Sarah
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December 2008Went for a lovely hack with Helen and Carly yesterday, lots of road work and Fox was happy stomping down a very stoney, steep track. Fox also trotted the three miles to and from the arena along the road on Friday. He is becoming more competent on down hill bits. Used to back off and shorten even in walk.
Morris has had a growing up rest but will be coming back into work over Xmas when I have a few spare days to start him again.
S x
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Helen N
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Sarah says I should post on here, but being naturally cautious haven't done as yet because as soon as I say things are fine then it may all wrong  Anyhow, yes, Carly was out yesterday for his second unbooted hack of the weekend, great over everything. Rooster also unbooted hacked for an hour on Saturday and had a flatwork lesson on a rather firm sand surface with no problems. Carly has recovered from an abscess which popped out of his coronary band 2 weeks ago, he went to the beach a couple of days afterwards which did him no end of good, both mentally and physically. Both boys are now on about 3 acres of rough mountain pasture, with a hardcore area, partially undercover where they do like to hang out when the weather is inclement. They are both arabs, my retired mare Tikki (29 year old Welshxarab) would rather stand out in the wind and rain, but she is tough as old boots  I haven't bothered booting either of the boys since they moved here 6 weeks ago. Hoping to take Rooster to Kelsall farm ride next Saturday and Carly to the beach again on Sunday 
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rose
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At last my girl is out in the big field full time. She is looking great and judging by her behaviour feeling good too. Her feet look fab and although not rock crunching she is pretty good on most other surfaces.
She is obviously a winter babe.
I have started her on simple systems lunar eclispe supplement which is brewers yeast, seaweed and linseed in addition to her sugarbeet, alfalfa and mag ox.
I am not sure if I should keep up her mag ox too as the supplement and alfalfa both supply magnesium naturally and I don't want to give her too much?
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hobnob
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Well done Rose and ponio !!! 
If I were you I would change nuffin !!!
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rose
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thanks hobnob.
Just for the record the supplement is total eclispe not lunar eclispe, my mistake. The reason i started it is because she was losing weight and I wanted something with quality protein and calories however I dont think its that that is making the difference as she has only been on it for a couple of weeks.
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hobnob
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I think quite a few bare people are on the Total Eclipse so sounds a good move !!
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brucea
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Why not buy the separate ingredients from the feed store and make it up....unless of course you're really wealthy and can afford Total Eclipse! Aberdonians....sorry..have to apologise for myself.
We have snow up here - lots of snow - freezing cold and nasty. Gritters....what gritters?
Some muppet idiot pillock put their pretty Mercedes through the dyke and fence into my field so guess what I spent 4 hours doing between 3 and 7 today???? Thankfully it wasn't too bad and we were able to rebuild the drystone wall and reset the posts and retension the wire. Just what I wanted to do in sleet and snow.
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evie
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Here's H's work avoidance technique du jour.
Boots on for turnout 12-14hrs a day were starting to bruise her heel bulbs so she's now out without any protection over and above sudocrem, I'm miltoning every other day, and scrubbing with salt paste at least once a day. Sudocrem on before turnout, it won't last long but is better than nowt, and 'cut-heal liquid' when I put her in for the night.
Is sound on it now, she wasn't happy out of boots to begin with.
The discolouration where her bar should be was a pocket of black ming trapped underneath  horizontal crack appeared at the top of heel, then a week or so later the sole/heel all broke off suddenly, she had a nasty abcess blow a couple of months ago and either a last bit blew (no lameness though and no ming on hot poultice) or the compromised heel with lack of support from ming bar just couldn't take it.
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brucea
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Poor lass - looks like it must have been most uncomfortable for her.
I tend to trim Link's bars back to their normal line (if that makles any sense) where they are starting to overlay - Link's bars do that surprisingly quickly and if they are left he gets the same kind of mingy stuff trapped under. I don't know if that's what I should be doing, I suppose I'll learn more about this as I go through trimming intensive next year.
I was quite shocked a few months ago when my hoof pick scraped against something metal around the back part of his hoof - and then I dug out what looked like a small razor sharp coiled spring that had embedded itself about 3mm deep - something broken from a car - just a risk of riding on the roads I guess. But I just wonder how many abscesses and hoof infections start that way. I got into the habit now of checking them each time we come back after any roadwork.
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hobnob
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On the bar subject I havent had to trim lgl pones bars atall in a year! They dont seem to grow or fold over which is strange as although she is on 24 hr turnout she would almost do alot less roadwork than your Link Brucea? I wish I could say the same for her heels though.
Lovely clean foot evie !! and nice to see pics like this as I am a hoof novice and want to learn more !! Thankyou
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brucea
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Link does a lot of roadwork, but his bars still fold over. He spends more time on the grass than on the road though...Cob, on the other hand has huge upright industrial bars...same kind of workload. There you go. Who knows why.
