09.27.06
Posted in Horses for the horse crazy at 7:54 pm by petArtist Cmoses
Lately I’ve been reading and seriously investigating barefoot horsekeeping and am quite taken with the concept. Our horses Abby and Willow’s Bask went to Acadia National Park’s carriage roads barefoot for a week, and Gilford (age 3 percheron/arabian cross) has never been shod and I don’t really want to shoe him either.
It’s real interesting, I bought Pete Ramey’s book Making Natural Hoof Care Work For You and am studying the concepts and practices that are being developed by him, Jaime Jackson, and others. Ramey makes the point that for 7000 years horses were ridden barefoot in all conditions, and much more aggressively than today, before metal shoes somehow became necessary.
They describe wild horses, all having hooves tough as rock– including their soles– that when captured and penned or pastured for a while their hooves start to deteriorate and they get domestic horse soundness problems. They believe the horse’s natural state is to be outside 24/7, moving almost constantly, traveling 20-plus miles daily over ALL types of terrain including the worst rocks and gravel, foraging for fiber and eating nothing rich or concentrated.
I agree that this is what nature intended. Being unable to duplicate these conditions with most domestic horsekeeping, the goal of natural hoof care as Pete Ramey explains it is to trick the hoof into RESPONDING as if these conditions WERE present. Simply put, the hoofwall is kept short and rounded, and the sole and frog are encouraged to contact the ground to toughen up and to stimulate new hoof growth. Through this process over a few months’ time, given variable footing and lots of moving around, the sole and frog become thick and tough, the sole naturally concaves (dishes upward away from the ground), and the hoof wall becomes hard and strong.
A horse wearing shoes cannot toughen up its sole because the sole is lifted away from the ground, not just by the thickness of the shoe but by hoof walls which are usually longer than they need to be and grow ever longer with the horseshoe shielding them from normal wear. As well, it is common farrier practice to pare away sole, thus it can never develop truely thick callous.
Totally-pasture-kept horses, even when barefoot, almost never toughen up their soles as much as necessary. They need varied footing or else to be used frequently on varied footing– typical pastures are just too soft. Packed hard dirt pens can actually be helpful in this situation (remembering that the horse must also move around a lot.) Some people are putting pea gravel into areas their horses frequent, to help toughen up their soles. People conditioning their horses’ bare feet can use hoof boots for riding in extreme conditions and during transitioning to barefoot.
Riding and driving on pavement is working well for our horses, not tons of trotting but just wearing the hoof excess off. When hooves are kept properly trimmed in this barefoot method, the sole becomes rock-hard, thick, shiny and calloused and not susceptible to bruising. The hoof itself (measured from coronet to toe) is kept short, rarely over 3 1/2 inches long. Between the trimmer’s visits, the horse owner can use a rasp and do his own shaping-up. Some learn enough to maintain their own barefoot trimming.
Pete Ramey, formerly a traditional farrier, cares for 700 barehoof horses in north Georgia. I’ve read about– and seen pictures of the hooves of– barefoot trail horses used daily in the Rockies and barefoot Tennessee Walkers used daily AT GAIT in the Tennessee mountains (which are quite rocky and FAR from dry.) These horses are going barefoot with almost total success and soundness. And competitive endurance horses going barefoot and wearing hoof boots are doing 250-plus-mile rides over 5-6 days, completely sound.
I have seen Abby, a 20 year old morgan/percheron mare we owned for 6 years, with soles AND HOOFWALLS becoming tough in a few months’ time, and I never would have believed it was possible with her. When we kept her she was always shod, had crumbly hoofwalls, pulled a shoe off frequently, and she has dropped heels/flat feet in front.
Barefooting will be an experiment you can follow here, with our own horses as the guinea pigs. Our (open-minded) farrier Robin is reading Pete Ramey’s book and will use his trimming guidelines on our 20-yr.-old Arabian mare, our 3-yr.-old perch/arab, and our yearling perch/arab. Since we live in New England, where the most common reaction to the barefoot concept is well it’s too wet up here for barefoot to work, we will be a great test. Stay tuned for progress reports! And please COMMENT on your own barefoot horse experiences (below, just click COMMENTS) !
Websites on barefoot horse care–
Pete Ramey’s site
Jaime Jackson’s website
general barehoof information
heal the hoof, practice and education
BOGHS lameness research center in Plymouth, NH (2005)
For RELATED POSTS, search petArtistWithPeaches on:
barefoot
trail riding
hoof boots
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Connie Moses, petArtist– website: PortraitsWithHorses.com
(horse and pet portraits)
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09.26.06
Posted in Horses for the horse crazy at 5:39 pm by petArtist Cmoses
Instead of having a description of 3-yr.-old Gilford’s American Warmblood Society inspection, I report now on his recovery from a lameness issue. Once again his timing was perfect– he started slightly favoring his left hind leg on Saturday September 2, a week before his scheduled inspection. (I say ONCE AGAIN because last year right before his scheduled A.W.S. inspection he ALSO injured himself, the same left hind; well, that’s another whole story!)
