Update on Dandy's health

Well, it has been a week of treatment for Dandy with Cough Free. I evaluated her on Saturday, just going for a bareback ride in a near trail, she did good, we trotted a tiny bit and NO COUGH!!! I was thrilled! She still got her supplement that day anyways. I was planning on stopping them starting today (Monday).

Oh, and yes, I can trot bareback without ending up on the ground!!!! I did get off at the end of the trail when we were coming back because I only tied the lead rope to her halter and the knot didn't hold... LOL, she can do a one rein stop, once she realizes that I don't want her to turn circles like that! So she did stop... I tried to tie the lead back to the halter from her back (my girl is very patient), but I couldn't quite do it, she was fidgity and wanted to go back to the colt, which was screaming just a few hundred feet from us. I still managed to get her to stop and stand to try again, but no deal... Then, I heard my dad coming with the snowmobile, fast enough (he didn't know that I had taken Dandy for a quick ride), so knowing that I only had one "rein" and that it was one of Dandy's first times this year around the noisy snowmobile, I slid down from her and held her lead... turns out, she did great, even if my dad was charging our way... he did slow down and stop to talk to Dandy once he saw us standing there. She was still fidgity and wanted to go back to the colt... so I made her be patient a little more.

After my dad took off with the snowmobile, I made Dandy trot back to the barn on lead. I'm not usually for trotting back to the barn in any way, but I like her to be able to trot on a lead line when I ask. It's a good skill to have if you need to move quick out of an area while on foot. I cannot get on my horse bareback from the ground, even if I could when I was younger, I'm now bigger and much less strong, so I can't quite swing my leg high enough. Dandy is 15.1 hh and I used to get on a 15.3 hh Quarter Horse gelding bareback about 10 years ago... oh well... I guess times change... I wish I had taped that for proof... I still don't know how I did it back then! All I know is I thought it was easy, but no one else could do it. I used to grab mane, stand with my back to the horse's neck, swing my leg over and then just sit up straight. I'm probably scared to hurt the horse and I don't quite swing hard enough, used to work smoothly and very well though.

Anyways, Sunday, I was anxious to go on a longer ride. So I saddled up Dandy and put her bridle on after warming the bit in my hand as much as possible (my hands were frozen so I don't know how that worked out). I climbed on and practiced her skills a bit. Remember, we didn't ride for a long time!! She seemed a little rusted, but pretty good for having had a month and a half off! So we headed off. I found myself rusty as well... the last horse I had ridden was Peg a few weeks ago, lets just say that Dandy and Peg are two very different horses. Dandy and I made it to the hill (there is a hill on our land that takes you down into a mini valley with mountains each sides and a few ponds and creeks down in the middle. I didn't risk taking the hill down, because we would have to climb it up again and I didn't know if Dandy was in shape to do it. So we took another trail that hugs the side of another mountain, we have a choice to go up that mountain or not, so I didn't. By then, Dandy and I had trotted a bit in the packed snow. She was blowing her nose a lot, but nothing major at this point. She seemed pretty normal.

Towards the end of the trail, there is a downhill drop that is about 25 feet high and quite steep. Dandy and I always go down at a walk, but the momentum always sends her in a trot at the bottom (I know, she is just using the energy to go faster...). As soon as we were down the hill, Dandy coughed... three big coughs. I was disapointed and felt that I had pushed her too far. We only did a few little trots of about 10-20 seconds each... Our ride totaled maybe 1.5 km, maybe less. We didn't canter at all and there was no signs of cough before that time. I was very disapointed. I brought her back to the barn and decided that she would keep taking her supplements (Cough Free) for another week. I will give her this week off and give her a little ride maybe Saturday the 26th. It is supposed to be a little warmer, maybe that'll help Dandy.

I can't say that the supplements didn't help. Before giving them, I would only be done saddling up that Dandy would cough, if she didn't cough then, she'd cough as soon as we would step out for our ride... naturally, I wouldn't push Dandy at all. When the cough first came around, I could ride for a good while and she seemed to only cough when she was warmed up. Then her eyes got really blurry and her nose was running and oozing thick white stuff, she would cough in the pasture, at rest, she had fever and was very lethargic. Now, she doesn't cough at all in the pasture, she runs and plays without coughing, her eyes are as clear as ever and her nose is not running anymore. She is much more alert and playful. That's why I wanted to try a ride, she seemed fine. I'm not giving up, she will get the recommended amount of supplement daily for another 5 days.

I have some time off during the Holidays (Starting Thursday the 24th) so I will not be posting much during that time... I will take advantage of the daylight (we don't get much this time of year) to spend time with the horses and do things outside... as well as get a good dose of fresh air to recharge the battery.

If you are all wondering about the colt... here is a more recent picture of him (last week). He is now 6 months old and growing like weeds! He is the sweetest thing ever! Jet black (yes, even more than Dandy!) with only a star and his inner pasterns are white on both hinds.

Here is a side view of him. He is kind of in his ackward stage, he is downhill and clumsy, but he leads great and gives his feet. We are able to trim his feet without a struggle. He will probably grow up to look like his dad...

Here is a picture of his dad. Remember that these are Canadian horses, which are used as much for hauling than saddle... they are considered a draft breed.

Last but not least!

So, here is the last hoof of the bunch, I wish I had taken more pictures of how her hooves look.

This is her back right hoof and it is an infamous white hoof! *Gasp!*

I don't really know what the big deal is about white hooves... ok, some people say they are much softer and white hooves really can't exist without shoes. I think this is a bunch of crap!

I've seen many white hooves in my day and they all have the potential to be as good as a black hoof. I've also seen some white hooves fall apart, just as much as black hooves can. In the end, every hoof has the potential to either fall apart or become as hard as stone. When I bought Dandy, her white hoof was overgrown... and I mean, there was at least 3 inches of extra wall. Her back feet had never been touched and pretty much self-trimmed for two years. The black hind foot had broken in the quarters, the white foot was intact all around, not a chip in sight. The hooves were dry and full of little cracks. As a result, I still rasp into small pockets of sand today and I am convinced that it is that sand that caused the abcess in Dandy's left front foot.

So here is Dandy's only white foot... take note that it is as nice or nicer than any other hoof on that mare.

This is the before shot... a little long overall, but that foot could've gone another 2 weeks without a trim and would've been fine. Excuse the ice in my Dandy's fetlocks, I couldn't remove it. This is a great looking hoof and that frog is one healthy squishy coushion... I love white feet!

Here is the after picture. It's a bit hard to see with all the white pigmentation. I have applyed a good roll, the bars are shorter and the heels have gone back to where they should be. You can see, in the waterline, the little sand "traps" that I have spoke about. These could also be small abcesses that have grown out from the coronet. They are old abcesses and they don't jeopardize the integrity of the hoof. They are not a big concern for me, but I like to know they are there, just for my personnal information. Also, you will note a bit of red around the wall of the hoof. Don't worry, this is not blood, there is no sensitive tissue in that part of the hoof. Those spots are always there when I trim this foot and consist of pigment in the wall of the hoof. Dandy's wall is almost pink in some spots. This hoof is very healthy. To put it in perspective, the outer ridge of the wall on this hoof does not touch the ground when the hoof is weight bearing.

So that is my trimming ordeal... Just to compare... here is Dandy's front left after I did her first trim ever back in May 2008.

And here is the left front foot last Sunday after her last trim (not ever).

Hooves, more hooves!!!

This is more trimming pictures of Dandy. I'll do two feet today... since the other front looks a lot like yesterday's post... but here we go!So... this is Dandy's left front foot before trimming. It is a little long, but it looks good overall. The frog is nice, wide and healthy, no thrush in sight. She had a bout with thrush this summer when the weather was so wet and humid that the horses never got dry land to step on. Quickly cured it with a home recipe and she is back to normal! This is also the foot that abcessed.

The first thing I notice when looking at this picture is a little ridge between the sole and the wall on the right side. There is good concavity in this hoof too, I am thrilled about that! The heels are long and the bars are slightly laid over.

After: I did trim the end of the right bar after the pic was taken. The little ridge is about gone, but this will grow out, since this is a point were the abcess broke through (coronet and white line... yeah it was a big abcess!). Looks pretty good now, everything seems back to normal on the bottom side of the hoof. I apply a good mustang roll (see "Mustang Roll" in links on previous posts) to all hooves, this helps lessen the pressure at the breakover and makes walking and running painless and fun for your horse. Otherwise, Dandy's walls would be about half an inch thick! I will try to take more pictures to see the roll, the concavity, the height of the heels and the white line strategy trim when I fix the right front.

