Performance barefoot

We've posted about this pair several times on this blog as we have plotted their journey.  One of the more difficult rehabs.  Not just 'navicular' but also as we discovered later, very sensitive to diet.
Anyway to cut a very long story short - look!

Hunter Trial April 2012

This is their second Hunter Trial both run early April 2012.   Apparently horse didn't slip at all, despite the rather horrible weather we have been having in the UK. 

Yes horse is still sound. But the original vet will never know because the owner reports that they refuse to come and see her unless she is shod.

Hooves are like

Financial investments..........  they can go down as well as up.

Your job as a horse owner will never be finished - not while you have a horse.  It doesn't take long; a brief holiday and you can come back to chronic thrush, contracted heels or worse.

But the joy of it is if you get the hoof structure healthy in the first place then hooves can take a lot and small set backs are just that.  Small and easily resolved.

If you have the good hoof structure in the first place.

Which is what sooooooo many peeps seem to fail to understand including, but not exclusively; horse owners, vets, farriers, yard managers, instructors............

And good  structure as always is a product of good management/facilitating a healthy lifestyle for the horse.

So sadly some of these will, quite unintentionally I am sure, promote poor hoof structure because they don't know how to achieve something better, or even believe that structure is determined before birth and a bad hoof will always be a bad hoof.

But you only have to look at a few rehab photos to realise that this isn't so.  But what the rehab pictures don't show is the sheer hard work some of these transformations have taken.  Which is why some people think that is then just a matter of taking the shoes off and are horribly disappointed to find that they have to change......

And to continue this theme - I've seen some very nice hooves damaged by inappropriate riding techniques.  This is perhaps the most awkward conversation of all to have.  It is hard enough to say to someone 'your horse is overweight' or 'your horse has thrush' etc, but 'please can you change how you ride your horse' is a whole other matter.  If anyone has any constructive and polite suggestions...........

Use your head as well as your nose.

To continue on the theme of hay.  Had demonstrable proof that you can't judge hay by look or smell.  Except for a broad and rather vague indication of mouldiness.  Very experienced farmer x 3 all declared that a sample of mouldy, sugary hay which is very low in minerals was ok, based on the poke it and sniff it test........

One, completely shocked at how inaccurate this time served method was, is now going to have a forage test done on his hay stock.  Great bloke wants to make sure he is feeding his animals properly.

And - just had the results back on some hay that looks and smells beautiful.  Still too high in sugar and really low in minerals. 

Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder......  tis in the performance of the feet! 

And feet need a species suitable diet, which for neds in the UK, may well mean a bit of detective work. :-)

Orange Ears

Just promise you won't tell Grace........

See here for the background

Enjoy the journey

Sometime in the spring/early summer of last year I got a call about a navicular horse, lame in shoes, lamer still with wedges.

Fronts came off June, hinds a bit later (don't ask).

Regular readers of the blog will have seen how they looked straight out of shoes.

Left Fore side view June 2011.  Clipped for nerve blocks et al
Horse could not stand 'bare' on concrete, hence the straw

 














And then

Left Fore Oct 2011.  Note event line almost half way down

And yesterday

Left Fore March 2012.  Event line almost grown out

The horse* has passed a vetting including trotting a 10m circle on concrete. Hacks out sound over stones (shod companion couldn't do it and had to use the verge), schools and lunges happily.

I watched the horse trot up yesterday - the movement has changed from 'sewing machine' when shod (carer's words not mine) to positively floating.

And the behavioural changes are for me equally significant.  Used to have to be cross tied for tacking up etc.  Now will stand loose in the yard dozing while groomed, tacked up or trimmed.

Enjoy the journey?  Another client has asked that I blog about 'The Finish'.  Only there never is one, not until we pass over anyway.

The horses I attend prove to me time and again that give the right opportunities their hooves will continue to improve, regardless of age. 

Some will decline, from uncontrolled Cushings, Insulin Resistance or other metabolic disorder, but sort those out, feed the horse properly, work them appropriately and it is truly amazing how the hooves respond, even with horses in their twenties.