Roundpen work after young horse is no longer lame from his abscess
Emmie noticed a slight hitch in his gait at the trot (only)– a dropping of one hip (or actually a hiking of the affected side)– but she could find no obvious cause or other symptoms, no heat or swelling or cuts or bruises. This went on for 4 days as she cold-hosed the leg; then on day 5 she found him limping worse and with swelling and some heat in the fetlock joint and just above, so we scheduled a local veterinarian to visit.
On Friday September 8 the vet examined him including hoof-testing for a possible sole bruise, but she could find no obvious injury either, so to rule things out she drew blood for a Lyme titer test because he had never been tested for Lyme disease before. (Apparently this is S.O.P. for horses with undiagnosed lameness in Connecticut, where Lyme disease is pretty prevalent in some areas.)
We play with Gilford and Emmie once more before bringing him back home
Meanwhile, the writing was on the wall that not only would Gilford miss his A.W.S. inspection [AGAIN], but he would not be sound for our week-long Acadia vacation either (September 10-17, Acadia National Park in Maine’s Bar Harbor area.) Fortunately our REALLY GOOD FRIEND Kim was kind enough to loan Abby back to us to replace Gilford as our driving horse to take up to Maine with our mare.
On Saturday September 9, which should have been Gilford’s inspection day, Emmie discovered that an abcess had broken through his left outside heel at the bulb just above the coronet band. She described a bit of oozing of some pus and a cottage cheesy-looking substance (yuk.) The horse was much less lame immediately because the pressure of the abscess was relieved, and he recovered quickly with help from Emmie’s daily hot water/Epsom salt soaks and compresses.
Gilford was put back into light daily exercise in the roundpen; within 4 days of the abscess draining (ie. resolving itself), he was rideable and no longer favoring. We still don’t know what caused this abscess, but the symptoms of it were gone within 1 1/2 weeks after the slight limp at the trot was first observed. Dad and I kept tabs on his progress and gave Em moral support from Maine.
Home again and trotting just fine!
We were majorly disappointed at not getting to enjoy driving Gilford on the carriage roads, after training him to the Meadowbrook cart and him doing so well all summer. (It would have been Gilford’s third visit to the carriage roads in Acadia, see Baby colt in Acadia National Park Maine of 07/28/06.) Plus Emmie had put in hours of schooling and in-hand work to prep him for the A.W.S. inspection.
Mare above the ground– Gilford’s Arabian mom is excited to see him again after 5 weeks!
Nothing much goes the way you plan sometimes. : ( Em did a great job with him and really enjoyed his 3-yr.-old willingness to try everything she asked of him. Under saddle he learned how to balance and carry himself better, maintain a steady pace, relax his neck down, stretch out his frame and move forward with impulsion for her, which translated also into the roundpen at liberty. He has a light and springy trot like his Arabian dam, and a quick and willing mind. Can’t ask much more than that!
FOOTNOTE:
Apparently a hoof abscess can be difficult to diagnose. An internal pocket of infection, they can be associated with invasive injuries, especially puncture wounds, or bruises such as sole bruises or some other hoof trauma. Large muscle bruises may also abscess without the skin being broken. Occurrence of swelling and/or heat may indicate an abscess; if diagnosed, the vet would typically prescribe an antibiotic treatment against the infection.
Often they will heal themselves by punching through to the surface sooner or later, even coming out through the horse’s sole, but veterinary intervention may be necessary to lance or pierce the abscess to allow it to drain. We kept 2-3 horses for 14 years and had only one abscess issue, from a kick to an upper rear thigh which resulted in a pocket of fluid the size of a grapefruit. (Actually I think the vet called this one something similar to hematoma rather than an abscess, it was NOT blood-filled.) Recently we’ve experienced 3 in the past 2 years with 2 different horses, one of those being a puncture to the chest which had debris from a limb stuck inside the wound; that one had to exude its way out over a couple of months of hot compressing– whew!)
Hoof abscesses info:
thehorseshoof.com (barehoof viewpoint)
frontrangefrenzy.com (barehoof viewpoint)
horse-previews.com (traditional hoofcare view)
horsequest.com (traditional hoofcare view)
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Connie Moses, petArtist– self-built website: PortraitsWithHorses.com
(horse and pet portraits)
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Posted in Horses for the horse crazy at 5:06 pm by petArtist Cmoses
For those who attended Tom Curtin’s Horsemanship Clinic at Gelinas Farm on June 17, 2006, my photographs taken of riders during the clinic are posted. Prints can be ordered in varying sizes if wished, there is an interesting selection of participants. Please visit: Tom Curtin Clinic Photography Galleries 2005-2007– Connie Moses’ photos.
Participant in Tom Curtin’s Horsemanship Clinic, June 17 at Gelinas Farm, Pembroke NH
A few of the very large group of horsemen learning Tom Curtin’s natural horsemanship methods
Still available also are photographs from all 3 days of Tom’s Colt Starting Clinic in June 2005, also at Joanne Gelinas’ Farm in Pembroke.