This is Dandy's left back foot before trimming. You can see that this hoof is not really long and in very good shape the only thing to do with this hoof is trim the heels, the bars (a bit over the level of the sole), thin the walls and bring everything to the level of the sole. Dandy has wonderful back hooves that practically maintain themselves. You can see that there is a longer point on the lower left part of her hoof. This is causing her to stand splay footed. After removing this and trimming, Dandy stood pretty square. These hooves are practically self cleaning once they are trimmed right, the pump action of the hoof when weight bearing (expand) and not (shrink back) gets rid of all the dirt.
The back hooves are also always oval in shape as the front feet have a rounder shape, this helps with traction.

So, stupid me forgot to take an after pic of that back foot... all I have is this mid-trim pic...

So, as you can see, I used the nippers to shorten the left heel, I can't use the nippers on the tip of the hoof since it is too hard. I had rasped all of the right side but I didn't apply any roll yet I hadn't rasped the left side yet. Naturally, the left heel is higher since I didn't get the chance to rasp it yet. After the roll, the walls should be left thinner and only the water line (the white line you see) will touch the ground.

I NEVER trim sole from Dandy's feet or any other horse's. The only time I will remove some sole is if there is dead chalky sole in the seat of corn. I believe that the thicker the sole, the better. I do not want to thin it more in any way, shape or form. You cannot carve you horses hooves, you need to work with them to build them. The sole is only about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch thick, if you take away from it, you risk damaging the soft tissue. On top of that, your horse's sole will never build up and be strong and concave, because it will spend 4-6 weeks trying to recover and heal from the trim... after 4-6 weeks, the farrier is back and still trimming sole and the circle starts all over again. I was told never to trim the bars, but Dandy's are laid over, which can cause other problems in the internal structure of the hoof, so I trim them a bit longer than the sole (since bars are made for traction) to try and get them straight... they would only end up breaking and creating more imbalance.

Just for fun... Sunday, when I was trimming, a snow storm started... This is Dandy after all her feet are trimmed, she's standing tied (not to her usual post, because there was too much snow there for trimming hooves) in the snow. She loves snow. I had wiped a bit of it off of her back before taking the pic, but it was nearly filled back when I took the picture! She is standing pretty square (if she wasn't trying to look at what I was doing!) plus, there is something under her left front, either a rock or a ball of ice... Her coat seems to be doing the job, unlike mine... lol

Hoof Trimming

So I have a few pictures about Dandy's feet. I will take more while on Holiday, since I want to correct more stuff on her feet.




I will only post a few pictures at a time to evaluate one by one.




Like I said before, Dandy's feet are super hard and I have a hard time getting the nippers to cut through them... Also, my back causes me a bit of pain if I spend all day trimming hooves. So this time, I took two days to trim Dandy, because I have such a hard time with her rock hard hooves.





So here is our first picture.


It's a bit hard to see with all the snow, but this is Dandy's right front hoof before trimming. I cleaned it out as much as I could before taking the pic. That ice was really stuck there! You can see that the wall is about a half to 3/4 of an inch longer than the sole (maybe you can see... but I'm telling you!) The heels are longer than I like to see, but the frog and sole look super healthy. I have noticed that Dandy's feet have gained a great amount of concavity, which means that the coffin (or pedal) bone sits much higher up in the hoof capsule than it used to. This is great news and means that Dandy is now more resistant to rocky footing, slippery footing, etc. She is also less 'ouchy' on gravel. The bars here are a bit laid over. Laid over bars are useless, so I will trim them short, short enough so there is no more dirt between the bars and the sole.

Here is the same foot after the trim. The bars are much shorter, the heels are back to where they should be and the wall is trimmed to the level of the sole. There is still something that bugs me... and that is the quarter of the hoof on the let (of picture) You see there is like a line of dirt between the sole and the white line... this would need to be assessed. What I would do with something like this is trim the hoof (in that area) right to the edge of the sole. This does not mean removing a large quantity of hoof, but rather removing enough hoof so that the pressure is completely relieved from that area when the hoof is weight bearing... this allows the hoof to reconnect to the laminae inside. After the hoof is tight and connected, a regular maintenance trim will do the trick. This could solve Dandy's problem (unbalanced hooves in the fronts). So, this means that I will be trimming to the edge of the sole next time I have a minute to do it in daylight. I will take more pictures when I do so to show what it looks like.

This picture is how I like to keep Dandy's feet. For me, this is a great looking hoof. I have a great sense of accomplishment when looking at Dandy's hooves today. I haved solved most of the issues with her hooves and what is left is minimal compared to the first trims. Dandy certainly doesn't need supplements to help her hooves grow... I think that getting the blood to flow correctly in the hoof is the key to rock crushing feet!

After trimming Dandy's fronts, I jumped on her bareback to ride on gravel, she didn't put a foot wrong and can trot or canter on gravel. The enclosure she is in is mostly gravel (that's the composition of the land where Dandy is pastured), she will run, buck and play all over it. Transitions from dirt to gravel is flawless and easy for Dandy. I am very proud of the way this turned out. Her left front is the one that abscessed this summer and the line that broke in the coronet is now almost to the ground... which means that in 4 months, her feet nearly renewed themselves completely.

Update!

Ok, so I've gotten some supplement for Dandy, it's called Cough Free. I've read good reviews about it and it's all natural! It is a powder that is to be added to the feed.

I've bought a custom feed that I had mixed at our feed store, it is cracked oats and soy bean meal, I've had no molases added, I don't want too sweet of a mix and Dandy is already crazy over the stuff! On the other hand, the little colt is not so fond of it. I guess it is a taste to develop, I remember the first time I gave Dandy a treat, she spit it right out! Until I kept putting it back in her mouth. Once she got to taste it, she never spit one out again!

I've trimmed Dandy's hooves this weekend. I have to be careful because my back is really sensitive to everything! So I did the fronts on Saturday and the back on Sunday. Her back feet weren't bad, but the front was a bit longer than I like to leave them get. Plus her fronts get unbalanced if I leave them get too long... conformation probably, or a lack of hoof care during critical young years where she was growing. Unfortunately, Dandy never received proper hoof care during the first two years of her life (she didn't get any hoof care for that matter). This caused her hooves to self-trim and become very unbalanced, they still tend to pull to one side, althought I did get them in much better shape than they were.

Her walls are so hard that my regular pair of nippers that I usually use with ease on every horse at my barn can hardly do the trick on Dandy. I swear, I would've had my sister take a video, but she was busy helping me close the nippers to trim the hooves... needless to say that I had to rasp a good part because the nippers just wouldn't cut through her tough hooves. Thank goodness the other horses don't have such hard hooves (although it does have disadvantages).

As a result of her hard hooves, Dandy can walk over any surface and can go long distances on pavement without having her hooves wear down to the point of damaging the sole. Whereas with Peg and Pearl, I really have to be carefull if I take them out on pavement. Those race horses prefer to walk on hard surfaces (or they were just trained that way), so their hooves wear down quickly since the quality isn't so good. However, I am pleased to say that their hooves have improved about 75% since I have taken them under my wing. Considering that Peg is base-narrow in her fronts and that her hooves wear in most unlikely places, the new growth coming from the coronet seems thicker and much healthier since I have allowed the blood to flow in her hooves. Pearl has one club foot but it doesn't seem to bother her at all, I just have to keep an eye and lower the heels when need be. I am also carefull not to trim too short on the Standards since their hooves wear fast... I have to consider wether or not we will ride them, how much and how can this much riding affect their hooves. It worked out pretty well after I had figured it out, but they did become a little sore at first, but we didn't use them when we noticed they were a bit off.

I won't have pictures posted today, because I haven't had a chance to upload them to my computer yet, I've taken before and after pictures of every hoof, I will probably post them tommorow. I had my sister take the pics. Dandy is always super patient with any handling and can stand tied for hours without getting really impatient.

After I trimmed her fronts on Saturday, I decided to hop on Dandy bareback to see if her cough had went down or worsened. I just went around the house and back and about mid-way, she coughed twice, but I am thrilled because they were tiny little coughs almost like she was faking it (but she wasn't, she's not a faker and loves to go for rides). It wasn't a cough where her sides flare up and she didn't seem in any discomfort from coughing. She went on to blow her nose twice after that and was fine, she even proceeded to trot back to the colt (she thinks it's her foal, silly mare). I am surprised that I could handle the trot so well bareback, but she trotted super slow, like a little jog and it was very comfortable... she knows I would've never survived the usual trot so she was really careful.

That made me realize that I really need to work on my bareback skills! I was so unbalanced and I hate it! On the other hand, Dandy was great, she stood there patiently for me to mount and I had only tied the lead rope to her halter. She went great! I was proud of her because we don't often ride bareback, but I do it much more often in winter and will probably try her out again next weekend to see if she still coughs. There is nothing like riding bareback.

