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Friday, 19 August 2011
Hoof shape and shoes
Same hoof as previous; but solar view. Note how the widest part of the foot is moving towards the heel. You might find it hard to see, but the sole is increasing (slowly) in thickness and concavity. Also note how the frog has quickly widened and how it was somewhat cramped by the shoe.
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6 comments:
You mentioned that this horse is on livery - what compromises are you and the caregiver agreeing on? I know you would prefer him on a track but what is the caregiver doing different to before the shoes came off?
Thanks!
Stabled during the day with soaked hay. Deeper and larger bed than previously. Turnout on smaller, barer paddock than previously. No oats or other cereals.
Some peeps recommend oats - even for laminitics. I find that at 20% starch this can be unwise - partly because we are often dealing with undiagnosed Insulin Resistance.
Thanks Lucy. With soaked hay, how long do you soak it for? On warm/hot days here, my hay smells like it is going rancid after about 4 hours soaking.
Hi Lisa - there is some debate about hay soaking - I think it is important to understand the whys rather than stick to a formula. So.....
As you know you need a large volume of water for effective removal of water soluable carb (sugar) - otherwise the water will become saturated with sugar and the process will stop.
Yeast will ferment the sugars in the water producing 'hay beer'. This can smell sour. So soaked hay should be well rinsed with more clean water before feeding to remove the beer.
Even in hot conditions, with my hay type I soak for 12-24 hours and then rinse. For Grace (my horse) anything less than 12 is risky. Our hay is a rye/timothy mix with the emphasis on the rye, so is extremely unhelpful.
Some 'new' hays and those with a lot of 'weed' content don't stand up to soaking so well and go slimey. If I came across a hay like that I would probably avoid using at all. A slimey when soaked weed is not necessarily a low sugar weed, for example plaintain is high sugar as is yarrow. They don't soak well.
Note some folks say an hour is enough because it can remove upto 30% of WSC. That is too vague and misleading unless you know what you are removing 30% of and it is 'upto' not 'guaranteed'. Anecdotal evidence suggests for the very sensitive 12 is a good place.
It took me weeks and weeks to train Grace to eat soaked hay - we started with 20 minutes and worked up. Now she prefers it and gets terribly excited by the arrival of her wet hay. Even long term sugar addicts can be retrained (except me.....)
Isn't it funny how we are so strict with the animals in out care but can't seem to be the same with ourselves? I'm addicted to sugar terribly - I have 8 fillings and need one replaced for the third time at the moment, not to mention I'm 15 kilos over weight, all from sugar.
Thanks for your informative response! Do you mind if I cross post to my blog (with a link back to you for credit)?
Sure :-)
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