Tom Curtin on his own well-broke reining horse
Tom Curtin during one of his colt-starting clinics in June 2005
Tom Curtin’s website on natural horsemanship
To see more photos: Tom Curtin Clinic Photography Galleries 05-07– Connie Moses’ photos
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Connie Moses, petArtist– self-built website: PortraitsWithHorses.com
(horse and pet portraits)
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Posted in Horses for the horse crazy, Other interesting stuff at 1:55 pm by petArtist Cmoses
Some more publicity has been given to this potentially-lethal-to-grazing-animals plant in town…
(see previous blog post Poisonous cowbane growing in Gilford, N.H. dated 08/29/06)
Article posted in Laconia Citizen (based on interview with Connie Moses, Gilford resident):
Toxic plant found in Gilford, Laconia Citizen Online (also ran in Laconia Citizen print Edition of September 5, 2006 pg. B1)
Article posted on equinesite.com (submitted by Connie Moses):
Cowbane aka. Spotted Water Hemlock poisonous to horses and livestock equinesite.com News Center Sept. 1, 2006
I received several telephone calls after the Citizen article ran, which resulted in my making a few trips to neighboring locations to attempt to identify their plants.
A local shepherd and hay farmer visited so I could show him what the cowbane looked like, and he recognized it from a previous encounter… he had waded through a thicket of it (last year) near a brook close to U.N.H. when it was flowering, and he thinks the pollen caused his windpipe to constrict. He choked up and became almost unable to breathe. In fact he was headed for a hospital when the symptoms subsided, that’s how bad his reaction was. He remembered exactly what it looked like because he couldn’t identify it at the time. Having lost 2 lambs mysteriously this spring, this shepherd returned to search his pastures for the Spotted Water Hemlock.
This message was received from a nearby neighbor:
I just want to thank you for the article in the paper. I was getting ready to dig out that [cowbane] weed and fortunately I saw the article so I used better protection than I did last year, I had some trouble with something I dug up last year. We had quite a bit of cowbane running around our deck. Thanks for the article, it probably saved me some agony.
A farmer in nearby Gilmanton identified cowbane growing in his horse pasture, and set out to remove it. He was concerned because of his horse and because he lives upstream of Crystal Lake.
A reporter from the Weirs Times came and took photos of us in a huge stand of cowbane about 1/2 acre in size. I have not heard if an article was run, and that batch of cowbane has since been mowed to the ground by the landowner.
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Connie Moses, petArtist– self-built website: PortraitsWithHorses.com
(horse and pet portraits)
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09.03.06
Posted in Horses for the horse crazy at 7:25 pm by petArtist Cmoses
For those who haven’t found it already, Dr. Dean W. Richardson, Chief of Surgery who is treating Barbaro is posting updates every few days here–
Barbaro Updates
Barbaro continues to do well and improve; he recently graduated to hand-grazing, and their August 14 update has a video clip of this (really exciting if you’re a horse person!) The updates go back all the way to May 22. Don’t miss jockey Edgar Prado’s visit– there is a photo album there with some truly horrifying original xrays you can even enlarge, if you’re feeling masochistic. I found his special horseshoe also noteworthy, an early attempt to protect his left (good) hind foot from laminitis; although apparently not successful, they were really trying everything they could do.
THANK YOU to the horse hospital, you certainly have my kudos.
Barbaro remains in the Intensive Care Unit of the University of Pennsylvania’s George D. Widener Hospital, where he is recovering from injuries suffered at the Preakness on May 20.
To see other Barbaro posts here, search on Barbaro at top right…
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Posted in Horses for the horse crazy at 7:01 pm by petArtist Cmoses
It’s hard to believe, but Gilford started favoring his left hind leg yesterday. Emmie called me saying he was bouncing around in the riding ring being spooky at the wind, so she got off and put him into the round pen and suddenly noticed he was dropping his left hip at the trot. She had not felt anything strange when riding him and he had not seemed to slip or take a misstep… but there it is, a slight limp.
No heat, no swelling, no obvious tenderness or sole bruise, no limp at the walk, no idea what he did to himself. But very paranoid at this point because it is the same leg he pulled a ligament in last year, about 2 weeks before he was supposed to go to an AWS inspection, and he was laid up then for 2 months of stall rest.
That injury of course was much worse than now, and from it we learned that he can be quite a wimp if he has any little pain because he was dead lame on the ligament, and it was just bruised, perhaps a bit of tearing… it took splinting it to get him weight-bearing on it again. That’s another whole story which I will probably blog about before long.
But for now, Emmie is cold-hosing and applying a cooling liniment. After she checked him today, he is no worse but no better either, it appears he is not flexing his fetlock joint in that leg and so is moving stiffly at the trot. Yet he’s going forward willingly, so it can’t be TOO painful.
Our plan is to rest him and continue with the treatments, and if he’s not better after a couple days we’ll have a vet come check him out. Meanwhile, our best-laid plans for the Warmblood inspection may be going down the tubes, and if that happens we will not know if we can even take him to Acadia– which reservations were made since January 2.
Keeping all our fingers crossed– if anyone out there has advice or comments, we’d love to hear!
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Connie Moses, petArtist– self-built website: PortraitsWithHorses.com
(horse and pet portraits)
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