The reason that I didn't ride bareback so much is because one of my friends (I helped her train her horses) told me that horses needed routine and structure and that riding bareback didn't prepare the horse for a ride... I thought that was a little far fetched and I remember thinking that I wanted my horse to be able to handle anything without me having to announce it. I just want to be able to jump on my horse and ride whenever I want. I'm not up to the bridleless yet, but I would like to work up to it. I would also like to work on my balance and doing bareback work could help... maybe that is why my friend is so unbalanced in the saddle.

I was giving lessons to my mom when Dandy started to cough really bad... so our lessons are on hold until my girl is back to normal... I have made an agreement that we would have a review course on Dandy before we continue. My mom is a first time rider and was quite nervous around horses. She did ride Dandy before but I want to prepare her and build her confidence up to where she can canter on a horse or take a spook without panicking. She was coming along so good! We were up to trotting, so we will have to take a few lessons to walk and work on the posture again... oh well... I am in no rush to teach and my mom is in no rush either, but she was pretty excited about her lessons! I'm thinking that we will be able to start again in a few weeks. I want to give Dandy a chance to fully recover before we do anything else. Her nose is no longer running as much as it was and her eyes and alertness are back to normal!

I will post tommorow with the pictures... I have before and after of each hoof, so do you want a detailed evaluation of each one or just a general evaluation... a detailed evaluation would give you a better ability to spot little defects in your horse's hooves (or mine! Feel free!).

*********** Picture above: Dandy (right) and Jenny (left). Jenny was a horse we boarded for the summer. She was untrained and a real nightmare to be around.... unfortunately, Dandy and Jenny became the best of friends. We did teach some manners to Jenny while she was staying at our barn... she was the kind to attack anything or anyone.*************

One last ride

Last weekend, we went on what could have been our last ride for the winter. I don't think I will ride the Stndbrds in winter and since Dandy in sick, I will try and keep anything that could irritate her lungs more out of the way.

I've found an herbal treatment for horses with allergies, heaves, stable cough, etc. and I want to try it on Dandy to see if it will alleviate her symptoms. I will also start giving her some feed. I've had a mixture prepared at our local feed store that consists of rolled oats and Linseed meal. I will add the medicine in there to feed to her. I don't think that she can survive on hay alone so I will try to help boost her immune system and health level. In the summer, she will be on pasture grass just like this year. It worked out well for her and she was fat (well not too fat!) and shinny. After that, I will assess her health again and adjust if need be.

I will start her treatment tommorow or Sunday. The product is well rated on the market and seems to work quickly to relieve cough and help keep it that way. I will see for myself in a few days. I also have to trim her hooves and that will probably be on Sunday, weather permitting. I LOVE to trim in winter, you can give them a break and not have to clean the hoof all over again. I will take before and after pics of my trim this time... her hooves are really long, I rarely leave them get this long. Since I am not riding her and adding my weight to the problem, I think she will be fine until I get it done. Dandy's hooves grow really fast. The wall is super healthy and thick which makes for really nice hooves. I will take many pics for you guys... I have to remember the flower setting!!!!

So I'll keep you updated on Dandy's status as she progresses... She seems to be doing better since the cold came in, I will look up more closely and in daylight this weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Snow Storm!!!

Wow, it is REALLY snowing out there! The horses looked fine this morning... I'm thinking they'll bundle up in the shelter, but I'm probably wrong... Dandy LOVES snow, she'll probably spend a good part of the day playing in it, rolling in it and bucking around.

For the old ladies, I KNOW they'll be bundled up in the shelter, they have a good winter coat on and should do just fine in the weather, but they spend days inside when it's nice out, so I'm thinking they should be inside right now.

I don't think we'll be able to stay at work all day, the drive in was painful and the storm had just started!!! I can't imagine driving back... I'm a bit scared. If it's bad, I'll just have to suck it up, keep calm (I've learned to control my emotions to a tee thanks to horses!) and drive carefully and making sure I am aware of every other driver.

For Dandy... what do you think I should do. I haven't been able to reach a vet yet and I want to know if you guys know of anti-inflammatories that I could buy in a tack store or feed store... is banamine good for this? I just want to get the inflammation out of her lungs so they can clear up, it might help her gain control over the situation. I will look up info today... if I can get some work off of my shoulders...

Thanks for all the comments, help and support!

What is wrong with her!

So, since you all know that Dandy is sick and has been for months (improving and getting worse again)... I think I finally put my finger on her problem!

This weekend, we had to put some hay in the feeders before big snow falls, so we feed round bales in sheltered feeders.

Dandy seemed to be fine... until we put the bales in the feeders. There was a bit of dust and she started coughing right after the bales were in. I'm thinking she has allergies to dust in hay. The hay is not moldy and a very good quality... so it is either allergies, or she has developped heaves (which would surprise me). I plan on testing my theory by isolating her from the round bales and feeding her soaked hay for a few days. If this turns out to be too much trouble (temperature wise, being below freezing), I will buy some hay cubes for her and feed her those. I just want her lungs to catch a break and be able to recover.

I am currently looking for anti-inflamatory paste like Banamine... I don't know if this would help but I will get informed... I plan to call a vet to get more info on this. The antibiotic treatment that I have given her a few weeks ago seem to have worked and totally decreased her runny nose and coughing... I will evaluate her after the soaked hay to see if there is any improvement.

I will look for a vet in my area... there isn't too many for large farm animals... so I will try to get information to help Dandy.

On the other hand, the rescues are doing great, they are ever so fat and thriving. The other day, we went to catch them for a ride and they kept running away from us... rather frustrating for me, but I felt relieved that they would actually run like that. Peg's legs seem to be doing much better lately, it shows when she runs. These old coots can be FAST! Finally brought them to me with some grain... those ex-racers!... They are still very well in their racing mindset, they wont tolerate being passed by another horse, unless reminded that they are pleasure horses now. Peg has officially been broken off of the pace, but she will occasionally do it... forgetfull mare! Pearl is still pacing, she even does a running walk, she has a nice elevated trot (when she does trot!) and a FAST run (when she decides to run!). Pearl has been in many more races compared to Peg and seems to have been more rough handled. Pearl is VERY nervous, she does not like to be saddled and is usually all over the place, weaving, pacing the floor, moving from side to side and breathing hard. Once the saddle is on, she is as insane... she usually takes the bit pretty well but she is still as amped to go. It's like her legs are burning or full of fire ants. Once the rider gets on, she calms right down (ok, not RIGHT down, but she calms down a bit). She can still jump up and do a 360 in mid-air without notice. She is nervous on the trail, but if there is another horse there, she totally relys on him.

So Peg is doing better with her legs and Pearl is still as crazy as ever... at least she doesn't rear anymore... she pretends she rears but one foot remains on the ground at all times, she just cocks up the other one to make believe she is rearing... to add to the feeling, she sits down a bit. She's such a drama queen. Pearl can't stand to stop and that's when she does her little fake rears. My sister usually rides her and has her completely under control while this happens. My sister is no longer affraid of Pearl. I strongly believe that Pearl was unknowingly thought this behaviour... weave and move on the cross-ties, while saddling and bridling probably resulted in getting out of work for her, pretend rearing probably immediatly got her out of work... over time, she learned that doing this gets her out of work. I do think they were recycled in saddle horses for a little while before going for meat... but with Pearl pregnant and crazy and Peg a little lame and stiff, no one wanted to bother to try and give them a chance after making much money off of them.

I wanted a companion for Dandy and a horse for my SO to ride with me from time to time. Peg was perfect for that... well after she would put on some weight. Older, calm, could ride occasionally... my SO threw in Pearl in there and bought both. Pearl was in-foal, so we expected three horses soon. That didn't turn out the way we would've liked, but I'm glad we got Pearl, she would've gone insane without Peg, the two were really inseperable.

I'll give you more news about Dandy's condition in the near future.

Bad horses!?

In my young years (not to say that I'm old...) I would've done anything to be around horses. I would muck stalls just so the horses would be comfortable, etc. I knew a lot about horses because I just couldn't stop reading about them!

My sister and I probably got taken advantage of quite often. We were known for our "velcro seat" and we weren't afraid of any horse, tall or small. The day camp was right near the barn where Penny was stabled and they had about 15 horses. The camp was a non-profit organization, so they could hardly afford to feed, shoe or care for the horses at all. The tack was falling apart, the stable hands didn't know ANYTHING about horses and the horses didn't even have proper names, unless you think that Red for a sorrel and Black for a black is appropriate. Yet, they would plop kids (sometimes quite young) on those horses and let them ride without much supervision and in usafe places (I remember a fenced in circle... like a track with fence on both sides) that was falling apart, fence posts were pointing every direction and could've easily injured a horse or child.

