It’s time!!!!
We are on stupidly early tomorrow.
Just going to turn this mud monster here
into this super smart eventer
Category: Barefoot performance
Keeping the functional active fit ridden horse barefoot ie with out nailed on steel horse-shoes
Happy sunshine day
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“My horse won’t cope barefoot..”
“My horse won’t cope barefoot”…I would like a pound for every time I have heard this statement. I’m sure every horse can cope barefoot, and indeed I personally am running out of reasons why I might ever put a metal shoe on a horse, but I know not every owner can cope barefoot.
Barefoot can be a hard choice. It would have been very easy with Cal for me to believe that my horse won’t cope barefoot. It’s been incredibly hard for me to keep looking for the metabolic issue, to get to the diagnosis of the systemic problem that is stopping him from being a good rock crunching barefooter. It would have been so easy for me to slap shoes on it and just carry on but then I would have missed the ulcers, had even less warning about the COPD and would never have treated the boderline Cushings, luckily getting his ACTH levels down with herbal supplements. It is difficult for someone who hasn’t read about barefoot properly or thought to question the status quo to understand that everything they know about horse husbandry is designed to wreck the healthy hoof. Most of the ways that we choose to look after horses are for our convenience and not for the horse’s health. I know this, I have been there. I had the “best” looked after polo ponies within the M25 when I was grooming all those years ago. I hated some of the Argie methods but I learned a huge amount from the polo itinerants, and from other horseman in Australia, Scotland, Germany. I have continued to listen and learn ever since, with a completely open mind. And I have checked the science, the research and the evidence, as I would for my human cancer patients. We should be in a Golden Age of horsemanship. We have rigorous scientific methods, amazing equipment and skills to analyse and interpret data. We are in a position to test every aspect of horse care and the effects on the horse’s health and mental wellbeing. Unfortunately much of the science is paid for by those with vested interests, and those who belive they know horses the best don’t feel the need to question their knowledge.
Horses are designed to move, 12-15-20 miles a day in the wild. Horses are built to trickle feed on a variety of poor grasses. They would choose outdoor life in stable social groups with a reassuring hierarchy and plenty of space to get away from the dominant bully. They are not meant to stand overnight in shavings soaked in their own urine and faeces, eat too much sugary starchy food, go out for a few hours a day in an individual turnout paddock, deprived of crucial contact and rituals such as mutual grooming, stuff themselves full of lush grass and work for only a few hours a week.
A friend today told me how their half TB horse won’t cope barefoot because she has typical thoroughbred rubbish feet. I understand where she’s coming from- I used to feel the same way. Paddy had the worst feet in Cheshire: despite industrial amounts of farriers formula, he could never hold shoes and his hoof wall was thin and crumbly. Plenty of other people have felt the same way, watching their horse with his unconditioned hooves gimping across the yard when he loses a shoe. You would gimp in exactly the same way if I took your shoes off and asked to you to walk on hardcore or gravel straightaway.
When I took Paddy’s shoes off, many people, including the vet and the farrier told me that I would find that my horse won’t cope barefoot. However, Paddy forced me to try barefoot, by nearly killing several farriers, including the horse whispering blacksmith, and what I found was that his hooves and his brain improved immeasurably. He became sure-footed, confident and healthier. He stopped rushing his fences and I could feel him balancing his body underneath me. It took time; in Paddy’s case about three months, to get him to rock-crunching go-anywhere status. Now at 20 he is sound and still going strong. He had four fantastic seasons eventing barefoot, then taught my husband Gary to ride, hunt and team chase and is now giving my step-daughter Lizzie the confidence to explore the forest.
Paddy is 7/8 TB; it’s nothing to do with TB genes. There is actually no significant genetic difference between all the modern horses around the world. Traits, yes, genetic alteration, no. The only exception is the recessive Hoof Wall Separation Syndrome in Connemaras, a recessive syndrome. This tragic syndrome would cause early death in the wild and therefore the aberrant gene would be weeded out as it is a disadvantage to survival.