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Yann
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Same boring old tale of improving hoof form and improving capability here. Tess and Rio have been out 24/7 in a rested field for the last 3 weeks too with no apparent ill effects whatsoever, it's been blissful for me glimpsing the life of the hassle free horse owner once again
Rio is rejoining the ranks of the unshod in about 4 weeks time, will be interesting to see how well she copes as the farrier has been pretty zealous bringing her toes back, especially on her long foot and she won't have very much dorsal wall thickness to play with at first. Will also be interesting to see how much difference it makes to her paces.
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brucea
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Been a lovely bright sunny day in Aberdeen - but the ground is covered in a sheet of ice - so no hacking, despite the nice weather. So it was oil and filters changes for the cars day instead. Lying on the ice seemed safer than riding on it! (I have a "car crawler" thing so wasn't actually on the ice...as it were) - shame though - it would have been a great day for a long lovely hack in the sunshine if only the ground conditions had been safe.
Yann - I hope Rio's re-transition to barefoot goes well. Keep us all informed!!!!
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Yann
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Thanks, will do. I'm not anticipating too many problems, she came straight out of long term shoes and was fine last time. Will see how it goes, but I have to be honest and say that I am looking at this as more of an annual break than another attempt at keeping them off for good, we'll see.
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brucea
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My big lump came limping up the field this evening holding one front leg most awkwardly...you know that "Oh hell...what now" sinking feeling.
Limped to the stables and it turned out he had a huge chuckie wedged right in his inner groove - snapped one of those silly little hoofpicks with a brush on trying to get it out - didn't even loosen it - and had to resort to grabbing it with a pair of tongs and working it out. Was the most jammed I've ever seen a stone!  Must have been really sore for him.
This never used to happen quite the same way before, but now his front feet are decontracting the groove is so much deeper and wider and it seems to trap and jam the stones much easier. Has left a 10p size discoloured area of hoof so I wonder if by the weekend it will be poulticing and the usual abscess routine....hope not.
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rose
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My girl is back in her small paddock again. She had been getting increasingly warm feet and pulses. She was also slightly footy on hard ground. Her off fore was particularly warm whilst her back feet were not too bad.
I was crawling around feeling the other horses feet to see if it was just her but they all had cool feet. Bum Bum Bum!!!
I will keep her in today and if ok I will try her out overnight and in during the day for a few days.
This is the first time in 12 years I have not been able to get her out in to the big field at this time of the year. Is anyone else having trouble or do some of you need to keep their horses on restricted grass all year round?
Also as she is 12 now does anyone know if her intolarance to grass will keep developing over the years ie keep getting worse?
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SueH
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Jake managing fine on grass but I keep him on long skinny strip for half the 24 hour period most of the time. So his diet is high on haylage.
Have upped Seaweed to 2 x heaped 50ml scoops. Obviously wont see benefits of this until mid-late 09.
Hope to see improvement in fronts ( in terms of getting rid of whiteline separation _ from increase in Mag to current 50 ml dose by March 09 (going off current growth/wear rates).
Front feet look long which is I am assuming due to flaring (summer grass). Hopefully by next trim in Jan they will look a bit better.
Change in exercise for worst of winter months. Last year I only managed hacks at weekend due to working FT/mucking out/dark nights combo BUT now I'm in field shelter, I have time (even though its a bit dark) to do stuff in field. So, now working most days for 15-30 mins, mostly groundwork, some riding but mostly in field. Hope this keeps him bit more loose and better for feet. That being said, roads have been icy of late at weekends so we've missed our hacks.
WORMS - count just in and I'm fupped off cost its risen for first time in year to 850 medium. But Jake's field shelter had to be installed on new bit of paddock we've not been on before (no poo picked daily unlike my patch), and it might have come from here . Thing is if this is heavily contaminated, I am not sure whether Verm-X or diatomaceous earth will be enough ??????????.
x
Sue
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brucea
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Rose - our little lad can never go on grass - he had a few hours out on "safe" rough stuff a couple of months ago as a "mental health break to run around with palls" and that was enough to precipitate a wee Lami episode - we can see it as a red ring round both front feet, and he was very pottery.
Almost it seems like removing him from grass has sensitised him much more than he already was - just an observation - but would that make any sense?? I think he is just super, hyper sensitive though...right out on the edge of the curve
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hobnob
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We have all been fine as of late with strip grazing long dead grass when not frosty until Sunday when lgl pones osf was very hot and pulsing - bugger.