The people that owned the place were used to taking advantage of everyone. As kids, we didn't know better. Since they were related to the Church, they expected that everything came free. So loving horses and knowing how to ride like we did (not perfect but probably the best THEY had ever seen), we were kind of expected to ride and TRAIN the horses! We were between 11 and 13 when this happened, you can't expect kids to train horses!

So not knowing any better and wanting so bad to ride as much as humanly possible, we ended up riding those horses quite a bit. Unfortunately, we didn't have the knowledge to train horses, so no progress was made there, but we did develop a good relation with some of the horses.

I remember a nice gelding. He was probably an OTT. He was bright sorrel and his name was Champion. I remember him being thinner than the others and SO tall! I fell in love with him immediatly. I was one of the first to ride him and he was a nervous wreck! I managed to get him on the bit (well I didn't know that at the time) and going nicely. Unfortunately, I was the only one who could ride him without him acting out, although he did run away with me a few times, he usually listened quite well.

Some kids got injured on him when he ran off with them, one rein broke off, kid fell to the ground. Another time, he was on the "track" (that's what I call the set up there) and started bucking and running, startled a whole bunch of horses (they all had issues) and kids got hurt, the one on Champ got really hurt. So they deemed him dangerous and I don't know where he went, they just sold him in an auction I guess.

Horses there were mistreated, overfed grain, some must've been lame. They were tied in tie-stalls for most of the time. Employees and kids must've hit them on the face because none of them were having any cuddles. They would bite, kick, lunge at anyone, rear, you name it!

I remember a team of Fjords, a gelding and a mare. The gelding was the best horse there and they were quite big, probably mixed with draft. The mare was ok, but she had a habit of rearing when she didn't get her way. That ended up by me having to endure her rearing for a half day ride.
Note that I was about 13 y-o at the time and wasn't pleased, this was the last time we rode any of the horses there! That same day, my sisters horse ran away with her... my friend and I had the huge Fjords and we blocked the path ahead of the crazy running horse. She stopped but afterwards, we were terrified at the thought that she could've jumped in the ditch (10 feet below). Needless to say that my sister walked the rest of the way, she was terrified! Having to pass on roads brought on a bunch of kids on their bikes... one of them charged right on my mare (called Lady) causing her to jump sideways, luckily I held on and didn't have to deal with the pavement below! Then, and I'm seriously not joking here! A guy on our path had about 5 or 6 doberman guard dogs.... that day... you guessed it, they had to be loose. With the kids on the bikes and the dogs that went straight for my sister's horse (my sister was still walking), spooking the crap out of her and nearly trampling one of the kids on a tricycle. The kids never moved dispite our plea to get away from the horse's butt. After that, the kids left and went home.

We finaly made it to the barn and never, ever went back there again... EVER! We had so much happen that we decided to quit while we were ahead!

Our old friends

I was thinking the other day about all the horses I rode in my past and how I wished I could see them again, if only to touch their sweet fuzzy noses or rest my head on their neck. The young, the old, the nice, the naughty, the lame, the sound, etc.

Penny was a great horse, she was 20ish when I first met her and past her mid-twenties when she left. We took her from an overweight pony (she was probably 14hh, maybe a little more, not much) to a gorgeous pony rippling with muscle. We were young when we started riding, so our main hobby was to just have fun. We would walk around the pasture for hours on Penny's back and she would always comply. We had her on a conditionning program without even knowing! We would each ride 15 to 20 minutes at a time (taking turns). We were 3 kids and one pony, so we didn't want to wait 2 hours for our turn to ride! We would each ride for 15-20 minutes and we were allowed (decided among us) from 3 to 5 gallops per ride depending on the temperature. The gallops were pretty short since the pasture wasn't super big, but we came to incorporate turns so we could gallop a little longer. We spent afternoons just sitting in the barn, waiting on our turn. We weren't hard on Penny, we knew her age and left her consistant breaks and we would sacrifice some of our gallops to let her breathe.

We were conscient about the risks around horses, how to properly tack and untack, how to cool a horse, brush it, tend to its feet and evaluate overall health. We were only 10 years old and would understand when Penny would need a break and gave her one every 45 minutes to an hour on hot days. We always provided clean, fresh water. We ALWAYS rode with a hat, although that hat did have a chin strap which rendered it rather useless in case of a fall.

We did do stupid things, like ride in shorts (it was summer!!!), but I can't remember anything that could really put us in danger.

Once, we took Penny out for a day long ride. She was in GREAT shape so she could handle it! We only walked the whole way except for a few slow trots. We crossed a doubtfull and dangerous bridge, we never should've done that. On our way back, Penny went trough a rotten board of the bridge and her leg completely fell trough the bridge. We were about 20 km from home and her leg was injured (thankfully not injured as bad as we thought). She could still walk. I had brought antiseptic hand cloths and we disinfected the wound right there. We loosened the cinch on Penny and we all walked back home. I will always remember the terrible blisters on my feet. We had gotten off of Penny to cross the bridges (thank God, someone could've been crushed), but my friend's mom (the owner of Penny) didn't believe us and we got yelled at a lot. We already felt really bad and this just made things worse. We weren't old at that time and it gave me a good lesson. We weren't allowed to ride Penny for a month after the incident. Penny was sold shortly after we started riding again.

I wish I had pictures of Penny today, she was and still is the best horse I have ever been on.

I went on to ride several other horses from rank b****** to good mounts, but none ever came close to Penny. Even today, my own horses don't mesure up (Dandy is getting there, but she is not quite there yet). I've trained everything from weanlings to yearlings to fillies, colts, mares and studs both pets and wild ones that I will never remember as I remember Penny. I rode geldings, but never broke them (sadly!).

I am constantly looking for new challenges in the horse world, but I admit that sometimes the challenge is a little too much and there is no shame in refusing to train or ride a horse if you think your life could be in jeopardy. I had given up on Pearl after our first ride because I felt VERY at risk on her back. Fortunately, my sister took her on and she became great!

Dandy is constantly improving, she is now learning to ground tie. Here are the pics of her ground tied. The shots aren't great but her legs never moved! I took those shots about 10-15 seconds appart after I had went to get the camera in the barn, she stood there the whole time and after the shots, she stood until I put the camera back in the barn and went to get her... she is grasping the concept, now I just have to apply it more often, she is good went there is little distraction, but I haven't tested her too much when there is more distraction. Enjoy!

Here, she is just relaxing and playing with her bit a little (she does all the time!), this is why I want to try another bit for her, maybe she'd be more focused...
And lastly, she heard something, probably on the road (right outside the pasture, behind her) and turned to look... her feet did'nt move!
Needless to say that she LOVES having her picture taken and she seems to pose for the camera... observe... She stayed this way for two good pictures and some bad ones...
And this pose, I took 3 good pictures and some bad ones!
I love that face! I knew I had seen this one before!!! This photo was this summer...
Then again, if she is not in your face... she's on her way there!
So... tell me what is your best memory of chilhood horses or your debuts in the horse world, what you did then that you wouldn't do now and the horses you wish you could've kept.

Post #2 today

So, here I am with new pictures. I wanted to take some of me on Peg (and I did...), but I wanted the whole height and my sister didn't get that... Plus, I find myself way too fat... I'll have to loose some weight!

First, here's our newest addition... Nabisco. She is quite shy since we got her. She won't run from humans, but she hides in the bush all day and comes in the barn at night. Things didn't go as we planned, we were to leave the horses with Nabisco for company, but turns out the horses are afraid of the cow and the cow is afraid of the horses. We are currently looking for a new cow to keep this one company, if all fails, we will ask my boyfriend's cousin to lend us a cow for the winter. Nabisco is 7 years old (rather will be 7 in spring) and she is bred to a Charolais bull for a March - April calf. Unfortunately, I don't know much about cow... my boyfriend has already raised cattle and is the expert on the subject. I thought him everything he knows about horses and he is teaching me about cows. So we got this nice girl 2 weeks ago at a herd dispersal auction. They were all nice cows and they all went for a fairly high price (considering the market, these days, I would say really high prices!!). This said, I could've bought 2 or 3 horses for that price!! Here's Nabisco:See what I mean when I say she was hiding in the bush... this is the best body shot I could get of her! Needless to say that I was a bit intimidated by those horns, not having handled cattle too much in my life, I was completely ignorant of what she could do or the signs she was giving. Thankfully, she is a great cow and wouldn't charge a human or anything else for that matter... well unless she was really threatened. She actually layed down while I was approaching her.