Age doesn't have to be a barrier to a healthy hoof and the journey never finishes.  So learn to enjoy it and appreciate the ride for whatever it brings.

* Note I am now excluding gender because too many people are starting to play the 'guess the horse' game and that is not fair on the carer's of the horses who have so generously agreed to their cases being put on the blog.

Hay and sugar beet

As I described here I have a problem with hay that is high in iron.  1092mg per kilo to be precise.
So as well as pursuing careful supplementation to mitigate some of the problems this causes I thought I'd take a bit more of a look at the other source of iron that Grace eats in any quantity.
Sugar Beet
150g unmolassed sugar beet to be precise.  And it's important to get the unmolassed product which I know can be tricky in some countries such as the US. 
Raw unprocessed beet typically yields between 17% and 22%  sugar, in some circumstances it may peak at 25%.  The processed, unmolassed beet is 5% or less.  But add molasses and you can be looking at much higher levels. 
The breakdown for the umolassed sugar beet I use is this:

Copper 10mg/kg (twice my hay)

Zinc 20 mg/kg

Iron 450 mg/kg (less than half my hay)

Calcium 1%

Sugar 5% (slightly more than half my hay)

So the beet has a better nutritional profile than my hay. 

I know the company I buy it from test their beet at least twice a month.  I have it in writing.  And for completeness I have checked with another company and they check every batch too.

So what am I going to do now?

I knew Grace was getting too much iron and not enough copper.  But until I had continuity of hay supply testing it was pointless.  I always worried it was the beet.  How wrong could I be!

So now I am going to rejig her ration a little.  I won't worry about feedng a bit more beet and a little less hay and I will mineral balance the lot.  It's relatively easy when you know how.

Grace is really looking forward to her new ears.

You are what you eat

Grace's ears have turned orange.  I kid you not.  If I hadn't broken my old phone I'd show you a photo (and Grace begged me not to - soooo embarrassing).  On a deep liver chestnut it is not a good look and it signals loudly my failure to address a copper shortage that I had a good idea was on the way.  So you can all slap my wrists now.  Only its a very useful scenario that I hope will help someone, somewhere, sometime.

So a bit of background.......
I live and livery in a very high iron area, even the water is loaded.  All the grass is ex dairy, mostly Rye and when I am really unlucky it gets nitrogen thrown at it too.
The livery yard has recently changed its modus operandi and I can now buy my own hay in.  Which is a huge relief as the previous hay was over 18% sugar and over 21% sugar/starch combined, low in minerals and rather mouldy.  So I am pleased I can get my own in and hugely grateful that the yard has allowed this departure from the norm.
As always though there is a hitch - the only alternative hay, while lower in sugar and much less mouldy, is mega high in iron.  I know because I've had it tested.  By an ISO accredited lab.  Twice.

So what's the problem?  Horses need iron right?

Yes they do, but diet related iron deficiency has never been described in the horse except in foals. Instead, because iron is so abundant in the equine diet, iron overload and iron interference with the absorption of the other trace minerals such as copper and zinc is much more likely.  Hence Grace's orange ears.

Excess iron has other unwanted side effects, including: predisposition to infection, predisposition to arthritis and increased risk of tendon/ligament problems, liver disease and altered glucose metabolism – including insulin resistance and overt diabetes.

So looks aside who would want to expose their horse to these risks unnecessarily?

Which leads me to my next post

Stunning barefoot trot beats the snow

Regular readers of my blog will have seen the feet attached to this horse in previous posts, but perhaps never the whole horse.

Here she is in action, on her way to completing her first 64km of the season.  Note it was snowing!

Vet commented on her "Stunning trot." on the pre-ride trot up.

Despite horrible conditions she completed 64km and trotted up sound at the end.  Well done to all! :-)

In the eye of the beholder

Or not.  I prefer to judge a foot by function over form. 

