When it comes to barefooot horses, like everything else, no news is good news! The girls have been progressing slowly and surely with no major incidents, which is great.
We've had pretty dry weather since they started to come in over night a fortnight ago. They are eating an awful lot of hay, Lottie in particular, and have become accustomed to their Simple Systems diet. It has to be said that they are not nearly as enthusiatic about their new feed as I've seen them about previous feeds, but they're still eating it, so we're still serving it up!
Our trimmer came on Sunday and was really pleased with their progress... He gave Lottie a 3 on the fronts and a 3.5 on the backs (last time it was a 2 on the fronts and a 3 on the backs) and said we could start giving her some nice comfortable work/exercise to speed up the process. He also said he couldn't find any Seedy Toe so the foot washing and white line balm has worked a treat. I was quite pleased at the thought of not having to wash her feet all the time but he suggested carrying on to keep nasties at bay while her feet are still getting stronger. Ah well... I'm an expert equine foot washer now so might as well use my skills!
He was also pleased with Jazz and thought she was doing really well (which Chris had an idea was the case as she'd been really comfortable on her ride in the morning, even offering to gallop!). Jazz scored a 4 on her fronts and 4.5 on her backs (last time was a 3 and 3.5) and he said that she should be in pretty good shape to do most things on soft ground but may still need boots for stoney paths etc.
Bothe of them seem to have fairly slow growing feet, although Lotties are moving a little quicker with the new growth being over half way down now. We didn't take pictures but they both have 'prettier feet' now and look right without shoes.
Fingers crossed for a 5+ score on one set of hooves next time!
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
A few thoughts
Well I thought it was about time I chimed in as Kerry has been doing all the hard work of keeping this blog going lately...
I thought I'd try and find the (some, any…) positives in the situation - it's so easy to focus on what’s still not good that you lose sight of what might have improved. Kerry posted in week eightish that Lottie was quite sore particularly on the right fore. About this time Lottie had a brief interaction with Dibble (an unfamiliar gelding), walking her carefully along the concrete without boots she stopped to say hello, they did the usual nostril-to-nostril heavy breathing and then Lottie squealed, reared up and landed heavily on her sore feet! Didn’t seem affected at all… I think it was about at that point that I began to wonder just how bad they were… A positive? Sort of…
As Kerry has recounted we had the physio last week. She asked Kerry to take Lottie into the sand school and trot her up. I followed on a minute later to hear the physio say ‘she looks very lame on the right hind’ (oh sh*t), then ‘can you do it again and this time make her trot fast’… ‘OK she’s fine she just couldn’t be bothered to trot properly the fist time’ (Ah)
So we can now say for certainty that at walk and trot in the sand school Lottie is 100% sound, when we first had her shoes off she couldn’t walk comfortably even on sand. A positive!
Although it sounds like we are 1 step up from horse-abusers by making her walk to the field without boots in fact she manages quite well apart from the last few feet of quite sharp gravel. When we first had her shoes off she couldn’t manage to walk on even a slightly gritty surface. A positive!
As a by-product of all the foot-washing, foot-balming, foot-picking-up-and-staring-at Kerry can do practically anything with Lottie’s feet. A positive!
Jazz is doing pretty well. She isn’t entirely comfortable walking on gravel but she has stopped wincing when she treads on small sharp stones and now just winces when she treads on big sharp ones. She seems pretty sound at walk and trot on the concrete and is completely sound at walk, trot, canter and gallop on grass even when ridden. Another positive!
All in all – I think it’s going as well as can be expected… :-)
I thought I'd try and find the (some, any…) positives in the situation - it's so easy to focus on what’s still not good that you lose sight of what might have improved. Kerry posted in week eightish that Lottie was quite sore particularly on the right fore. About this time Lottie had a brief interaction with Dibble (an unfamiliar gelding), walking her carefully along the concrete without boots she stopped to say hello, they did the usual nostril-to-nostril heavy breathing and then Lottie squealed, reared up and landed heavily on her sore feet! Didn’t seem affected at all… I think it was about at that point that I began to wonder just how bad they were… A positive? Sort of…
As Kerry has recounted we had the physio last week. She asked Kerry to take Lottie into the sand school and trot her up. I followed on a minute later to hear the physio say ‘she looks very lame on the right hind’ (oh sh*t), then ‘can you do it again and this time make her trot fast’… ‘OK she’s fine she just couldn’t be bothered to trot properly the fist time’ (Ah)
So we can now say for certainty that at walk and trot in the sand school Lottie is 100% sound, when we first had her shoes off she couldn’t walk comfortably even on sand. A positive!
Although it sounds like we are 1 step up from horse-abusers by making her walk to the field without boots in fact she manages quite well apart from the last few feet of quite sharp gravel. When we first had her shoes off she couldn’t manage to walk on even a slightly gritty surface. A positive!
As a by-product of all the foot-washing, foot-balming, foot-picking-up-and-staring-at Kerry can do practically anything with Lottie’s feet. A positive!
Jazz is doing pretty well. She isn’t entirely comfortable walking on gravel but she has stopped wincing when she treads on small sharp stones and now just winces when she treads on big sharp ones. She seems pretty sound at walk and trot on the concrete and is completely sound at walk, trot, canter and gallop on grass even when ridden. Another positive!
All in all – I think it’s going as well as can be expected… :-)
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Boots and Winter Turnout
We can't put Lotties boots on in the field to bring her in now the winter is here...
