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.
Showing posts with label quarter horse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quarter horse. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Long Time Gone...and lots of changes!
Hello everyone! It's been FOREVER since I was last here to update about the horses. Things have changed monumentally since we last spoke.
In February, E dropped her lease on Emmy, which left me in quite the financial pickle. I did all the math and I was not going to be able to afford keeping both Johnny and Emmy at the boarding barn without literally running my bank account almost to zero, which isn't okay with me. I called Johnny's old owner to see if she wanted him back and she said not really, so I put an ad for him on Craigslist, Dreamhorse and Equine.com. He is currently living in a few towns away with a very nice family who loves on him, rides him and plays with him all the time. I went to visit him a couple of weeks ago and he seems happy.
So after all that happened, I was down to one horse again. Johnny left in March and Emmy stayed at the boarding barn through the middle of May. In the mean time however, my boyfriend decided that he wanted a horse. He had been riding Johnny a bit however Johnny wasn't really a good teaching horse for him. His trot was too difficult to sit (my boyfriend rides western) and he didn't really lope all that well. Plus, bf REALLY wanted a Quarter Horse. So we found him one. A big ol' 6 year old chestnut gelding about 4 hours southwest of us. I skipped class one day and bf took a half day off work and we drove down to see him. He was standing in mud up to his knees, living in a field with 2 other horses. The owners were a very nice old couple who just had no use for him anymore. The guy pulled him out of the field and we saddled him up all muddy and dirty. I rode him up and down a gravel rode. He was quiet and willing, and he had a great jog. We put $100 down to keep him a couple more weeks and drove home.
On April 2, "Cool" came to to the boarding barn. It was the first time he'd ever been on a trailer (save for when he was 8 months old was bought by the people we purchased him from), the first time he'd ever walked on concrete, the first time he'd even been in a boarding barn or even in a stall. He adjusted just fine and we started working with him. He was a bit of a bully at first, having never really been put in his place before by a person, but the kinks worked out over time. He's still a little hard headed but I don't ever have to worry about bf when he rides him. It takes a shot gun and spurs to get that horse to lope, but when he does, it's smooth and slow. We got his papers in the mail a few weeks after we bought him. Cool is halter bred out the wha-zoo. He's got great blood lines...Kid Clu, Conclusive, Call Me Phenomenal (his sire), Skipa Star and Impressive (Cool is HYPP neg. don't worry lol) He's got pretty good conformation too...a little over at the knee on one front leg but that's it really.
So the end of school came and the horses and I all moved in with bf on his 25 acre property up by the lake. We put in stalls in the barn and a pasture for the horses. And here I am today, still missing Johnny, but with two horses in my back yard and a roof over my head with the person I love. Johnny is turning 19 this year and now has a new job, bringing the same joy to his new family that he brought me.
As always,
Peave.Love.Ponies.
In February, E dropped her lease on Emmy, which left me in quite the financial pickle. I did all the math and I was not going to be able to afford keeping both Johnny and Emmy at the boarding barn without literally running my bank account almost to zero, which isn't okay with me. I called Johnny's old owner to see if she wanted him back and she said not really, so I put an ad for him on Craigslist, Dreamhorse and Equine.com. He is currently living in a few towns away with a very nice family who loves on him, rides him and plays with him all the time. I went to visit him a couple of weeks ago and he seems happy.
So after all that happened, I was down to one horse again. Johnny left in March and Emmy stayed at the boarding barn through the middle of May. In the mean time however, my boyfriend decided that he wanted a horse. He had been riding Johnny a bit however Johnny wasn't really a good teaching horse for him. His trot was too difficult to sit (my boyfriend rides western) and he didn't really lope all that well. Plus, bf REALLY wanted a Quarter Horse. So we found him one. A big ol' 6 year old chestnut gelding about 4 hours southwest of us. I skipped class one day and bf took a half day off work and we drove down to see him. He was standing in mud up to his knees, living in a field with 2 other horses. The owners were a very nice old couple who just had no use for him anymore. The guy pulled him out of the field and we saddled him up all muddy and dirty. I rode him up and down a gravel rode. He was quiet and willing, and he had a great jog. We put $100 down to keep him a couple more weeks and drove home.
