here is Ginnie in 2010 - about 4yr after I got her. She is doing well but I am constantly reminded of how fragile she is when it comes to her hoof health.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4-PXEUxI1s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_-N5tsHXKY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2B3ibfgGh8
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Why Go Barefoot?
I've never really been fond of shoeing my horses and this was partly because of the expense of shoeing which was about $70 per horse. At that time I only had 2 horses but it all started when I asked my farrier if my horses really needed shoes. Her answer was No. After thinking about this for a while I decided my horses would not be shod again. They would get the “pasture trim” when I managed to get a farrier to come out, and that seemed to be sufficient for the amount of riding we were doing then. That was 1996.
Then everything changed in 2006 when I picked up a foundered 4 yr old mare. Ginnie is a pretty black/bay mare with a star & snip, she is a beautiful mover, loves people and attention but when I took her home you would never know she was a beautiful horse. Her prior owners had her on bute and kept by herself in a small area. She had been foundered for a few months before they & their vet could figure out what was wrong with her. The vet initially thought worms, and so over the course of about 6 weeks she was de-wormed 3 times with chemical de-wormer. She did not get any better – she was thin, her feet were horrible, misshapen and she had bulging soles and bed sores from laying down. Then their vet finally figured it out. Founder. When I took her home, she was in extreme pain and would lie down all day long. Her bed sores from laying down worsened, she wasn't really interested in food and just seemed like she did not want to live. She was getting worse and every day I was dreading going outside thinking that she may not have made it during the night. From her prior owners information, I also had her separated & in a small area and continued to give her bute for the first week. When I tried to get her to stand and move around, it was a real chore and the bute didn't seem to be helping. I cold hosed her feet a couple of times a day, had ice packs on her feet and tried to get her moving. But she really had no will to live and I was running out of answers.
After finding several “barefoot hoof care” sites that had articles on laminitis & founder, I realized what I was doing wrong and what I needed to do for Ginnie. So I immediately took her off bute, threw away the rest of it and turned her out with my older gelding. Being with another horse made a huge difference. Her interest to live returned, she perked up, stood up more often and made an effort to follow my gelding around, although most times she just could not make it all the way. I called a local "farrier" who took 3 weeks to come out to trim her. (getting a reliable regular farrier to trim was like trying to get blood from a stone!) Her first trim she lay down and was still extremely sore but did progress slowly, making her way further out into the back field to be near my gelding. But she was still not right. The second trim went ok and she seemed somewhat more comfortable than before but I knew that her trims were not regular enough and she started to be sore again. So while waiting for the farrier to come & trim, I duct taped rigid styrofoam insulation to her feet to help relieve some of the pain - she looked really silly but was more comfortable. The third trim went terribly wrong. The farrier had heard of barefoot trims and I assumed he knew how to do one. I was wrong. He trimmed too much and I was shocked to see her standing in a pool of blood. With every visit (which were way too far apart) he insisted that Ginnie needed heartbar shoes and he wouldn't charge me for them as he wanted to see how she would progress. I insisted that she was not having heartbar shoes free or not, and after the third trim turned to purchasing 3 books, 2 on natural trimming (jamie jackson & pete Ramey) and one on Founder (jamie jackson) so I could learn how to do this myself without making my horse bleed everywhere. Never trimming before, I was a bit reluctant to try this so I contacted one of the trimmers on the horses hoof trimmer list and arranged for a clinic.
I had a private consult on trimming Ginnie the day before the clinic. The clinic was awesome - learned so much and had great feedback from those who attended. Ginnie improved greatly after her first natural trim and continued to feel better and walk better.
All was going well with Ginnie for about 6 months until one day in May 2008 she came up lame and I could not figure out why. Nothing had changed - her environment, diet was still the same. Then it clicked. The day before I had de-wormed her (& my other 4 horses) with a chemical dewormer. I quickly turned to my notes I had kept and there was definitely a connection. Within 2-3 weeks after deworming she would be lame (notes). But this particular de-wormer was more potent and had more drug content in it than prior de-worming. The 6 months she had been fine I had not de-wormed her.
After this discovery and consulting with Julie on what to do, I did a natural trim. What a difference - the next day she was walking better and within 4 days after trimming her you would have never known she was lame a few days before. She was keeping up with my other horses, bucking, trotting & cantering around as if nothing had been wrong. Ginnie continued to recover and be less sore, although she would blow an abscess at the coronet band once in while. In 2007, she was started again with light riding for short periods of time which has been slowly increased. An owner of a foundered horse must stay on top of it and learn as much as possible about laminitis and founder.
I have also noticed a difference in my 23 yr old Arab gelding. One ride we enjoyed on about 6 miles of gravel roads, he came back fresher than when he left with no soreness – I'm sure he could have done another 6 miles. When I picked up his feet after the ride to pick them out, they were completely clean – not a stone in them! I was impressed.
Anyone who is serious about transitioning their horse to barefoot or has laminitis and founder issues should contact their nearest barefoot hoof care professional, purchase as many videos & books on barefoot hoof care and attended as many barefoot hoof care clinics or seminars as they can (Strasser 3 day Natural Hoof Care Clinic is thoroughly enjoyable, extremely educational and highly recommended.) Dr Strasser's books are highly educational from a vets perspective. The key for me was learning as much as I could about how to help Ginnie recover without causing her more pain that what she was already in. I also discovered how we as horse owners sometimes "kill our horses with kindness" by feeding them high carb and sugar diets that they do not need. Keeping it simple makes more sense, is better for your horses health and is cheaper!