Horses should be sound - properly sound, rather than just 'serviceably sound'.
The hoof below belongs to a horse that is properly sound and working and  you have to admit - for a hoof it is kind of good looking too.  :-)

Many thanks to the owner of this horse for allowing me to share this with you and congratulations to them for what I know is a product of hard work and attention to detail.

Domestic hoof kept at livery in UK

Thrush - Portia's Potion

For those of you who like to get really sticky this is quite an effective gloop for your equine friend's feet*.

By volume -

1/3 Manuka Honey 10+ (don't cheap out on this) most larger supermarkets stock this
2/3 Zinc and Castor Oil Cream - £2.05 for 250 ml from Boots The Chemist.

Don't try mixing the honey with Sudocrem instead of the Zinc and Castor Oil.

Because it CURDLES big time and you end up with a cottage cheese and honey mess.

Great for thrushy feet.  Not too bad for your hands - but you might just stick to the steering wheel on the drive home from the yard (barn).

Secondary entertainment value - quite fun to follow the trail of hoof prints left by equine pal and marvel at how pretty they are :-)

*Remember if in doubt get expert help and/or ask your vet before using.

Spreading the Love :-) ... Think Global - Act Local

A wardrobe full of catchphrases one of which is 'spreading the love' which is how he describes my tootling round the South East of England facilitating people in their efforts to achieve healthy, happy and sound barefoot performance horses.

Or maybe he is just referring to the Snogmeister who has now (cross fingers) found a new barefooting home.

Anyway back to 'Thinking Global'.  Got this in my inbox - made me smile all day - thank you!

"i am a caretaker of a throughbreed for the last two years this past summer he threw six shoes in five weeks his feet went from poor to horrible ! i found your web site and did alot of resarch and found [name of trimmer] **** came in auguest and removed orion shoes his feet were vert badley chip and one hoof side wall was blown out terrible frogs low hells well its been five months and his feet are just so improved we do lots of trail riding and he does not stumble and he does not go toe first he is so much happyier and movies great. i wish i took picks but you were right on that throughbreeds can go barefoot ! we live in mass. usa thanks ***** and orion"

Note names have been replaced with **** for confidentiality purposes

So it would seem that the myth that TB's can't go barefoot (as we all know) is just that :-)

Laminitis - what is going on inside?

Treating symptoms and getting a good trim won't fix laminitis - but while you are finding and eliminating the causal factor (overweight, toxic overload, Cushings, Insulin Resistance or ?) you can really help your horse by making sure her feet are well cared for/trimmed.  Have a look at the pictures below:

1.  Very laminitic hoof - external side view note very high heel
and almost horizontal hair line



2.  Same hoof as 1. - internal side view (foot balance same)
note how you can see how outer hoof wall has been heavily
rasped.  Note position and angle of pedal bone

3.  Due to be PTS on professional advice - 9 months box rest
whilst shod - still lame (deshod a few days in photo)
Note height of heel and angle of hair line and compare to 1.
Event lines have been rasped out. (hind foot)

4.  Front foot of horse in 3.  Again note heel height and hair line

5.  Same horse as 3 and 4 - see how much excess height in heel

6.  Compare with 4 note change in overall height



7.  Compare with 3 - note change in heel height
and change in angle of hair line

The horse in pictures 3-7 had been on box rest, shod and lame for c. 9 months. His owner had done everything instructed and was finally told by her farrier to put the horse down as nothing more could be done.

So they tried one more thing - the barefoot approach. The shoes were removed, the heels brought down and the diet modified. Within two weeks the horse was sound enough to be racing around a track system.

The longer term recovery has been a learning curve for the owner as they learnt that no their horse can't eat haylage or a handful of pony nuts. But a year later and the horse is still sound and still bouncing around like a lamb and is now well enough to take a much more active role in life.

Long may this last.

I will leave you to draw your own conclusions about where the internal structures where in his hoof when the heels were so high. We can't proved anything as we don't have x-rays, but we do know that when the heels came down the horse came sound.

What did Christmas bring?