On April 2, "Cool" came to to the boarding barn. It was the first time he'd ever been on a trailer (save for when he was 8 months old was bought by the people we purchased him from), the first time he'd ever walked on concrete, the first time he'd even been in a boarding barn or even in a stall. He adjusted just fine and we started working with him. He was a bit of a bully at first, having never really been put in his place before by a person, but the kinks worked out over time. He's still a little hard headed but I don't ever have to worry about bf when he rides him. It takes a shot gun and spurs to get that horse to lope, but when he does, it's smooth and slow. We got his papers in the mail a few weeks after we bought him. Cool is halter bred out the wha-zoo. He's got great blood lines...Kid Clu, Conclusive, Call Me Phenomenal (his sire), Skipa Star and Impressive (Cool is HYPP neg. don't worry lol) He's got pretty good conformation too...a little over at the knee on one front leg but that's it really.
So the end of school came and the horses and I all moved in with bf on his 25 acre property up by the lake. We put in stalls in the barn and a pasture for the horses. And here I am today, still missing Johnny, but with two horses in my back yard and a roof over my head with the person I love. Johnny is turning 19 this year and now has a new job, bringing the same joy to his new family that he brought me.
As always,
Peave.Love.Ponies.
Take Me Im Cool - April 2011
"Cool" - May 2011
M and Cool - May 2011
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Embracing the Inner Cowgirl: Cross Training to Curb Bordem
Yep, it's offical, I have definetly lost it.
Since being home from college on winter break I have probably only ridden Johnny 4 times in the last two weeks. There are a few very valid reasons behind this: 1) I promised him a break from his 6 day-a-week training schedule that he's been on at school 2) I have no where to ride him (i.e. no arena) 3) The ground is frozen and not quite covered with much snow, therefore it is slippery and icy instead and Johnny, with his new front shoes, is a klutz to begin with so the last thing I need is a broken leg. And lastly...4) I miss Emmy.
So, since Emmy is now naked and shoeless, I have been riding her around on the trails and such, mainly just walking with a little jog here and there. She offically has not been ridden in almost 4 months so shes REALLY out of shape and her feet still get sore from the lack of shoes, but she doesn't slip much on the snow/ice so she's pretty sure footed. I started riding her western a couple summers ago when she was mysteriously lame for 3 months and no one could figure out what was wrong with her. She's not much of a western mount...although she does have a pretty nice jog and a reasonable lope (sometimes). Despite the fact that she went back to being a Hunter later that year, I think that in her old age she's come to quite enjoy the western saddle...plus, there is NO WAY I'm wearing breeches in this weather.
Anyway, the point of this entry is to tell about how a reconnecting with a childhood friend named H inspired some new cross-training for Emmy. H and I grew up riding and eventing together, but when the barn we were riding at kind of fell apart business-wise, our entire group of friends packed up our things and our horses and we parted ways. Thanks to Facebook, we managed to reconnect almost 4 years later (3 years since the last time I saw her at a horse show...she had a yearling QH showing in halter) and exchanged phone numbers. Before I knew it she was pulling into our barn drive Tuesday and we were saddling up for a snowy trail ride and a trip down memory lane.
H has gone a long way from our early eventing days and made a 360 into the Quarter Horse world. Her family had since moved out to the township, purchased a few acres with a barn and gone horse shopping in Pennsylvannia where they came back with three QHs. She now has a coming 5 year old, 3 year old and a 2 year old, all foundation bred for roping, cutting and reining. I told her how I kind of missed the days of us riding western through the woods when we were kids and she admitted that she missed having a well schooled horse to jump with. In the end, we made an ultimatum with each other "If you teach me how to jump again," H told me "then I will teach you how to rein and cut cattle." Fine by me! I've always wanted to get back to my cowgirl roots...
It wasn't until I was oogling over an episode of Heartland (best TV show EVER) where they were team roping when it really hit me.
I have ALWAYS wanted to learn how to rope.
See? I told you...offically off my rocker. I blame her entirely.
Next thing I know, I've got an old practice rope and Emmy all saddle up in the front yard. Surprisingly, the spooky little mare was totally fine with me swinging the rope around...she didn't even mind so much when I accidently hit her in the head with it, nor did she blink when it went flying past her face onto a fence post. It wasn't until I went to coil the loop back in that she decided she'd had enough of the roping game...besides, that thing crawling towards her in the snow was DEFINETLY going to EAT HER.
It actually wasn't too bad of a spook...just a classic Emmy spin sideways, but as strange as it sounds it gave me joy to see her react to something. She's 22 (going on 23) years old and a dead broke hunter mare. The past year or so has been...oh I hate to say it...but it's been kind of boring with her. Not that I don't appreciate a good, well trained horse, but she is literally "broke to death" in her old age...and who can blame me, right? I can't help it if I like a little spunk every now and again. Even though neither one of us is ever going to be competetive, or even good at this whole roping thing, it's something new for us to work on, and trust me, Emmy's bored with her retirement and ready for a challenge. Despite the fact that she goes outside all day and always has plenty of hay and toys in her stall to occupy her, she is still slowly eating her stall door in protest.