All well again within 24 hours but I dont think grass caused it. As ground is very hard frozen and rutted and she had been bombing up and down on it, it may have been that. I also noticed on that foot she has a small crack in her sole, more of a teeny flap that you can just get your finger nail underneath - so I am now worrying what this is. It is not crumbly like shedding sole and area all around is hard as nails. Feet have been very wet but have had really hard frost so maybe feet have dried out a bit and cracked ?? The flap is about 4mm behind her white line at the toe and is about 1cm long. Is totally sound and no heat or pulse. Any ideas anyone ? Soles are SO concave too ?
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brucea
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Sounds like simple mechanical damage Hobnob - will probably wear down I'd expect as sole grows. May be some bruising though. We get this sometimes after matathon hacks on sharper ground. I tend to try just to round the edges, remove flaps just to stop dirt getting trapped and further tearing actions (but never dig at it!)
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hobnob
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Thanks for the support Bruce - I am a worrier when it comes to feet. Scraped off the flap this morning with my finger-nail as it was flakier than I thought so now teeny flap gone but I think we may shed a small amount of sole in that area. We normally only flake at the heels so this is a first. Started to panic when I thought it could be P3 trying to poke through - I do panick sometimes and I would probably have a very lame pone if that was the case !! Do you think it could be false sole that built up to protect P3 at some time and now isnt required?
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brucea
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False sole is an odd term and I'm not sure that I fully understand why it came into use. I guess one of the experienced trimmers might have more to say on this.
We used to get the chalky sole thing quite often on all three - but now it doesn't happen - maybe that was all part of transition and the sole is better quality and more connected now - maybe it's down to having the diet right or a combination of all changes!
I see occasional build up of un-exfoliated sole on the lami and the hoof looks a bit "filled in" - but not on the other two. I'd been laying off a bit from the heels of mine thinking I couldn't take heel down becuase I didn't want to go into that "sole" but at the same time worrying about not getting the frog in any meaningful contact with the ground....when my trimmer (who checks what I am doing every 3 months!) looked at it, she asked me whether I thought it was "useful" sole - given the obvious depth at the collateral groove - and whether I thought that keeping it was maybe contributing to pulling the hoof forward - looking at it this way made me realise it was not useful and off it came with no apparent ill effect - but the frogs are in better contact with the ground now. The sole underneath did look better connected/tighter/tougher than the horn on the surface. It will be interesting to see if the quality of the frog now improves - they are wimpier than I'd really like them to be. He has grown a good thick toe callus as well.
It's a whole fascinating subject the sole and I can't wait for the trimming intensive stage of the training. So much to learn!
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cptrayes
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I don't know if this helps, but when I transitioned a horse who had been poking his pedal bones down into his soles because of incorrect shoeing he formed a cap slightly larger than the size of a 10p piece, perfectly circular, just in front of the point of the frog in each front foot. After about 8 weeks, as I recall, this cap fractured all around the rim and just fell off in one piece, no chalking up or anything. It was terribly frightening at the time, not knowing if the next thing I was going to see was the point of his pedal bone sticking through his sole 
My news is boring . Jazz is rock-stomping and his feet have concaved right up now the grass is gone and he has come off omeprazole. I've also put him on Yea-Sacc in an attempt to stave off both laminitis and further ulcers. I have cured several hairline cracks at the quarters, legacy from poor/non-existant trimming from 0-4 years while at stud, by daily spray with Tesco Value bleach.
Zippy is unfalteringly rock-stomping and has the beautiful deep concavity he's always had. His heels are not popping up as much as they were and he looks much more heel-first in his landing to me.
George has gone to a new home but continues to be barefoot, hopefully trimmed by Paul Jackson when the new people get around to phoning him!
Jazz will hunt again on Saturday if they go, but it looks doubtful with this weather.
C
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brucea
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We have freezing everything up here - bit of rain in the day and deep freeze at night. Many small roads coated in a dangerous layer of ice. Police closed off two of the country roads today (including the one to our yard) because there had been so many accidents within the 7-9AM timeframe they were impassable!
Even the sugar beet's frozen over!!!!!
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hobnob
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All going well again down here. Has been very very cold and have upped hay in field aswell as still strip grazing when frost allows. The little flap has gone that I reported last week on lgl pony's OSF and she is happy as larry !! (Who was Larry!!)
Wormed both with Equest this morning and all OK so far ie, no worms or footiness. Played chase with them around the field this afternoon which probably isnt good horsemanship and consisted of me running around a dis-used chicken shed with pones following farting and bucking like nutters !! It requires a bit of timing or a wooly mammoth pony can come careering into you !! As I said not very BHS but good fun !
Making good progress on my lammy paddock for next year as it is now half mud and skid marks
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brucea
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A few days without rain would be nice...
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hobnob
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A few days without having to bucket water from house to field due to frozen pipes would be good. Soaking hay is such fun in this weather
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brucea
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Honest - I have given up soaking hay - it has been so wet and cold, I just roll out the hay from the bale on the ground that I am going to feed in the evening and let nature do it for me. It's always thoroughly wetted, and my sanity stays a little more intact.