I try to keep my horses lifestyle as natural and simple as possible and I am still learning as much as I can about natural horse keeping & hoof care. They are outside 24/7/365, they are fed free choice hay (preferably grass), I do not use leg bandages or leg boots or blankets and I use a herbal dewormer when I need to. Keeping it simple just makes sense.
Then everything changed in 2006 when I picked up a foundered 4 yr old mare. Ginnie is a pretty black/bay mare with a star & snip, she is a beautiful mover, loves people and attention but when I took her home you would never know she was a beautiful horse. Her prior owners had her on bute and kept by herself in a small area. She had been foundered for a few months before they & their vet could figure out what was wrong with her. The vet initially thought worms, and so over the course of about 6 weeks she was de-wormed 3 times with chemical de-wormer. She did not get any better – she was thin, her feet were horrible, misshapen and she had bulging soles and bed sores from laying down. Then their vet finally figured it out. Founder. When I took her home, she was in extreme pain and would lie down all day long. Her bed sores from laying down worsened, she wasn't really interested in food and just seemed like she did not want to live. She was getting worse and every day I was dreading going outside thinking that she may not have made it during the night. From her prior owners information, I also had her separated & in a small area and continued to give her bute for the first week. When I tried to get her to stand and move around, it was a real chore and the bute didn't seem to be helping. I cold hosed her feet a couple of times a day, had ice packs on her feet and tried to get her moving. But she really had no will to live and I was running out of answers.
After finding several “barefoot hoof care” sites that had articles on laminitis & founder, I realized what I was doing wrong and what I needed to do for Ginnie. So I immediately took her off bute, threw away the rest of it and turned her out with my older gelding. Being with another horse made a huge difference. Her interest to live returned, she perked up, stood up more often and made an effort to follow my gelding around, although most times she just could not make it all the way. I called a local "farrier" who took 3 weeks to come out to trim her. (getting a reliable regular farrier to trim was like trying to get blood from a stone!) Her first trim she lay down and was still extremely sore but did progress slowly, making her way further out into the back field to be near my gelding. But she was still not right. The second trim went ok and she seemed somewhat more comfortable than before but I knew that her trims were not regular enough and she started to be sore again. So while waiting for the farrier to come & trim, I duct taped rigid styrofoam insulation to her feet to help relieve some of the pain - she looked really silly but was more comfortable. The third trim went terribly wrong. The farrier had heard of barefoot trims and I assumed he knew how to do one. I was wrong. He trimmed too much and I was shocked to see her standing in a pool of blood. With every visit (which were way too far apart) he insisted that Ginnie needed heartbar shoes and he wouldn't charge me for them as he wanted to see how she would progress. I insisted that she was not having heartbar shoes free or not, and after the third trim turned to purchasing 3 books, 2 on natural trimming (jamie jackson & pete Ramey) and one on Founder (jamie jackson) so I could learn how to do this myself without making my horse bleed everywhere. Never trimming before, I was a bit reluctant to try this so I contacted one of the trimmers on the horses hoof trimmer list and arranged for a clinic.
I had a private consult on trimming Ginnie the day before the clinic. The clinic was awesome - learned so much and had great feedback from those who attended. Ginnie improved greatly after her first natural trim and continued to feel better and walk better.
All was going well with Ginnie for about 6 months until one day in May 2008 she came up lame and I could not figure out why. Nothing had changed - her environment, diet was still the same. Then it clicked. The day before I had de-wormed her (& my other 4 horses) with a chemical dewormer. I quickly turned to my notes I had kept and there was definitely a connection. Within 2-3 weeks after deworming she would be lame (notes). But this particular de-wormer was more potent and had more drug content in it than prior de-worming. The 6 months she had been fine I had not de-wormed her.
After this discovery and consulting with Julie on what to do, I did a natural trim. What a difference - the next day she was walking better and within 4 days after trimming her you would have never known she was lame a few days before. She was keeping up with my other horses, bucking, trotting & cantering around as if nothing had been wrong. Ginnie continued to recover and be less sore, although she would blow an abscess at the coronet band once in while. In 2007, she was started again with light riding for short periods of time which has been slowly increased. An owner of a foundered horse must stay on top of it and learn as much as possible about laminitis and founder.
I have also noticed a difference in my 23 yr old Arab gelding. One ride we enjoyed on about 6 miles of gravel roads, he came back fresher than when he left with no soreness – I'm sure he could have done another 6 miles. When I picked up his feet after the ride to pick them out, they were completely clean – not a stone in them! I was impressed.
Anyone who is serious about transitioning their horse to barefoot or has laminitis and founder issues should contact their nearest barefoot hoof care professional, purchase as many videos & books on barefoot hoof care and attended as many barefoot hoof care clinics or seminars as they can (Strasser 3 day Natural Hoof Care Clinic is thoroughly enjoyable, extremely educational and highly recommended.) Dr Strasser's books are highly educational from a vets perspective. The key for me was learning as much as I could about how to help Ginnie recover without causing her more pain that what she was already in. I also discovered how we as horse owners sometimes "kill our horses with kindness" by feeding them high carb and sugar diets that they do not need. Keeping it simple makes more sense, is better for your horses health and is cheaper!
I try to keep my horses lifestyle as natural and simple as possible and I am still learning as much as I can about natural horse keeping & hoof care. They are outside 24/7/365, they are fed free choice hay (preferably grass), I do not use leg bandages or leg boots or blankets and I use a herbal dewormer when I need to. Keeping it simple just makes sense.
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