The reason thoroughbreds are thought to have rubbish feet is that they are kept confined from a young age, fed starchy food and shod regularly from the age of two. The hoof doesn’t finish developing until the horse is about 6; if it is compromised from an early age of course it will be sub-standard. Alois Podhajsky recommends that mares and foals move daily from night pasture to day pasture a couple of miles down a rocky track to help the foals’ limbs and feet develop. In the wild foals hit the ground, stand up, suckle and immediately start travelling with the herd, quickly averaging 12 miles a day in their early lives. There are trainers successfully racing thoroughbreds barefoot
http://www.simonearleracing.com/how_we_train_our_horses.html
and many stories of off the track thoroughbreds being successfully rehabilitated to new lives barefoot.
Stacey, my neighbour, http://www.forestholidaycottages.co.uk/ put it beautifully today. She said “what we call footy, a person who didn’t understand barefoot would call lame.”
Better qualified people than me have answered the same question
http://www.unshod.co.uk/articles/guide_healthy_hooves.php
So Con today was great on smooth tarmac, striding out beautifully on fine gravel and small stones but picked his way carefully and a bit more slowly over larger stones and hardcore. His ears never went back, he never made a pain face, if his foot landed on a sharp stone he hopped off it like a sensible pony and occasionally he chose to use the soft ground at the side of the path on the very challenging ground. Some might say that this means my horse can’t cope barefoot. We hacked for 45 minutes around Delamere and had a couple of good trots and a short canter. Once we turned for home he positively marched back to the house. Is he lame???
Which then leads me to more questions-
how do we define lameness?
how do we do a full five stage vetting on a barefoot horse?
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The Best Seat in the House; cats rule the world
Everyone that has a cat will know that the cats rule the world. There’s a reason why the Bond villains have a cat on their lap- the cat is actually the villain and the hapless human just falls in with the malevolent plan. Our current cat is called Mr Burns. He’s called Mr Burns because he has a Hitler moustache
( http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/cgi-bin/seigmiaow.pl
but I wasn’t allowed to call him Adolf because that wouldn’t have been politically correct. At the time we had two other cats called Bart and Homer so the villain became Mr Burns.
Bart and Homer came from the local rescue centre. They were matching black and white cats with perfect dinner suits and spats. They were sold as two brothers but were more likely father and son (the clue is in the name). We got them as a bribe to make sure the kids wanted to visit us in our little terrace in Monton, and because no house looks complete without a pet of some sort.
When we moved to Frodsham the cats discovered bliss- we moved in the middle of the August 2003 heat wave and I vividly remember them dancing around the garden in the dark chasing moths; after skulking around the bins and alleyways of Monton, green leafy Frodsham must have been a revelation.
I had a friend who had lots of kittens and cats, but the cute kittens were always grey or tabby, so didn’t match and were easily resisted: of course one acquires cats by colour matched sets. Then one day this little black and white kitten bounced out of Judith’s spare stable and I knew we were doomed. He doesn’t have a perfect dinner suit, he’s a bit dishevelled but he matched and he was super confident and so he became ours.
At the time we had a long-term house guest. Auntie Laura had broken both feet sleep-walking out of the balcony of her first floor flat in London onto a concrete slab. Initially she stayed with her sister who wouldn’t let her drink and take painkillers (spot the problem when there is nothing else to do for 6 weeks in plaster) so she came to stay with us. We said she couldn’t bring her dog as the cats were already traumatised enough by the arrival of the crazy kitten so Laura taught the kitten to behave like a dog. He doesn’t sit to command anymore but he does greet you at the door and come for walks and generally is much more affectionate and engaging than your average cat. He was a barn cat who took to home comforts like a complete professional; he must have thought all his Christmases had come at once. He is a brilliant mouser, and ratter, and badger baiter, but his best days are duvet days, spread out on your chest, testing his needle sharp claws on your belly and swiping you for a cuddle every time your attention wanders.
It’s just Mr Burns left now: the tale of the other cats is for another day. He has paid Laura back by training Ernie the pointer puppy.
