Update: My lesson went very well yesterday. I'm practicing my intro A/B tests. I'll do both this weekend, as well as a walk/trot dressage suitability group class. I can't put into words how much I'm enjoying dressage. It's the perfect compliment to endurance riding. My trainer said officially that she considers me part of her show team which is very very cool. For someone that has made her own decisions about horses and riding for her entire life, I'm excited to actually have someone I trust to help me make show/level decisions.
Now for the pictures.
It's been awhile since I've taken feet - I mean hoof - pictures of Farley. So without further ado:
"Left front" (this foot is a little clubbed - I have problem with heel. This foot appears more "normal" when looking at the bottom than the RF)
"Left Hind"
"right hind" (do you see the scar?)
"Right front" (I have problem with toe on this foot - this one is more "normal" than her left front when viewed on the ground, but less ideal when you look at the bottom)
I know these aren't the best pictures. Here is what I notice. On the fronts, the white line at the quarters is weak/not tight. It's getting better, but it's a work in progress. She has a lot of dead sole right now, it's not coming off right now, so I'm leaving it, but usually the fronts are more "cupped" than they are now. I have problem with toe on the RF and heel on the LF (LF has club-like tendencies). These pictures were taken 3 weeks post farrier trim and 1.5 week post my touch up. My strategy is to take as much toe as I can on the RF and as much heel on the LF and rasp every 1-2 weeks to keep the angles close. There's some flare on the RF on the outside that I need to address (on the quarter). I try not to do too much at one time.
My hind pictures are pretty bad (sorry!). In general I'm pretty happy - a tight white line all the way around, nice cupped sole (hard to see in these pictures).
Her frogs are in good shape - rubbery and resilient. She's not tender footed. I detected a whiff of thrush last week, gave all for a good dawn dish soap scrub and haven't smelled/seen anything since.
Any other comments are welcome. My farrier still sees her every 6 weeks because I'm new at trimming. Minx was easy to see the angles on, I have more trouble with Farley's feet.
"Another view of the scar"
"Hinds"
"Fronts" (I know! horrible pics because of the grass - but I needed my nine pictures!)
"Trailer GVWR" (I recommended checking your truck GVWR on day one, have you checked your trailer GVWR?)
"Fix-it Ticket"
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Wow, that scar is really interesting. Her feet look quite nice!
ReplyDeleteI can't prewrite my posts or I never get around to posting them. No doubt this says something deep and meaningful about my character, or my opinion of my blog! Oh well.
I love that you've got a bare foot horse. I *sniff* don't feel so alone in the world now *sniff*.
ReplyDeleteMy mare also has a club foot, but it doesn't seem to cause her problems. I just have the ferrier "pretty it up" once a year and she does fine with that.
Yeah - the scar is pretty impressive in preson. She seems a bit defensive about that foot (get's tense when you pick it up) so it probably hurt when it happened. Not sure what happened, the breeder doesn't know either. So it happened between when she sold her as a 5-6 year old and when I bought her as an 8 year old. I wonder if that's why she ended up in a horse traders lot (the breeder sold her to an endurance rider, who I believe sent her to the horse trader. The former owners have not responded to any e-mails asking about information).
ReplyDeleteThe scar goes directly from the frog side, straight up the back. It's hard to see in this picture, but basically it's like the line of the frog just keeps going up the back.
Doesn't seem to be affecting her in the least, which is good.
Gundiva - a bunch of people who read this blog have barefoot horses! Check out karen Chaton's blog (endurance ride stuff) and endurance granny if you haven't already. Adventures on Arabee is busy having a baby, but she's barefoot, and Ashley at Go Pony does endurance barefoot too! All these blogs are in my sidebar.
ReplyDeleteHEY! I do too!
ReplyDelete*sigh* AND funder :)
ReplyDeleteActually I think the majority of the people in my blogroll have barefoot horses. Eventing A GoGo I think is barefoot. The eventing percheron is also, although she may not be blogging at the present!