Besides dislocating my thumb about 3 times?  Well these (only to nurture, the horse attached is not mine, but he is lovely lovely, lovely.)

Shoes on too long, toe has shot forward, heel collapsing
 and not under leg

Weak heel

Angle incorrect, too long, proportions out

Shelly hoof wall - lacks quality horn and is soft

Long toe, heel forward not under leg, shoe on too long

Thrushy, contracted, skinny weak frog

As above - the stink was really bad

With shoe off this frog was ridiculously
 skinny, full of thrush and really squishy

All horse owners should come to learn that heels like this
are unacceptable

Not one good foot on this horse, but they will be

Currently with sore feet, sore back and a very weak hind end this horse is another which has been dismissed for 'attitude'.

To be honest with feet like that (and the knock on consequences) I think any of us would be quite justified in having 'attitude'. But you know this guy was lovely to deshoe - I didn't get any negative feedback down the leg at all. He just stood there like a proper trooper and within 20 minutes post deshoe went from looking really sad to beaming from ear to ear. (IYKWIM)

His new owner (who got me in to deshoe within days of acquiring him) reports that he has in 24 hours post deshoe started to move better and become much more cuddly.

I'll post updates of his hoof progress as I get them - but so far so good :-)

Post Script - the sad thing is that many horse owners would think that these feet were fine - even good. 

Corns

There are corns and corns.  Grace had multiple corns, only found when she was deshod.  But none of them were quite as deep as this one.

LF April 2010

If you compare the two photos below you can see how this foot has come along. Not only is the corn now just a memory, but the heel bulbs have bulked up nicely, the digital cushion has plumped up and the whole foot is more solid. Since the corn the horse has worked through the Endurance ranks and is now competing at Advanced level.

LF April 2010

LF Sept 2011

Home grown and trimming in the dark the Snogmeister excels

LHSR March 2011

LHSR Nov 2011

Snogmeister standing loose to have his manicure,
in the dark, with his pals walking past :-)

Yes that is the same foot. Nothing fancy done, just facilitated nature rather than trying to dictate. So this is a Snogmeister special - all home grown........ Not really surprising he was having problems before he got to choose the shape of his foot when you consider how different the man made (shoe made) version was.  What you might not be able to see is the dramatic increase in concavity.

And look at him - standing so quietly in the dark to have his toes done. What you can't see (because of the flash from the camera) is how the foot is floodlit but the rest is more or less in the pitch dark. What a good lad! :-)

Maiden voyage of the naked hoof!

was the title of an email from a client this morning.......  and with their permission here is the body:-

I rode him for the first time in 12 weeks due to his virus and he did not put a hoof out of line. We went on a short loop which took us along the road and round the corner of a field - not a ride I would have even considered in his 'sugar days' as the field and hedge would have been far too spooky especially after 12 weeks off!


Yesterday we went down the road and back up a stubble field (all walk) again Mr relaxed.


This morning we did another short ride and had a little trot along the grass.


And yes I am still grinning like a lunatic!

This very dedicated owner, who is a real example to us all, has struggled for years (14 to be precise) with a horse that had to have shoes and pads in front and was extremely unpredictable to handle.

When deshod he had pretty bad nail bind - but one of the major turning points for this lovely gelding was reducing the sugar/starch in his diet.

I am so happy for them both.  It took 14 years, but the horse has found his feet and the owner has rediscovered the horse she thought she had.  I hope they enjoy the rest of the time they have.

Big hugs :-)

Of house bricks and more cheese

Got contacted by a client via Facebook last night. Said client was being trolled by a farrier for following the barefoot 'fad'.

Well I've been a barefooter for more than 15 years...........

And I only took up this route because the standard of farriery in my area is so poor.  If my then farrier hadn't proposed putting my unbroken two year old in pads and shoes it might never have crossed my mind. If the answer to every question by his replacement hadn't been 'Well you can always put shoes on.' I might never have sought to learn to trim myself.  (Seriously - I asked about natural solar exfolation - you know when it goes chalky and flakes off - and the answer was to shoe.)