We acquired an old suite off a mate; the chair was earmarked for the dog. We have several pieces of Vetbed: incredibly expensive puppy proof fleecey mat. All the cat has to do is sit in the middle and stretch out and the dog must sit in discomfort on the hard cold floor. Watching the cat ignore the dog’s shenanigans has taught me a huge amount about animal training. It’s all about infinite patience and never changing the question.
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What is your Purpose?
“What is your purpose?”
Such a simple and yet such a huge question. We had a visitor last weekend; Alison Delaney of Little Bird
http://www.littlebird.org.uk/
Alison is one of the most inspirational ladies I know. Her passion is helping people to fulfill their dreams. She also loves horses and dogs and so it was an absolute joy to be able to pay it forward by inviting her for a day out riding my beautiful grey horse in our fabulous forest.
Alison’s great gift is making all sorts of different people feel amazing about themselves. Her deceptively simple question gets right to the heart of the matter.
So here goes
1) to leave people, places and horses better than we found them.
2) to provide an environment for the horses where they can live as natural a life as possible where all their needs are met #friendsforagefreedom
3) to train classically and correctly in a manner that puts the horse first, maximises his longevity, health and potential. To train from the beginning as if everything is possible, and to preserve the horse’s spirit so it is a true partnership, dancing together.
4) to participate regularly in the full spectrum of equestrian activities: eventing, hunting, dressage, and show jumping, without compromising on the above ideals.
5) to enjoy the journey and and to learn all the lessons presented by any challenges.
6) to become the complete equestrian, and therefore the complete human.
7) always a magic number: to freely give what we most desire.
What is your purpose?
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Processing….
Fabulous weekend was had by all at the Patrice Edwards clinic- I am still processing the feelings and information from my lessons and the very useful lecture.
Key sound bite for me was to slow the shoulders and ask the hind leg to quicken.
Key feelage was elbow to hind leg, fist forward to bit, elbow to hind fist to bit, in a rhythm, one being an upper arm function the other being a lower arm function.
Great to watch the horses processing too- a key element of the work is to set the horse up for success so that the next level of work is the next logical offer from the exercise. Sally’s Archie is now fully better and learning Piaffe- how exciting.
More to follow…
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Life lessons- Each horse has a new lesson
And the life lessons from the grey horse are becoming clear- Cal’s life lessons for me are that I must learn to enjoy the journey and not focus on the pursuit of the goal.
This February is The Full Snow Moon – “It is a time to release that which no longer serves you, what you no longer need in your life or an aspect of yourself that you have outgrown. What are you ready to release?”
He was to be my project horse, my doer upper. I had done my first few seasons of eventing on Paddy, but he was getting on a bit and getting a bit stiff and unreliable. My riding had improved no end and I felt ready to progress further up the levels, albeit on a shiny new horse. I took advice from my trainers and friends and we came up with a plan. I was to start with a low mileage horse, a nice sort suitable for riding club amateurs, bring him on and then sell it for a profit and the profit would buy the next horse which would be the really posh one.
So my brief was to buy a nice Irish bay gelding, that would be an easy resell once it had done reasonably well at a few affiliated local events. So I went to a recommended dealer and listened to all that wise counsel and got my friend the vet to ride it as well as vet it and I finally came home with….. a pink pony!!!
Well, steel grey that definitely looked pink in some lights, but with the most amazing silver tail.
Can you hear all those people in your heads who say I would never buy a grey??? I was one of those….why on earth would you buy one as a doer upper??
He was pretty green, he could barely canter, couldn’t trot a circle, was really weak behind the saddle and had to inspect his fences carefully at a halt before cat leaping them.
We worked on that and by the end of the first summer he had done a BE 80 and was doing really well at Riding Club dressage. The cunning plan was going beautifully.
Disaster struck that first winter. One day he came in from the field lame. Vet came, started with feet, dug out a bit of gravel, diagnosed white line disease, shoes off, bit of rest, shoes back on. He was a bit better, slow work, then lame again on one circle on a surface. So the vet came again, found heat in his knee, took mobile Xrays and found a bone chip in his carpal joint. A trip to Leahurst ensued and the MRI showed a comminuted fracture of his second carpal bone, as well as ligament damage to the joint.