We're the odd ducks in our area. I'm all for barefootin', as are my parents with their mustangs, but we're surrounded by riding liveries, who are required to have shod horses despite the damage done to the trails by shoes. The only way the liveries are allowed to have barefoot horses if they have a mustang in their string and only the mustang is allowed to be barefoot.
ReplyDeleteI love that we can go off trail (legal on privately owned horses in the forest) and not do any damage. In fact, it's hard to tell we've even been there.
GunDiva - that is really odd! Who requires the shoes? Is it just a liverey tradition, or is some agency actually requireing it? What state are you in?
ReplyDeleteI would say *most* people in my area are barefoot. The climate is very condusive to it. Most people with shoes have them because the feet NEED them, or they are competing. Most people here do compete in shoes, but I would say 90% of the horse population here are just trail riders or pleasure arena weekenders so there's a LOT of barefoot horses around.
How weird about the scar! Also strange that its still there! Lucy ripped half her hoof off once (not kidding!) and you can't tell at all!
ReplyDeleteI love barefoot! I will/would never put shoes on a horse! But I do believe in boots when on rocky ground or training hard. In the spring Lucy went lame for a week or so and I blame it on hard ground and soft hooves. So in the spring can be a bit touchy since their hooves are still soft.
I have easyboots but can't get them to fit Lu, she has plates for hooves! haha!
Farleys hooves look great!
I'm not a total barefoot convert yet...I feel a little guilty because the subject is kind of like abortion - everyone seems to ahve a strong opinion either way.
ReplyDeleteShoes work for Farley. Believe it or not, I only pulled shoes ~6 weeks ago. She's barefoot because it's more convient for me, there's less of a chance of serious injury (to me!) if she's barefoot, and it's more cost effective. I've been told it's healthier for the horse's hoof. So she's barefoot for now and will be as long as she's comfortable and the renegades work.
BTW - I wouldn't even consider trying barefoot while endurance riding if it wasn't for renegade boots. They are easy and worry free (most of the time), just like shoes, but with the benefits of barefoot!
I live in Colorado and it's required by the National Park service for outfitters and guides to have shod horses.
ReplyDeleteOur terrian is rather rough and rocky, so I can understand why people would want to shoe, but riding in the snow and ice with shoes is unbelievably dangerous. There are trails in our area that I *refuse* to ride a horse with shoes on - I hate the sound and feel of those metal shoes skittering across rock. I feel much better knowing that my horse can grip the rock instead of being elevated above the rock.
It mystifies me all the "hoopla" on various message boards if you breathe the word barefoot. I mean...??? Aren't they born that way? Didn't they survive that way some odd...ummmm...million years or so without our interference? I'm not anti-shoe, I'm just anti-shoe on "my" horses, like Mel feels some comfort level having a horse booted or shod from competition.
ReplyDeleteBarefoot is more of a management choice, and the more you get into it, the more you have to think of the horses hoof care and turnout. I've not gone the full route yet, but so far we are muddling through. Like Mel though, I feel better at a ride booting at least the fronts. I've ridden completely bare more than I've booted, but you put so much into a ride in your preparation and $$$ that you don't want that single rock with your horse's name on it messing up your good time. ~E.G.
I speak as one who would love to have a barefoot horse--but my horse is *very* tenderfooted on trails without shoes.
ReplyDeleteEven with boots, she lets me know when she thinks the terrain is too rough to trot. With shoes, she trots out, ears up, over any terrain we cross. Therefore, she gets shoes except during the dead of winter when we're only walking on trails--we have boots for that. Sigh.
Her feet are *tough* (the farrier broke a set of nippers on her) but she is quick to tell me when it hurts, and I would be silly to ignore her. So I don't. She gets shoes, dangit.
I really think the shoe/boot/barefoot debate is interesting as long as people agree that every horse is unique and needs to be treated as an individual. When people start telling me that ALL horses need some specific thing beyond basic food and shelter, whether it is barefeet, treeless saddles, magic electrolytes, Xtra Speshul probiotics or whatever else I try to wander away politely.
I would love to have a barefoot horse. But I don't. Ah, well.