Here is a recent picture of Dandy, PEg and Pearl... but I will save a few for other posts. This is Dandy on one of the last ride we had together. That's when I started to notice that she wasn't really feeling good. Dandy is also starting to learn to ground tie. She actually stood right there while I went in the barn, got the camera and came back out (the camera was just past the door, so that's not far), but she stood for three pictures and didn't move until I got her and lead her to the post. I have the other pictures, but I will not be uploading them today as this computer is a bit slower than what I am used to... She is nice and plump for the winter and her coat is just the fluffiest thing ever! This is not the best angle for ther head, since she is looking this way, it looks way bigger (She always had a big head, but not like that!)

Here's Peg and Pearl. They have all put on a bit of weight and their winter pyjamas are on! They were joining me hoping I had treats somewhere on me... no luck, but they all got scratches... they look FAT! I'd rather have them a bit on the fat side for winter and they are doing fantastic!

Peg is always her sweet self. She likes to put her nose as close to your face as she can.... for a horse this big, this isn't your average nose!! I live when she does this, her face is just so kissable! By the way, I am not kneeling for this photo! Peg mesures about 16.2 hh, for me, this is HUGE... I am 5'8'' and was used to being around 14 to 15.3 hh horses... this is a big leap for me! I proved that I was still able to get on her back Sunday for a little stroll around.

Pearl has proven that any horse can make it from a body score of about 1.5, ready to foal and feed a foal to this!!! Someone asked me if Pearl was in foal!! She is not, but after many years of foaling, she probably will always keep a bit of a hay belly, same for Peg, but it shows less since Peg is so big and long. Isn't Pearl a doll!?
So I hope you enjoy the pictures! I'll be back blogging soon!

Quick update!

I have taken pictures of the cow and also, new pics of Peg and Pearl. My sister and I took them on a ride yesterday after about 2 months without riding them (maybe more). They did great! I was very proud of them. I will post pictures tonight if I can upload them from my camera. I also need to delete all old lingering pictures on there since I have about 300 of them in the camera.

I have also took pictures of the cow, she is quite shy, but will not run off when you visit her... the only problem is that she likes to hide in a patch of bush in the pasture and she spends all day there... she will not come for grain so we have left a pale out for her the other day... we returned to an empty pale, so either she ate the oats or a deer took advantage of the free meal. She comes in at night, so she eats and drinks (I've monitored her every move!). I think she is just spooked that her herd is no longer there... She is also alone and that is not really natural... plus, the horses aren't much company, since both parties are scared of the next, cow is scared of horses and horses are scared of cow... No win situation... but we are planning on getting another cow to keep her company. My spouse's cousin has cattle so we will ask him for a cow to keep ours company.

So this is the news... I will try and post tonight with pictures!

News

Ok, don't hate me because I haven't been posting lately. I have hardly been in the house at all and I have taken a few days off at work. Dandy has been sick. She has an upper respiratory infection and I've been working on clearing it out with antibiotic shots every 12 hours for 5 days. It was quite a task, the days are much shorter now and we barely get 11 hours of light, so the shots I gave Dandy were given mostly during dark hours. I completed the treatment yesterday and Dandy and I were glad too! She is such a sport, she was making her way to meet me in the pasture even if she knew I was going to stick her with a needle. She seems to have taken a turn for the better, her eyes have cleared up (they were quite cloudy), her runny nose is almost dry, her fever is gone, she did not cough, except for yesterday (were she was REALLY playing around with the foal), she coughed 3 times in a row and stopped.

I will keep her quiet for another week or two and will be reevaluating her in 7 to 10 days. Too bad because I was giving riding lessons to my mom every weekend with Dandy... it was coming along good and my mom was up to start trotting when Dandy became sick. My mom has suffered a severe breast cancer and is now on her 3rd year of remission, she is doing well but she will have to take medication for the rest of her life. The medication she was taking was giving her ackes in her legs and knees and she had to skip a few courses because of it. Her medication was changed last week and I think we will be able to start again as soon as Dandy is back to her old self. I am in no rush, these courses are just for fun. I got the idea because my mom used to ride Dandy every now and then, but this fall, we were going to go for a ride in the bush to see the leaves, I had brought Pearl for me to ride and we were all set to go. When mom sat on Dandy, she got nervous and cancelled our ride. She hadn't ridden in about 8 months, maybe more. I was very disapointed, Dandy is not one to get anxious if a nervous rider is sitting on her back, so I tryed to convince my mom that it would be ok, but she got scared and got off. The next weekend, I had made a plan for lessons and we were on our first lesson. She only had to learn to brush, saddle and bridle Dandy, then mount correctly and sit on Dandy until she got relaxed (not Dandy, my mom!). It worked great! Dandy stood patiently until everything was over.

We got to week 3 and then Dandy got sick... I'm thinking of doing our next course as a recap of everything that we've seen so far, just to get her back in the groove. She did take Dandy for a walk with her halter, I was very proud of her!

Anyways, I've had a busy weekend, between the sick horse, the other horses, a friend's birthday party, Xmas shopping and the auction sale, I didn't get much sleep, not to mention that I got big allergy reactions to something unknown 3 mornings out of 5, that prevented sleep for a few hours!

The Auction Sale was a herd dispersal auction (cattle). We bought one cow, we are planning to build a little herd of cattle. She is a Blonde D'Aquitaine cow (pure breed) and she is bred to a Charolais bull for a spring calf. She is very gentle and easy-going, she still has horns, but we are planning to remove them next weekend. Right now, she is in isolation in the barn. She is vaccinated and vet checked, but just to be sure. The horses will have time to get used to her smell. We would've gotten some more but they weren't going cheap... matter of fact, we paid more for the cow than any of our horses! I would've rather been at a horse auction and buy one of them instead of cattle, but that's the way it is!

I'm sorry I didn't post sooner, I was SO busy... I nearly don't have time to do my personal things, like pay bills and eat!! Work is just the same, I am beyond busy and it really hits home... I can't rest and will probably die of exhaustion (kidding!)!! Can't wait to get a little break, I've been getting up at 5:30 in the morning EVERY day (weekends especially included!) for the past month, maybe more (I know for the past month for sure)... I don't go to bed too late (about 10 or 11:00 pm) but I think fatigue is starting to accumulate.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Short post

Just to say Hi! to my readers! Seems we are going to have a nice weekend here. Hopefully, I can get a little riding done.

Dandy has come up with a cough, I've been giving her medication and she seems better, except when I ride her. I'm not even on her back and she coughs... I am starting to wonder if it is not her bit that does that. Her bit is a full copper mouth and I am wondering if it might be making her drool too much and that is what makes her cough.

If I were to try a new bit, what would you recommend, straight mouth or snaffle? I'm thinking a plain "O" ring snaffle just to see how she does. I might try her bosal this weekend to see if the bit is the problem... if there is no bit in her mouth, we'll see clearly if that is the cause of the problem. She has been on a snaffle bit with copper mouth and about 3 inch shanks for about one year, I've started to notice the cough about 10 months ago... (???). Before, she was in a D-ring snaffle with copper rollers and she didn't like it at all. I don't know what to think... I'll try for some pictures too! ;)

Have a great weekend!

Progress

Over the summer, we've made great progress with the horses (rescues and Dandy). I thank my sister everytime I can for helping me with Pearl. You see... Pearl is A LOT of horse. She is by far the most spirited horse I have ever been around, she is 18 years old and as sound as any 3 year old out there and I have trained anything from weanlings to 6 year old wild horse... Having been thrown quite a bit while trying to train the wild mare (I didn't skip steps, she was perfect on the ground and could lunge with tack, she was... in theory, ready), I had lost most of my confidence on new horses. My experience riding Pearl didn't help... and Pearl knew I was intimidated.

Nowadays, for me to be able to comfortably ride a horse, I have to have previously ridden the horse or watched someone ride the horse for a good amount of time, proving that the horse is safe... and even then, I will not trot them if I don't feel comfortable. I think this is the right thing to do, but I think that I am over-worried sometimes. I will probably get on any horse, but I will not feel relaxed.

Falling from Dandy was a big step too. Dandy was my brick wall, she could support me, take me through anything... I tought her everything she knew and it only took half a second to completely destroy what we had built. Not because she wanted to hurt me, she was truly surprised that I had fallen (I could usually ride anything she dished out). She stopped as soon as I left the saddle and she waited patiently for me to get up (that was hard, the wind was completely knocked out of me and my ankle was hurting really bad), get back on her from the off side and ride without stirrups back to the barn. When I approached her, she lowered her head as if to say "I'm sorry, I know you're hurt". I was completely aware that my fall was entirely my fault, I wasn't paying attention to my horse.

