Barefoot Boy and Not Good

The Attack of the B52

I put Tucker out on the lawn for a bit of a graze since he's been in his stall due to the missing shoe.

I had to wrap his foot in vetrap and duct tape to protect it since none of the boots I had fit. For some reason his toe is too long to fit even in the Cavello boot which usually is fine. I had two EasyBoot gloves as well, and neither of them went on either.

So out he went into the nice grass for, I figured about an hour. With a nearly two days of sun, the lawn was pretty dry, although I did expect he would make some hoofprints. No problem. I can cope.

What I did not expect was the attacking B52.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a "B52" is my name for one of those HUGE horseflies that bite like crazy. The darn things are at least an inch long, and, I swear, they have vampire fangs.

Desptite his flysheet and flyspray, Tuck went bonkers when the fly dive bombed him. He bucked off across to the paddock gate, I'd guess hoping to get into the barn for refuge, but, of course, the gate was closed.  I guess that took the fly off course because then everything quieted down.

But, in that single spurt of drama...guess what? Tuck pulled his other front shoe off.

No mud--just a leaping buck or two or three.

OK, well at least he's even in front for now. That shoe had to be loose or it never would have come off.

I don't know when Scott is coming, but hopefully soon. I hate having Tucker stuck in and, at the moment, I don't even have hoof boots to put on him so he can get out a little.

Turnout is so important. I know there are many horses that spend hours a day inside the barn, but there is no way I can believe it's good for them. Nature created a wandering, grazing animal in the horse.  Their bodies are designed to move their minds instinctively want to have the freedom to flee from danger--or simply to move as well.

Fortunately, Tucker tolerates "captivity" pretty well, so he doesn't fuss by being in. An this time of year, the Boys do tend to spend a lot of time hanging out in the stalls with the fans rather than wandering about outside, so it's not quite as bad as it might be.

Still.

Wish he could go barefoot, but everytime I have tried, he has come up with a long term lameness. He's just one of those horses that needs shoes and simply doesn't like to keep them on.