lay a rock. Not a large rock, but a little bigger than his hoof. He must've stepped on it and hit it just right to crack up the bottom of his foot that badly.
I unclipped his tie-down and led him home. He limped the whole time. A few times he needed to stop and rest.

It took nearly an hour to get home. and when we finally made it, Wildfire was absolutely exhausted. I soaked a place in his corral with water and made him stand in it. Obviously the cool mud felt good to him as he nearly fell asleep.

I thought it was the end of him for sure. I thought it would take months for him to heal. The next week his hoof was healed to the point that he was ridable. Just not on rocks. So around the block we went! I've always thought his feet were hard as this has never happened. But now I know, he really needs shoes. His feet have never been so sensitive before, and he's never had a problem with rocks. But, shoes are just a good idea and we're gonna wait for his frog to heal up a little more, and then shoe him.