It took me about 2.5 months to build my confidence. I would've never done it alone either, my sister, again, was there to cheer me on! My sister and I are twins and we have a very strong bond. She wouldn't let me give up. I wasn't sure of myself and I would hold back Dandy when the others would be racing by... thankfully, I have a great horse and she wouldn't buck or try to go faster than what was asked. One afternoon, my sister and I were on a ride. It was a beautiful day, sunny but not too warm. We had just made it out of a rough trail. She was on Pearl and I was on Dandy. She asked if I was ready to let Dandy run... I got a bit nervous inside, but took control over my emotions, Dandy wasn't much affected by nervousness. So I decided to go for it... my sister was trying to break Pearl from her pace. Pearl never trotted and only cantered about 4 times to this day. I told her to start it off and that I would follow, We were in a nice open area and had plenty of room to keep this safe. Off she went! Pearl was pacing and boy, was she ever going! I urged Dandy into a canter, her smooth rocking horse canter and saw that I couldn't keep up... My competitive side quickly took over and I pushed Dandy into a run, I had never ran Dandy before. She cought up to Pearl by the end of the run... Pearl had broken her pace and was full-out running. When I stopped Dandy (about 10 seconds later), I had a big smile on my face. That was fun!

We took the horses back to the barn and my sister pointed a few things that I should do to help me be more confident in the saddle.

Since Dandy is so young, I don't usually run her, we only canter slowly only about 5-10 seconds during our rides (once per ride or less). She is now almost 4 years old, I figured she could learn to go a bit faster, I never turn her in our canters. She does amazingly. Dandy was backed at about 2.5 years old. I put in some ground training in the first few months and backed her a little later while still workig on her ground manners. In the first year, our rides only lasted about 10 minutes (our first ride was 5 minutes), then I slowly elongated the time to 15, 20, 30 minutes. When she turned 3, she went from 30 minutes to 1 hour and by the end of the summer, she went on two or three 2 hour trail rides (NO canters!). In her 4th year (after January 2010), I will be working a bit more with her. Right now, I am riding western and want to start on barrels, maybe at the end of the summer, when she is 4.5 years old. Then, I would like to introduce english riding (which I have done for half of my riding life). I would like to train a bit in hunter or cross-country. I DO NOT want to compete in those events, only try them out for fun. Dandy has been free jumped this summer and she presents great scope over jumps.

Peg will not be trained in jumping since she is arthritic, but we might introduce Pearl to low level just for fun!

Pearl's first ride

About a month after the loss, Pearl had gained significant weight and was in a good shape to be saddled. We had no clue how she would react. I didn't really know Pearl that much, but I knew that she trusted me enough to approach her foal only a month after we had first met.

On the day that I decided to try out Pearl, we had new boarders, 4 horses (2 fillies and 2 geldings)... I started to saddle Pearl and she wouldn't behave, not standing still, going from one side to the other. She wouldn't accept the saddle blankets, let alone the saddle. I thought the new horses were stressing her out a bit. I put the saddle on and she kicked, once or twice. You have to understand that Pearl is 18 years old... she is in exceptionnal shape considering her past racing career. She was a sulky race horse and that was the only thing she knew. She pinned her ears at me more than once and tryed to bite me. I corrected her only once. She had great ground manners otherwise, she would always stand and could lead, load, lift her feet like a dream! I was getting a bit worried... having trained wild horses to saddle and having been thrown more than my fair share... you bet I was worried!

Thankfully, my sister would be riding Peg (Pearl's dear friend) to keep her good company. Pearl took the bit easily, she just didn't know what a saddle was. So came the big leap... I lead Pearl outside, tightened her cinch and.... I was going to say up I went... but it didn't really happen like that! Pearl wasn't having any of it and kept moving, lunging forward and mini-rearing to try and spook me. I had my boyfriend hold on to Pearl while I got on her back. Pearl is not the tallest horse I've been on... she's pushing 14.2 or 14.3 hh!!! I got on her back and was in complete lack of control no matter what. She was walking everywhere, didn't want to stop and was in a bit of a panic. I had someone come to restrain Pearl while I calmed down a bit. She got used to my weight being on her back and seemed to be calmer.

So off we went for a small ride. Her eyes were big, she didn't want to leave her friend's side. We managed to go a little ways on the property but Pearl would mini-rear at everything she suspected was a monster or didn't like. If I would put my leg on her, she would rear... pull to one side, she would rear if she didn't want to go. I made her work a bit more before heading back to the barn. I totally disliked my ride on Pearl, I felt like a was sitting on a ticking timebomb! Pearl was sweating, she hadn't been working in a while (I don't know for how long)... she was way nervous. I couldn't wait to get off of her!

She was a doll for unsaddling and grooming... I had a feeling taht Pearl had never seen a saddle before. I had a lot of work to do! Fortunately, my sister took on the task of training Pearl. She would come and ride with me and Dandy... in a few weeks, Pearl was doing great, we were all surprised and happy about her progress, the only problem was that Pearl was terrified of cows, we wouldn't need to use her on cows anyways. She is now a good trail horse and she is used lightly about once or twice a week in the summer and fall... she has not worked in about a month, but I still handle her. She probably won't be working during winter. Since she was so thin, we have not worked on her conditionning yet, but come spring, we might get that going for her. We don't need her to be in top shape but a bit more muscle and a good condition would be desirable.

Turns out Pearl is super sensitive. She does not like change in her tack, blankets, bit, etc. She is very sensitive to loud voices, harsh touch and being left without attention on the crossties if another horse needs special attention or a riding buddy needs help! She is sensitive to pressure, so riding her is a breeze... except if something irritates her... then your in for a ride. She is not a beginner horse, never will be. She is 18 and acts like a 2 year old, she is also as sound and has great legs (better than most 2 year olds!!).

I took a shine to Pearl as soon as I saw her. She is grey, which is super rare in Standardbreds and she has the sweetest face ever... unfortunately, Pearl does not like her face handled and does not enjoy kisses, but I'm working on it.

Getting over the heartbreak

After we lost the foal, things just weren't the same around the barn. Personally, if I hadn't had horses to care about over there, I wouldn't have set foot near it for the rest of my life (at least that's how it felt at the time). Every time I went over, first of all I would casually look for the foal (like I always did when getting to the barn) and then I'd be taken by great sadness remembering that I wouldn't see him in the pasture. During the summer, you are most likely to find us in the barn than in our own house. We often sat in the barn to just chat and keep the horses company, love on them and spoil them.

After the foal passed, we were completely in mourning. We couldn't talk without making someone cry. My boyfriend took it especially hard. We felt like we had failed the little foal. I was so attached to him... I just couldn't bare the thought, still have a bit of a problem with it today.

I lost the first foal that was ever born under my care because of the neglect that Pearl had to endure while she was in foal. I don't regret taking her in at all, I just feel that it was a little too late for the foal. Pearl recovered quickly from her loss, I gave her a month to put on the rest of the weight before I would saddle her.

I don't think I've had a great summer. Between June and the end of July, I had sprained my ankle falling from Dandy... my first fall off of my first horse, which greatly shook my confidence. We had lost the foal, which only spun me into a mini depression... in my eyes, we'd tryed too hard to fail in the end. And right after that, Dandy abcessed in her left front.
I had ridden her the day before and had noticed a slight limp from that leg (a REALLY slight limp), I returned to the barn and the leg was warm to the touch. I figured I would give her some time off and things should resolve... it was muddy around the pasture and she had probably pulled something. I found her the next day lying on the ground, I thought she was just resting but when she got to her feet, she was limping quite hard, nearly not even using the leg. I brought her in and looked closer, there was puss oozing from the coronet band. I panicked! I thought she had foundered... I didn't really know why she would founder, she was used to eating grass, had been on it since May and we were in July... Since we had lots of rain, I thought this might have made the sugar levels in the grass higher but that is not the case (after reading about it)... maybe the constant rain had caused parts of the pasture to become so muddy that it caused founder by the suction exherted on the hoof, but I found no such mud in the pasture. I decided to do a little more research. I found that abcesses can be dormant in the hoof for years, they burst when the hoof wall becomes weak and can be very painful...

There's my answer! Dandy's lack of hoofcare probably caused her to have abcesses in her feet for a long time before I even got her. They burst out because the wall and coronet were weakened by the excessive rain. This was a big abcess, it drained for about 1.5 weeks with regular hosings, cleaning out, wrapping and doctoring. I wrapped her leg with poultice when I felt heat. The abcesses not only came out at the coronet but there was also a hole a quarter-inch in diameter just above the coronet. I kept cleaning it out to prevent infection... it has nearly completely healed now, 5 months later, there is only a bit of hair lef to grow. The crease at the coronet band is now grown 3/4 of the way down the hoof... I am suspicious that I will have to deal with other bouts of abcesses in the future... I suspect there are some in her right front, we'll just have to wait and see. There is no way to prevent abcesses except regular and appropriate hoof care, if they are already there, you will not know until they burst (or right before). Dandy had no heat coming from her hooves, it seems like this just happened in a matter of days, which is not the case. I am still keeping a good eye on her right foot.