I'll let you know how the whole thing works out ;)
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Since being home from college on winter break I have probably only ridden Johnny 4 times in the last two weeks. There are a few very valid reasons behind this: 1) I promised him a break from his 6 day-a-week training schedule that he's been on at school 2) I have no where to ride him (i.e. no arena) 3) The ground is frozen and not quite covered with much snow, therefore it is slippery and icy instead and Johnny, with his new front shoes, is a klutz to begin with so the last thing I need is a broken leg. And lastly...4) I miss Emmy.
So, since Emmy is now naked and shoeless, I have been riding her around on the trails and such, mainly just walking with a little jog here and there. She offically has not been ridden in almost 4 months so shes REALLY out of shape and her feet still get sore from the lack of shoes, but she doesn't slip much on the snow/ice so she's pretty sure footed. I started riding her western a couple summers ago when she was mysteriously lame for 3 months and no one could figure out what was wrong with her. She's not much of a western mount...although she does have a pretty nice jog and a reasonable lope (sometimes). Despite the fact that she went back to being a Hunter later that year, I think that in her old age she's come to quite enjoy the western saddle...plus, there is NO WAY I'm wearing breeches in this weather.
Anyway, the point of this entry is to tell about how a reconnecting with a childhood friend named H inspired some new cross-training for Emmy. H and I grew up riding and eventing together, but when the barn we were riding at kind of fell apart business-wise, our entire group of friends packed up our things and our horses and we parted ways. Thanks to Facebook, we managed to reconnect almost 4 years later (3 years since the last time I saw her at a horse show...she had a yearling QH showing in halter) and exchanged phone numbers. Before I knew it she was pulling into our barn drive Tuesday and we were saddling up for a snowy trail ride and a trip down memory lane.
H has gone a long way from our early eventing days and made a 360 into the Quarter Horse world. Her family had since moved out to the township, purchased a few acres with a barn and gone horse shopping in Pennsylvannia where they came back with three QHs. She now has a coming 5 year old, 3 year old and a 2 year old, all foundation bred for roping, cutting and reining. I told her how I kind of missed the days of us riding western through the woods when we were kids and she admitted that she missed having a well schooled horse to jump with. In the end, we made an ultimatum with each other "If you teach me how to jump again," H told me "then I will teach you how to rein and cut cattle." Fine by me! I've always wanted to get back to my cowgirl roots...
It wasn't until I was oogling over an episode of Heartland (best TV show EVER) where they were team roping when it really hit me.
I have ALWAYS wanted to learn how to rope.
See? I told you...offically off my rocker. I blame her entirely.
Next thing I know, I've got an old practice rope and Emmy all saddle up in the front yard. Surprisingly, the spooky little mare was totally fine with me swinging the rope around...she didn't even mind so much when I accidently hit her in the head with it, nor did she blink when it went flying past her face onto a fence post. It wasn't until I went to coil the loop back in that she decided she'd had enough of the roping game...besides, that thing crawling towards her in the snow was DEFINETLY going to EAT HER.
It actually wasn't too bad of a spook...just a classic Emmy spin sideways, but as strange as it sounds it gave me joy to see her react to something. She's 22 (going on 23) years old and a dead broke hunter mare. The past year or so has been...oh I hate to say it...but it's been kind of boring with her. Not that I don't appreciate a good, well trained horse, but she is literally "broke to death" in her old age...and who can blame me, right? I can't help it if I like a little spunk every now and again. Even though neither one of us is ever going to be competetive, or even good at this whole roping thing, it's something new for us to work on, and trust me, Emmy's bored with her retirement and ready for a challenge. Despite the fact that she goes outside all day and always has plenty of hay and toys in her stall to occupy her, she is still slowly eating her stall door in protest.
I'll let you know how the whole thing works out ;)
Peace.Love.Ponies.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Photos Op!
Some photos from the farm, horse show and trail ride!
Emmy, my retired hunter mare, being beautiful
Emmy. I'm pretty sure that this is going to be my next painting
Best friend horse show love.
Pumpkin the mini looking studly.
C getting ready for our trail ride!
C and Abbie
Me and Emmy
Me and Emmy again
This was such a cute picture but C got her finger in the corner...I tried to crop it out...this was totally candid.
Peace.Love.Ponies.
(p.s. Emmy does have a mane...for some reason since she's been retired its just gone crraaazzzyyyy and flips which ever direction that it wants...so that missing middle section? Yeah, its on the other side of her neck. Don't ask. I tried to fix it. It won't comply.)
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