Much discussion and agonising later and we opted for 8 weeks box rest in a splint. We discussed all options including PTS but he was insured for loss of use at that time and Ellen Singer thought the splint was worth a go.
I jumped him again at 11 months post injury. If the ligaments in the knee were not going to stand up to work we needed to know for the loss of use claim. I was determined I couldn’t have a horse that wouldn’t jump. There is a whole other story in the rehab, bit of barefoot, bit of Natural Balance shoeing, poor initial shoeing, flat feet and long toes obviously being contributing factors to the original injury and a lot of soul searching about belief systems, horses’ purpose, life lessons learned from horses etc etc.
The leg stood up to work. My doer upper would probably pass a five stage vetting now but essentially I have a greying horse who broke a carpal bone and sprained his knee, is barefoot to minimise concussion and delay arthritis but is also grass sensitive.
Be careful what you wish for.
He is really bomb proof, carries a side saddle beautifully, would jump the moon now and might even make the time Novice eventing with enough fast work: his price tag should be £15K if I could ever sell him.
During his rehab we were doing really well at Riding Club dressage but he was getting more and more grumpy and turning his back on me when I brought the saddle to the stable door. I was stuck at a stage in his schooling that I couldn’t get past and I couldn’t find anyone that would help me go back to basics. I knew my position could be better but nobody would or could unpick it, despite me asking for very specific help. Then Sarah Barefoot nagged me to have a lesson with Patrice Edwards of Equestrian Journey, and I finally found the instructor I had been looking for.
http://www.equestrianjourney.com
The long version of that life lesson is another day’s story. I am sure, had I not changed my schooling methods, that Cal would have joined the recent epidemic of leisure horses requiring Kissing Spine intervention.
Cal offers Piaffe occasionally now. He cannot quite believe that he can move to the right in right flexion through his ribcage-once he twigs that this is possible we will have a full set of lateral movements, a basic piaffe and possibly the airs that he has learned whilst finding alternatives and processing!!
He also jumps for fun, skinnies and big things, in a neat, workmanlike manner from a good canter.
I have done this- with help, but I have trained this horse, rehabbed him from a serious injury to be the amazing all round poppet he is. I am allowed a tiny bt of credit for that. I’ll take more when he has rock crunching hooves as well 😉
But I can’t sell him now- he’s both worthless and totally priceless.
Cal has also rehabbed me- he has changed me from a rider into an equestrian, and many more horses will teach me many more valuable life lessons as a result of that change in mindset. That is the most precious gift the grey horse could have given me- freedom from goals and a lifetime of further learning from the most noble of animals.
I am now the facilitator for monthly classical riding clinics with Patrice Edwards at the amazing facilities at Delamere Manor.
http://www.delameremanor.co.uk
Do come and join us if you would like to learn more- next one is this weekend 26-28th Feb.
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Arena XC
The season has started ? first XC school of the year, albeit on a surface and Cal was a total dude. He was neat and workmanlike and jumped everything including the skinny barrel first time. We also ended up jumping a bit bigger than I was planning too as it was first proper do.
Now we just need to get those feet toughened up and fitness sorted for a few weeks and we will be good to go.
First event we have planned is 90cm at Lands eventing on Easter weekend- it will be here before we know it.
Bring on the light nights ???
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Planning and planings
A quick photo of XC training to inspire us all to get up and face the rain and do the hard miles, getting ready for event season
and our evolving track plans.
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Barefoot is best…..but it ain’t always easy
For humans or for horses. Paddy is the horse that started us on our barefoot journey, and the accelerated learning that ensued: feeding horses naturally, the prevalence and effects of gastric ulcers in horses, natural husbandry, paddock paradise, track systems…and ultimately all these factors were drivers that led us to the purchase of our beautiful forest cottage.
Traditionally horses wear metal shoes, unless they really don’t need them. I remember ponies at riding school with no shoes, and later my German sister’s Arab horse regularly doing miles through the forest with no shoes. In fact there were quite a few horses in my sister’s village with no shoes at all doing lots of work and looking very well. But I live in Britain, and I always wanted to go eventing, and eventers need studs to go cross country, and so we needed shoes.