She took her treatment in stride the whole time... the only part she didn't like was the cleaning out of the wound but she was still a trooper. She wasn't too fussy on being inside either, everything she could reach was sent to the ground. After being sure she hadn't foundered, I let her out again to exercise with her friends. At that point, she had only been inside for 3 days. Exercise is important to help drain the abcess, but it's important to turn them out in a clean pasture, no mud or dirt that could get on the wound, if there is, then you should wrap it, make sure to unwrap twice a day to clean and refresh the bandages. Usually, letting air to the wound is a good idea, it helps the healing process.

So, between the rain (which prevented us from cutting and baling our hay) and the horses... I couldn't really enjoy my summer... we did go on good trail rides and I had a lot of fun... but I don't know if it's enough to forget all of our misfortunes.

Pearl's story

So we are now about mid-June. Pearl is about ready to foal, it's only a matter of time. She has some milk in her udder, her hind end is relaxed and as smooshy as Jello. I am getting excited, we have no idea of her breeding date or even why she was bred if they sent her to auction not even mid-term! All we know is that the sire is a black Standardbred... pretty popular color if I may say! So I never did find the stallion.

We did find the registration for both the rescues.

I was worried, I could barely sleep at night, what if the baby was still-born (which was the first thing I tought), what if one or both wouldn't make it!? I loved Pearl and didn't want to lose her and I was totally ready to take on a foal, my first but not the first I had handled and trained. We spent a month feeding supplements to Pearl, giving her fresh cut alfalfa to increase her milk production, taking absolute care of her in hopes that the foal would make it.

Here is Pearl the night before she gave birth... you can see that she had put on a bit of weight compared to her earlier picture. I knew the birth was close due to the signs but I had no idea if the foal would be premature or if she had kept it longer due to all of the stress (being thin, new farm, etc.)

The next morning, we woke early in hopes to go meet Pearl and the new foal, we got to the barn all happy and smiling... to find.... Pearl... as big as ever! So we checked her and told her she had player a good trick on us!

I had to leave the farm because my parents own a cottage and people wanted to rent it for the summer, so we went and cleaned to whole thing, top to bottom.

We we nearing lunch time when my sister-in-law comes over. It's Pearl, she foaled at 11h20 am on June 20th 2009 and she was fine... Since my sister-in-law is a non-horsey person (I mean not AT ALL!). I saved my questions for myself. I finished up and went over to the barn about an hour and a half after the foal was born. Went I first saw him, it broke my heart. He was a cute pure black little colt with no markings... the REAL black stallion. He was thin and weak. When I rounded the corner of the barn to see him, he was lying there, exhausted, directly in the harsh sun.

Right there, he looked normal. He was born inside and had managed to make it outside. But the frogs of his hooves were unused, which led me to believe that he had not yet gotten up and nursed. We poked him and encouraged him to stand but to no avail.

His front and back legs were weak and swayed from side to side when he tried to get up... he just wasn't strong enough.

He had long legs and would be a tall guy. I wasn't going to let him die before my eyes. I went and got my boyfriend and we lifted him to his legs. He was really unsteady and fell over many times, so we held him up to nurse. At that point, mom wasn't having any of it and wouldn't let us near enough to nurse, even on a lead she wouldn't tolerate him nursing. So I went and got a bottle, milked Pearl (she was fine with that!) and proceeded to feed the colt by bottle. I managed to get enough milk in his belly to keep him going for a little while. He could now stand for short periods of time. We were happy! But that was short lived.. he would be so close to being able to nurse and mom would move away and he would just fall down again. That night, I gave him a shot of vitamins... Broke my heart to have to give a shot to such a small little guy. I noticed a deformity in his back and back legs immediatly, but I thought that it would settle itself and that it was caused by him being so leggy in such a small space during his development and by being so weak on top of that! Pearl is hardly 14.3 hh... clearly this guy is to be much taller than that. I still think it was caused by him being in too narrow of a place to develop normally.

We were getting up at night to make sure he nursed, until one day, he could nurse on his own! We were thrilled! He was now nursing, walking around and was able to get up and lay down on his own. I was time to turn him out! He could run, but those back legs always kept him dragging behind, at least he wasn't falling over!

On the night of June 28th, we had a rodeo in our small town. We were all attending the rodeo. When we got home, it was about midnight and we decided to make our way to the barn to check on the colt. We found him laying in the shelter, with mom, Peg and Dandy all watching over him. He was still weak and would always do the thing with his mouth... you know, what foals do to tell other horses the submit... it's like grinding their teeth or chewing the air... he always did that when we approached close enough and would always whinny when he heard our voices.

So anyways, that night, he seemed fine, we didn't make him get up because he was sleeping when we found him there and felt a bit bad that we had disturbed him. So we went to bed and I remember clearly saying to my guy that I thought he would make it (after spending 8 days dangling!). The next morning, my guy was up early and went out to check the horses. I remember it was a foggy morning. He came back and told me that the little colt wasn't going well and that he was dying. I couldn't believe it, jumped out of bed into clothes that I probably had worn before (I didn't really care!!!) and made my way to the field. The horses were WAY at the other end (we have a 40 acre pasture) and when they spotted me, Dandy came running over, screaming and Pearl came half the way, quickly going back to the foal. I slowly walked over...

My heart was in my throat, I couldn't see the foal, but could tell from Pearl whereabout he was lying. I got close and spotted him... he was lying flat on his side, breathing hard and groaning. I talked to him calmly and petted him a bit. I lifted his head and he just couldn't hold it up. I started worrying that he had broken his neck running and falling. But I palpated everything and it was all clear, all legs were ok... nothing apparent. We called a vet as soon as we found him, but our vet is a 2 hour drive away... and that is if he is not in another emergency situation. he was finishing something up and coming right over... I had no hope. I called my mom crying and she made me feel a bit better. I returned to the field slowly and saw both Dandy and Pearl running over... Pearl came right to the gate, she had a look in her eyes saying "Help me!" and she quickly turned back and ran to her colt. Dandy walked the whole way with me. I found the poor little colt lying there, still breathing hard but the breaths were far apart. I decided to stay with him.

I sat beside him, in the damp grass, petting him and comforting him. I told him it was ok to go, that I'd be ok and that I would look after his mom. I was broken and tears were running down my cheeks. I soon noticed that he wasn't breathing anymore, his little mount had opened a bit, so I stuck my finger in... there was nothing, not a blink of an eye, nothing. I was devastated. I gave him a last kiss and told him goodbye, but at that time I was truly crying and sobing. I remember telling him not to go yet, but it was too late. I had to live with this. I took hold of my emotions and went to get my guy (he didn't want to see him die). We took the foal away, mom and Dandy (Dandy was the gardian of the colt) screamed the most heart breaking whinny. The foal was burried and the vet hadn't even been near. I doubt he could've done anything at that point, so I called and cancelled.

Somehow, the horses knew exactly what had happened. We were heart broken for a week solid and we cannot mention the little guy without tearing up. I still have tears running down my cheeks as I write this. The colt is burried on our farm, not far from the pasture.

I will never forget him, he was my very first foal (from one of my horses) and lame or not, unrideable or not, he would've stayed on our farm forever.

Love you Little Guy (We had named him Black Jack)

Shod vs barefoot!?

Since there is so much interest going about horses being barefoot... I will post about that today! So get a pot of coffee close by... this is a long one!... REALLY... go ahead... I'll wait...

...

There!

I've done quite a bit of research a few years ago about wheter to shoe horses or to leave them barefoot... I chose to leave my horses barefoot, because it suits the activities that I do with them, trails, amateur barrels and low level jumping... yes, you can have your horse compete barefoot.


I've started trimming about 2 years ago after 2 years of religous study (about 2 hours EVERY day), I kept reviewing material that I had seen before, to be certain not to miss one thing. I do a Barefoot Performance trim... this is not your regular pasture trim. You should not ride your horse barefoot if he only has a pasture trim, this can create cracks and other problems.


I did not go professional to trim because I have back problems and am in a lot of pain if I have to struggle with a horse that is not cooperating.


This is something that everyone can do. All you need is nippers, a rasp and a good pair of gloves and know where and how to start. I will give reference sites at the end so that you can read up if you want.


First, lets discuss the differences between shod and barefoot.


The horse shoe was invented in midieval times. During wars, the horses were left stabbled in unsanitary conditions, their hooves started litteraly falling appart, so a blacksmith invented a device that could nail onto a horse's hooves to prevent it from breaking and falling appart. The men needed their horses for war and couldn't afford to have a horse with no hooves. In those days, the horses HAD to be shod in order to work and be ridden, the mentality stuck to this day.


