Getting Back His Dancing Feet

I've been meaning all day to sit down and write this post - it's now 11pm and everyone is asleep, so I finally have time to do it!

Cool's new Easy Boot hoof pads arrived yesterday! If you've read any of my last couple posts, you've probably heard me mention Pete Ramey before. If you have a foundered or navicular horse and are considering trying the barefoot route, Pete is your man. He maintains a website (www.hoofrehab.com) that is so jammed-packed with priceless information you'll be lost for days reading about all of what he does. After which, you will promptly feel like the WORLDS WORST HORSE OWNER because my god it all makes sense and why were you not smart enough to figure this out before?

I could go into detail about "Pete's way" but it would literally take me hours to write and days for you to read, so let me give you my very fancy (not) abridged version of what Mr. Ramey has come up with and applied to (literally) hundreds of "hopelessly lame" horses with success.

In Pete's philosophy (we're gonna call that PP for the sake of me not having to keep spelling 'philosophy') all of the problems with the horses foot start long before he ever takes a lame step. The biggest disservice that we ever do to our horses is to not allow the hoof to develop properly from the time the horse is young. We shoe young horses too early, we keep them on soft footing, and we never allow the hoof capsule and all of the internal structures to be exposed to the pressures necessary for developing a structurally sound foot. Because of this, the horse becomes sore, so we further protect the foot with pads, etc. and the vicious cycle continues. The internal structures of the foot never properly develop for the type of work that we ask the horse to do. We leave our horses heels too long, and their feet too stood up, forcing them to land "toe first" (from the perspective of the internal structures of the foot, the bones, ligaments, etc.) The back part of the foot (the heels) fall out of use and become even more sore, so we add wedges and more pads to make the horse comfortable, even further damaging the internal structures (I could go on, but you get the idea).

Sometimes though, the horse stops using the back of the foot due to conformation, mechanical issues, or even a soft tissue injury that goes unnoticed. Whatever it is that makes the horse "heel sore" starts the process of the toe first landing. The more we try to raise the heels of the horse though "corrective shoeing" the more we actual damage the internal structures of the foot, After a while, the horse can no longer be made comfortable and is put down. (Click HERE to read the full article, I really don't do it justice)

In PP, Mr. Ramey works to bring the horses heels (and sometimes the frogs) BACK into their proper function through a combination of hoof boots and pads while the horse is ridden  (read more about this by clicking HERE) The idea of the pad is to gently stimulate the "damage" areas of the foot through a system of pressure/release as the horse walks, not just constant pressure as with a wedge shoe. In Pete's mind, the reason that horses become "pasture sound" but are lame with a rider up, is because the horse's hoof gets a chance to heal in when the horse is left alone in the pasture. The problem is that the concussion put on the foot in the arena (or when ridden) is totally different then the concussion and vibration that the foot receives as the horse meanders around all day. PP is that, if you want the horse sound for riding, you have to heal the horse while its being ridden.

(There are also a whole slew of articles on this site regarding feeding practices and how they affect the health of the horse's foot - do yourself a favor and read those too. Actually, just read the whole site and thank me later)

So, I did as my guru Petey said, and I ordered two sets of hoof boot pads from Easy Boot Inc. Cool does not have Easy Boots, he wears Cavallo boots, but I figured that a pad was a pad so I took a chance for $14.99.

Next came the daunting process of figuring out just what pad combination he needed. Since I am no Pete Ramey, just a young adult fumbling through this on her own with the help of an iPad and a website, I wasn't really sure how to go about this, and I wasnt 100% sure what I was supposed to even be looking for. Was my horse supposed to magically become sound? (P.S. he's been lame for the last month)Was he supposed to just look better? Would nothing actually change except the mechanics of his stride?

I started with a soft density full pad. I duct taped the entire thing inside his hoof boot, put it on him, and held my breath. We jogged off across the grass, me dragging a reluctant Cool behind me....still lame.

My next idea was to try just a frog pad. Using the extra material from trimming the full pad down to size, I cut two frog shaped pads, took a roll of duct tape, and taped them to Cool's feet over his frog. (Good ol' Petey says that some horses need more frog stimulation/cushion depending on how their feet are shaped)
Cool tripped walking back out of the barn. Great.... I thought to myself, this is already a lost cause. 

Except that then I asked Cool to trot. And he about RAN ME OVER. All of the sudden, my horse was plowing past me and I found myself digging my heels into the ground and calling for him to PLEASE SLOW DOWN. Actually, come to think of it, he didnt look half bad running past me either.

I took him back to the barn and stopped to think. Untaping the frog pads from his feet, I retaped them ON TOP of the full pads that were already in his boots, slid the boots on, and went back into the grass for a trot.

The second I clucked to Cool he EXPLODED. And I mean exploded. Neck arched, prancing, blowing and all but leaping on the end of the lead. My god horse...two hoof pads ago I had to DRAG you out of the barn! I took him into the arena and jogged him on the sand.

Could it be? Was it true? Did he actually look sound????

This was precisely the point where Killian woke up from his nap and started crying. So the experimenting was done for one day. That night, I took a chance. Cut two more frog pads, taped them to his feet followed by wrapping his hoof with vet wrap, and turned him out.

This morning, he came in for breakfast and looked great walking! I undid his feet to let them breathe and got ready to ride during Killian's nap.

Our "ride" consisted of a nice long walk up and down the hills in the pasture (varied terrain to promote lots of foot twisting and movement) followed by a short walk down the road (frog stimulation) and then two long sides of trot each direction in the sand ring (working the foot). All the while Cool wore his boots with a full and frog pad. He never took a bad step. I would have called that horse 98% cured.

We called it a day after our short "boot session." I have plans tomorrow to haul Cool to a local indoor riding ring with a friend and try these boots out on some "real" footing. I'm also hoping for some video! After our ride, I did remove the boots and turn him out naked...the difference in the way he walked to the pasture was astounding. He looked terrible! Its been so long since I've actually seen him comfortable that I think I've actually forgotten what it looks like! Yikes!

More on this tomorrow....for now, sleep time!

As always,

Peace.Love.Ponies.