Paddy was cheap to buy and came with a reputation. Part of the reputation was that he hated the farrier. We cold shod him for a bit with a bucket of feed to keep him occupied but when I started eventing him, he “needed” studs, hot shoeing was required and the problem gradually escalated. We got sacked by one farrier, then the farrier cum horse whisperer started asking for him to be sedated until one day the shoes came off but the horse whisperer couldn’t get them back on. We had two events looming so I got the vet out, we formally sedated him, shod him for the last two events of the season and I tried to make a sensible plan. Call out and sedation put the cost of shoes to £100 a pair. His feet were weak, crumbly, looked terrible, barely held nails and we were on a 5 week shoeing cycle. I started to ask myself if we needed shoes? Did I really need to event? Could he find another job? Did I need to sell him?
We had a climbing friend who was married to a barefoot trimmer, Sarah then from Performance Barefoot, later known as Forageplus.
A vaguely remembered conversation got me thinking about barefoot horses in Germany, managing without shoes, hacking and jumping and galloping. I started reading, started asking lots of questions, re-examined what I knew about shoes and horses, spoke to Sarah at length, changed his diet, started buying white powdered magnesium oxide by the kilo and six weeks later we pulled his shoes off. He was 12 years old.
He was obviously lame on stones, as you would be if we took your shoes off and sent you out running, but we were surrounded by super smooth tarmac- suddenly, with no shoes, all the steep, narrow, country roads felt much safer. We had Little Budworth Common with a sand track to canter on, so Paddy never missed any work. He tottered down the gravel drive, zoomed down the smooth tarmac and pulled like a train around the common. After about 2 months he zoomed down the gravel drive too, then down the hard core. Paddy is not a ploddy horse! We started jumping barefoot and he actually felt better: he adjusted his balance automatically and stopped rushing his fences. Grip just didn’t seem to be an issue. His feet got stronger and stronger. He had a couple of amazing seasons eventing; he has never been the most consistent horse but we got to the Riding Club National Championships for Horse Trials, Hunter Trials and moved up to BE100, the third level of affiliated competition. He was a cross country machine on his good days.
In retrospect it is so obvious: the hate of the farrier was pain from thin soles, poor hoof quality due to poor nutrition (although it was a reputable feed brand, just not the right food for a sensitive horse), and from repetitive hot shoeing. From having the worst feet in Cheshire he now has the best, toughest, most functional feet you could wish for.
This January my 20 year old barefoot machine went charging around the hills above Colwyn Bay with the Flint and Denbigh. We had a great day, he galloped up the hills, trotted up the steep lanes, jumped most things and kept right up with the thrusters. Best of all he had fun.
When I bought Paddy, I was on a great livery yard with a crowd of really good friends and we all bought new horses around the same time. Paddy is the only one of our horses from those times still in work, although he does now choose his days. The rest of the cohort is dead or retired now, most have been PTS. Commonest problem/ cause of euthanasia; forelimb lameness due to arthritis.
So for him barefoot was the answer.
However the reason the old boy got dragged up the hill that day was because Cal, my good horse, is not quite such a barefoot legend. He bruised his soles on Boxing Day racing around Rivington Pike on really stoney paths with the Holcombe Harriers. Paddy would have been OK up there but for Cal it was all a bit too much and he was still ouchy. And for my poor husband Gary, who sorted out the invite, did a lot of the prep and got us to Wales, his horse was also a bit footsore from Boxing Day and so he turned around early and had to wait in the lorry for the happy crew to return. Pretty galling.
Why are Cal and Con not rock crunching barefoot horses? I’m not sure yet, we are still working that one out. Cal I’m sure has an underlying metabolic condition. He tested borderline high for Cushings, has had severe RAO this summer and always looks a bit fat. When I work him enough (20-30 miles a week) his feet are tolerable. We are not doing that this winter. Con is just getting fit; he arrived quite obese after two years of being nanny to a yard full of youngsters. His wind and muscle tone are improving, I think his under performing barefoot hooves are probably acting as a protecting limiting factor while the rest of his physiology tones up. Very frustrating for a relatively newly horse obsessed husband who loves the idea of hunting!