A barefoot hoof will absorb concussion and disperse it by expanding when it becomes weight bearing while a shod hoof will not expand, therefore only driving the concussion up the leg and rattling the bones and joints.


Here is a youtube video of barefoot horse trotting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si7QUK4OY0o&feature=related


Here is a video of a shod horse. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrlUaFFdv3Y&feature=related


Now, you probably don't see much difference, but look again after you've read this... look closely! The barefoot hoof lands on its heels first, this is very desirable for maximum shock absorbtion, notice how the leg (or bones in the leg) do not rattle. The shod hoof lands on the toes, the difference is that when a horse lands on their heels first, the bone column in the leg is extended at it's maximum and therefore the leg is at it's straightest. This makes the bones and tendons tight in the leg causing less impact on the bones and joints. If the hoof lands toe first, the bone column is not extended to it's fullest, the toe touches the ground first and the heel then slams on the ground, causing the whole leg, bones and joints to rattle. (Try it yourself, walk with your heels landing first and notice how the bones are straight and the joints are tight... then walk landing toe first, notice how the bones in your leg aren't straight, not ready to hit the ground and see how your heel goes slamming in the ground? You have to walk as if you would walk normally, not super slow!). The heels slamming on the ground can cause soreness and bruising to your horse's heels and can cause tendon dammage since the tendons are loose when the toe hits the ground and quickly snap tight as the heels slam into the ground and the bone column snaps straight.


The strides of a horse landing heel first are much larger than the ones of a horse landing toe first... this gives your horse big movement, like a dressage horse. It is also smoother for the rider, making it even more desirable!


The barefoot hoof acts like a pump and pushes the blood up the leg with each stride. The hoof expands when it becomes weight bearing and contracts when no longer weight bearing, this helps blood flow in the leg and helps a horse identify where his feet are. On a shod hoof, the shoe prevents the hoof from expanding and contracting, holding it firmly in a contracted state (since the hoof is not weight bearing when the shoe is applyed), preventing blood flow in the legs. This causes the leg to be numb and probably tingly (as if you were lying on your arm for a long period of time). A shod horse might be more prone to trip over uneven ground.


The frog is a very important part of the hoof. To have a healthy frog, the hoof should be clean and dry. The frog is also passively weight baring. You have to look at it as a cushion for the foot, when the frog comes in contact with the ground, it helps the hoof expand, taking in much of the concussion of hard surfaces. It is important that the frog remains healthy, if it is infected and painful, the horse will not land on its heels. A barefoot hoof is also self cleaning, the expansion and contraction causes it to fling dirt out, therefore, keeping the frog dryer and healthier. I can absolutely confirm this statement, I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true!


Hoof cracks are created by some kind of pressure on the hoof wall, sometimes, the hoof has "corners" which create a force in the toe of the hoof, ultimately creating a toe crack. The same applies to other hoof cracks... they are always created by some kind of leverage somewhere on the hoof. If the hoof is too long and looks navicular, this may create a leverage at the breakover point (the breakover beign too far back) and a toe crack will appear.


Ultimately, if you horse has cracks, it's because the hoof wall is too long somewhere or overall OR there is a physiological problem with the hoof itself or the health of the horse. Go about this lightly, doesn't mean that your horse is sick if he has bad hooves... it can be navicular (which can be solved or made better by barefooting), cushings or feed that is too rich can make the hoof soft and prone to founder or other problems.





If we analyse the picture below, This is Dandy's hoof 2 weeks after a trim (her hooves grow FAST!) and right after a 2 hour ride on pavement, stone dust, gravel, sand, mud... You can clearly see that the frog is wide and healthy and that it touches the ground, this is a front foot, so it is supposed to be as round as possible, if it were a back foot, it would be more of an oval shape, this gives more traction. Note also how thin the weight bearing surface of the wall is. This is not the natural thickness of the wall, I thin it down and roll A LOT to prevent sharp edges and cracks. A thinner wall also gives better breakover when the horse walks. If I was to trim that foot, there wouldn't be too much to do... first, I would lower the heels (for Dandy, I lower to about the lever of the sole), the white line (dirty line between the sole and wall) seems ok but I would rasp until there was no more dirt left there (without touching sole, I rasp at an angle for this) and so that I can see the white line (which is in fact yellowish!). I never trim sole AT ALL and the only time I might rasp in it would be if it was chalky and dead. You need to find the true sole when trimming as this is your guideline. I don't remove the bars, simply trim them just under the level of the wall or just above the sole (maybe 1 mm or so). I don't trim frog unless it is hanging off or holding dirt and moisture underneath.

The white line is also a good indicator... if it is wide and separated, that is an indication of flare, when there is flare, I simply relieve all pressure from the wall. This means that I rasp the walls lower than the sole... so the sole will become weight bearing. This will give the wall a chance to reconnect to the laminae (inside) and get stronger. By removing all weight baring wall, you remove the lever force that created the flare in the first place. This might take several trims to fix. Whenever this happens, I am more carefull when riding, avoiding gravel and rocky surfaces. Dandy has incredibly hard hooves from being barefoot, she can walk, trot and canter on gravel, but I would still be carefull not to make her sore.

Putting a little gravel in your pasture might not harm your horse's hooves either. In my pasture, there is gravel all around the water drinker. This forces them to walk on it, increasing the blood flow to their hooves, therefore creating harder and healthier hooves. If you are transitionning from shod to barefoot, do NOT make your horse walk on hard ground, this can create road founder. Your horse might be very sore after removing shoes, so keep him comfy on sand or grass (if he can eat it), if you ride, rubber boots for your horse is a good idea until his hooves are good and strong enough to go barefoot. In shod hooves, the coffin bone sits really low, near the sole and is poorly suspended in the hoof capsule. This is caused by the lack of strenght in the hoof and causes flat soles. The coffin bone then crushes the digital cushion (right above the frog) and causes soreness. After properly rehabilitating the hoof, the coffin bone is then supported higher in the hoof capsule creating a concave sole and much more resistance to hard ground, rocks, etc. The transition is not easy and can take months, which is why most people give up and go back to shoes. You have to be patient and understand that a good rock crushing foot will develop with time. Pea gravel is great as it stimulates the sole and blood circulation and is not overly harsh on the newly de-shod hooves because it is so round and smooth.

After the transition, you will be very happy that you've done it. Your horse will be happier, your rides will be smoother with long strides, you horse might trip less over small obstacles or uneven ground. You won't have to pay for shoes. There is one thing you need to watch for... you need to get a great barefoot trimmer. A farrier will not do the job as they are trained for pasture trims, which wont work if you compete or ride your horse a lot... this is what may cause you a lot of problems. Be informed about how a good hoof should look like and aim for that goal... if you think you can do it yourself, go ahead! I would suggest you only do 2 feet (like the 2 fronts) for the first few times, this will give you more time to balance and trim correctly... plan for a lot of time, remember, you will not be used to handling the tools, plus holding your horse's foot all at once... you need time to find the best way for you to do it. Get the most information you can and refer to it as much as possible.

It is hard work and you really need to be well informed. You will probably develop your own technique and philosophy about trimming but it is basically the same all around:

1. Low heels (to the level of live sole or a bit longer (2 mm), so you need to remove all chalky dead sole before starting, I usually do this with a hoof pick, scraping hard in the heel area)

2. Frog needs to contact the ground... you need a healthy frog.

3. Wall needs to be thin, level with the sole (if you are maintaining), lower than the sole if there is flare to remove and I usually might leave a bit of wall (2-3 mm) if the hoof wears quickly or if the horse tends to be sore and has no flare or other problems.

4. You need to roll the edge of the wall... don't be afraid to do this, it is very important, it helps create a flowing stride and an easier breakover for your horse. I usually roll (see: mustang roll) the edge of the wall until I see the white of the water line when the hoof is on the ground. In reality, the water line (white, thick line between the colored wall and the white line (laminae that connects the wall to the sole) should be the only part touching the ground... to have a better idea of the water line... it is the white that you see around the hoof here...

5. NEVER trim sole or be invasive while trimming, remove what is there and wait for the hoof to reshape itself to further your trims and better the hoof... you will not achieve perfect round hooves in one trim, it is an investment in time.

I hope this has helped a bit to understand the barefoot method. Here are my most visited in that order:

http://www.barefoothorse.com/ This is a GREAT site... make sure you read step by step.

http://www.thehorseshoof.com/

http://www.barefoothorse.com.au/ This one as lots of rehab pics!

Although I sometimes think I would trim more or less... this is the basic of barefoot horses.