Introducing "Montana" (Monty)
Montana is a very handsome, dark bay, Standarbred gelding who stands about 15.3hh-16hh . Although Montana raced a little in his younger days, he was used as a pleasure mount by his previous owner for many years and is said to have been a good riding horse and a great jumper. He knows how to canter but may occasionally still show off some of his pacing talents as he has not been in work for a while. With regular work he soon forgets about the pacing and will pick up the canter when asked.
Montana was surrendered to Epona's Pastures when his owner passed away and he was left with nobody to look after him. He will be spending the next week settling in to his new environment while making new friends here at Epona's Pastures. We will begin Montana's assessment in the following week, and we will be posting regular updates on his progress.
Monty's First Day Of Assessment
Monty has come a long way in very short time and as we got to know him better it became increasingly apparant that he had a very loving nature. As lovely as a horse is, we don't take any risks when we first assess horses that we have not tried under saddle, and Monty was no different.
Thea puts on full safety gear and the first ride is on the lunge so that a second person also has control if the horse proves difficult to handle.
Monty wondered what all the fuss was about and strode out like a real gentleman. Below is a photo from his first ride.
Thea puts on full safety gear and the first ride is on the lunge so that a second person also has control if the horse proves difficult to handle.
Monty wondered what all the fuss was about and strode out like a real gentleman. Below is a photo from his first ride.
Montana Enjoys Warm Summer Days
Montana (Monty) is having a great time in the paddock together with his friends. They are currently enjoying the knee-deep grass some lazy summer days. In the photo, Monty is having a rest in the cool shade from the trees.Monty has been out on shorter trail rides. He has proven to be a steady and nice mount, and even less experienced riders have enjoyed his company in the forest.
We Discover The Painful Truth
The holidays are over and after all the hustle and bustle of the silly season we finally have a chance to book Monty in for a long overdue Vet visit to get his feet x-rayed. Despite Monty appearing sound with shoes on, his hooves were not in good condition. We suspected that Monty has previously suffered from laminities based on the poor condition of his hooves. On advice from our Farrier we put shoes on Monty in hope that they would assist in a healthier re-growth of the hooves. The next time we removed his shoes, however, there was clearly further deterioration in his feet and it became obvious that the damage was more extensive then the farrier's initial diagnosis.The photo on the left shows how the hoof wall has come away from the sole and the deterioration of the hoof wall as a result of seedy toe for many years.
Unfortunately the X-rays showed complete rotation of the pedal bone which had dropped away from the supporting hoof wall and was now pushing at the sole of the hoof. The pedal bone was only a couple of centimeters from pushing through the sole. (see yellow arrow pointing to the pedal bone on the second photo below)
Unfortunately the X-rays showed complete rotation of the pedal bone which had dropped away from the supporting hoof wall and was now pushing at the sole of the hoof. The pedal bone was only a couple of centimeters from pushing through the sole. (see yellow arrow pointing to the pedal bone on the second photo below)
With this news we had to make the difficult decision to put Monty to rest. Monty passed peacefully on at the farm on 14th February 2008.