And as far as I can tell my ex shoddie clients are making the same decision for very frequently the same reasons. 

For example; last client of the day yesterday.  Wonderful lady, knew something wasn't right but was getting no joy from her current hoof care provider.   Apparently everything was 'ok' and 'normal'.

Since when has it been normal for a horse to have feet shaped like house bricks?  With hooves twice as long toe to heel as wide and shoes covering a good inch of white line stretch? (And the farrier had said nothing about the stretch or what the owner should do to resolve it.)

This is why horse owners are looking for alternatives - because they know that all is not well and their current providers are unable or unwilling to help them.

Trolling people via Facebook or other social forums is not the answer.  Learning how to treat clients with respect and answering sensible intelligent questions with well informed and helpful responses just might be.

And learning how to recognise and manage laminitis might be another. 

Who stole my cheese?

Is the title of one of those grim little books you get thrust upon you when working in corporate land. But there is a message in there for the would be luddites and the flat earthers in the horse world.

And although I am paraphrasing the message is: 'Move with the market or starve.'

My journey to barefoot is probably more gentle than most.  It became inevitable that I kept my old grey mare bare because my then farrier's suggestions about her feet were at best misinformed.  But many have barefoot thrust upon them because of recurrent lameness not helped or maybe even made worse by traditional techniques.

And so it is with livery.  Many of my clients requirements of livery do a 180 when they take their horse barefoot.  No longer do they want jewel green fields, swept concrete, rows of neat boxes and nets full of haylage.  Instead they come to envy those with rubble and weed strewn turnout and rough (but clean) hay.  The desire for a Premier Inn equivalent stable for their horse is replaced with a deep seated wish for a patch of pea gravel.  And a fibre sand school is but nothing compared with miles of safe hacking over varied and even difficult terrain.

And a number of clients, at yards where the concrete is practically polished but the horses get mud fever from standing in shit are voting with their feet (or hooves!).  There is a growing market for livery where the horses genuine biological needs are put first, over and above the human desire for pretty pretty.  And these yards can be more efficient and economical to run. 

More later - got some hooves to do!

Boing... boing... boing.. boing..................

That's me hopping round the stable while mucking out.........

Following an early am phone call from the carer of this horse saying that not only is he staying sound, but he is now jumping (cross poles nothing fancy) and staying sound.

Whoopee!

If any horse deserved to get his feet back, it's this one. 

Congrats to carer for putting in the time and effort and giving this guy the chance he needed.

Spaced out on 'crack'

I've not particularly counted, but a fair few of my client horses get edgey when on too much sugar/starch or if the diet is just not right somewhere.  Probably somewhere around 25% or more.  I use the term 'edgey' somewhat loosely as the behaviours expressed can be anything from vague, distracted, incommunicado to quite aggressive kicking and biting.  Inbetween are all the stereotypies including box walking, inability to stand still etc etc.

My own mare Grace got into deep trouble (prior to our partnership) probably largely due to her own sensitivities to sugar/starch.  The pictures below show her after her previous carer spent four months trying to put weight on her in the traditional fashion.  I acquired a horse that couldn't stand still when tied, couldn't concentrate, had trouble with canter and was extremely tricky to brush.  (The list is endless, but this will give you an idea.)

Also note the terrible colour in the above photos.

Below - this is what she looks like when on her low sugar/starch diet with a decent supplement.  And a year later, Grace can happily stand tied for ages, relaxed calm and happy. Check out the colour too!

Grace has no trouble cantering either! :-)

I often think that the horses which are really suffering remind me of people coming down from drugs.  But they have a choice, our horses do not.  And far too many horses get admonished for bad behaviour when the answer lies in our hands - in what we feed them.

Note it took me weeks to wean Grace off her addiction to all things sweet.  There were tears (mine) and tantrums (hers).  But I think you will agree it was worth it.

Now I have a horse that people comment openly on how well behaved and sweet she is - an angel no less.