When I try to explain this to our trimmer it sounds so lame... "We can't put boots on all through winter, it's too difficult!" (whinge-whinge, moan-moan!). I know I sound selfish and lazy but it really is borderline impossible! Maybe this is where you find out how committed you are to being barefoot. My thoughts so far...
When I try to explain this to our trimmer it sounds so lame... "We can't put boots on all through winter, it's too difficult!" (whinge-whinge, moan-moan!). I know I sound selfish and lazy but it really is borderline impossible! Maybe this is where you find out how committed you are to being barefoot. My thoughts so far...
- It's too dangerous to boot her in the field, wind and rain, when the horses are literally knocking each other over to get to you.
- The horses come out of the field onto hard/sharp gravel and Lottie won't pick up her feet up on there.
- We thought about taking a pilates mat but the other horses can and will reach over the fenceline to bug her while you're trying to lift her feet. It's also impossible to hold a mat still in the wind while managing the electric fence AND leading a horse.
- She's also been stood knee deep in mud so it's very difficult to apply her boots without cleaning her feet. Idelaly you need to bring a bucket of water and a hoof pick to swill them down and clean them out so they'll even fit in the boots.
- By the time you get her off the mat she's on easier ground and only got about thirty metres to walk to the barn.
- Once in the barn the boots have to come off so that her legs and feet can be washed properly before she can go to her stable and have her white line balm applied.
- This process is impossible on your own in the dark. You can't even carry all the stuff down to the field that you will need, nevermind bring it back again while leading a horse!
Okay so this is not completely impossible, I agree... I guess the truth is I don't want to spend more than half of the time I have with Lottie at the end of a long work-day with my backside in the air, getting frustrated by gates swinging at me and horses fighting over me and the rain pouring down the back of my jeans while I transfer mud from one place to another in an attempt to keep her/the boots/something/anything clean. Meanwhile, poor Lottie has to stand & wait quietly for ages getting impatient and justifiably nervous of the other horses and by the ham-fisted nature of the whole thing.
Right enough ranting! Lottie isn't 100% without her boots on across the yard (and the rant is probably a response to my own guilt about this) but we're just going to have to take it slow and deal with it without the boots for turnout over winter.
Before we took her shoes off I'd have read similar to the above by other owners on forums and things and thought 'god, stop exaggerating and put your horse first'... I apologise for those thoughts :-)
Monday, 4 October 2010
Week Ten - Progress On Operation 'Twinkle Toes'
We’ve been bringing Lottie in without her boots on over the last week and she’s definitely very careful (more careful on the 3ft of sharp gravel she crosses) but doesn’t seem particularly sore. Putting boots on to bring in has become more or less unmanageable. With the mud and the girls fighting at the gate on rainy days, it can mean taking your life in your hands bringing them in on your own, nevermind putting your backside in the air to apply boots (see next post!)
The girls have gone from 24/7 turnout to being in over night this week. The rain has been pretty bad over this last weekend but we're thinking/hoping it may well turn better again before winter hits properly.
We've also introduced Simple Systems to their diet in the hope that this will ensure they're getting all they need for healthy hooves! Jazz suspected we'd added arsenic and it's been a slow process for her to get up to the amounts she's supposed to have. Even Lottie was suspicious for a second or two, but it didn't last!
The Veterinary Physiotherapist came out to see Lottie on Thursday. We haven't seen her since we got Lottie about a year ago and it was a good excuse to see her again (the trimmer recommended an osteo/physio to check nothing else was interferring with normal movement).
There was quite a transformation in Lottie after she’d worked her magic. She didn’t think her feet were causing any referred physical problems specifically and thought her front-end/shoulders were just as before (she saw Lottie when we first got her nearly a year ago, so when she had shoes on). There’s a little development and tension in her neck and shoulders from fighting the bit in her past life but she was more concerned about her hind end. She thinks there may be an old injury there from a fall or similar and she’s given us some special massage things to do to keep out the tension. Lottie was really perky afterwards and is definitely moving better! I trotted her up for the physio a couple of times and she said the odd movement was really apparent in a lazy trot and thought this might have been what the trimmer had seen.
Lottie certainly brightened up afterwards and that (along with the colder weather maybe?) has brought back a horse that's definitely more willing to move (whether asked to or not!)
The girls have gone from 24/7 turnout to being in over night this week. The rain has been pretty bad over this last weekend but we're thinking/hoping it may well turn better again before winter hits properly.
We've also introduced Simple Systems to their diet in the hope that this will ensure they're getting all they need for healthy hooves! Jazz suspected we'd added arsenic and it's been a slow process for her to get up to the amounts she's supposed to have. Even Lottie was suspicious for a second or two, but it didn't last!
The Veterinary Physiotherapist came out to see Lottie on Thursday. We haven't seen her since we got Lottie about a year ago and it was a good excuse to see her again (the trimmer recommended an osteo/physio to check nothing else was interferring with normal movement).
There was quite a transformation in Lottie after she’d worked her magic. She didn’t think her feet were causing any referred physical problems specifically and thought her front-end/shoulders were just as before (she saw Lottie when we first got her nearly a year ago, so when she had shoes on). There’s a little development and tension in her neck and shoulders from fighting the bit in her past life but she was more concerned about her hind end. She thinks there may be an old injury there from a fall or similar and she’s given us some special massage things to do to keep out the tension. Lottie was really perky afterwards and is definitely moving better! I trotted her up for the physio a couple of times and she said the odd movement was really apparent in a lazy trot and thought this might have been what the trimmer had seen.
Lottie certainly brightened up afterwards and that (along with the colder weather maybe?) has brought back a horse that's definitely more willing to move (whether asked to or not!)
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