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sarahh
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Another month of ponies being great. yay. both rock stomping and both in work.
Boy has been superstar all rounder, showjumping with my little sister, hacking with me and being riding horse for ponying Tyler.
Tyler has been ponied from Boy, been walked through floods with little sister on board and today i rode him off the lunge for the first time.
Both looking really good, foot and body-wise so feeding staying as it has been, Copra, Luciebix and Fibrebeet with minerals mixed in.
And my leg is finally starting to work again so fingers crossed i may get Boy out hunting next month!
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brucea
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We had sunshine and dry weather today! Got all 3 out for a hack with the kids, all a little excited to be out after a few weeks of doing not much.
Had to help one of the liveries this afternoon - horse shod yesterday, today both front shoes twisted badly on the insides. Pulled them off for her and tidied up the ragged ends, was a hard job though cos the horse was just not happy to stand on one leg whilst the first shoe was pulled.
Boy, I sure don't miss that part of horse ownership! How nice it is not to have shoes that come off the day before you really wanted to go out on the yard Xmas ride out!
So yard event tomorrow - whole yard rides out, including the kids on ponies, then followed by hot mulled wine, mince pies, fruitcake (seldom in short supply really) and other nice goodies! Hope we get nice weather.
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hobnob
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Sounds really nice Bruce - have a good day !!
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Jane
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Don't think I've posted in December yet!
Dan, doing well, nothing to report.
Magic, back in work off his hols - back to eejit status but his feet are sooooo concave. Usually by this time of year the soles have filled in from living on concrete, but with rubber in one barn and stone in the other it appears we have permanent concavity! His collateral grooves are probably the deepest I've ever seen. I struggle to get the tip of the hoof pick to the bottom of them!
Max - coming on nicely. Strangely was much much better last week when confined to the yard with his mud fever.... less good again now he's back out in the bog. Seems to find deep going much more difficult than hard going.
Aero and Ben going great.
Everyone eating too much haylage and trying to spend 24/7 in the yard if only I'd feed them more!
Happy Christmas everyone!
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Tally
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Justine is doing great but still riding with front boots if the surface is not great. Low speed videoing has shown that she is not so keen to land heel first.
I'm amazed at how long it is taking to get her feet back to where they were before the shoes went on.
From Apr to end Aug (5 months) she was in egg bar shoes and her front hoof went from 3 to 4cm from the apex of the frog to the toe.
Now, it has been 4 months since we wipped the shoes off and I can definitely see the wall angle changing and coming down. Only now have the frogs grown back enough to meet the heels. Her feet were great before the shoes went on - I cannot believe that in less than 5 months (and a lot of cutting by the farrier) they had changed so much !
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SueH
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Jake
Last couple of months has been spent more doing groundwork (which was desperately needed) so movement has been more twisty/turny and in paddock when soft (without boots if nice and soft) , but less hacking so less mileage in straight line. No adverse effect on hind but I dont feel fronts are as 'strong' as they could be. Not lame but not 100% in trot all the time. Been getting out more recently and Christmas hols mean we will continue (booted on hard ground) and will monitor progress.
about 1-2" of flared horn still to go and then should be on horn grown with increased Mag, linseed, vits etc. Cant wait as if his other keratinaceous bits (skins/coat) are anything to go by it should be pretty good.
x
Sue
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brucea
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My guys up here all great and enjoying a few days of dry and bright weather after wet or icy ground for weeks. Polly looking marvelous, and as always, stonking feet. He loves climbing things, so took him through some rough ground yesterday with slopes to clamber up and logs to jump. For a lardy-boy, he's quite nimble. 
Unfortunately my friend's mare has stood on a piece of barbed wire and punctured her hoof - right about a third of the way down the frog from the heel - right on the frog/collateral groove boundary. Vet dug and you can see the line of entry. Thankfully it has abscessed and there's puss, so the right things are happening and it's probably not so deep as it has touched DDfT or NavB in which case she would be a lot more sore. We were planning a hack at the weekend too!
Saturday: Quick update on Rosie, my friends Arab. She's much more comfortable and the vet is much more optimistic about the outcome today. still puss and blood coming down on the poultice but the horse is less distressed and moving more comfortably around her stable. She's not really an "easy" patient, bit of a marey mare to be honest.
Sunday Shoes off day for a friend's cob. It is sad really, he had been bare for years, I saw his feet when he arrived and they were pretty good on the whole. Now after just a year of shoes he's got narrow poor frogs, very weak heels and generally poor front feet. We compared them with my cob - they looked much the same a year ago and the difference between them was the cause for some snuffling. So hopefully we'll see some more positive changes in the next couple of months.
Watch for growth in the grass - the milder weather this week has seen some fresh green tips breaking through up our way.
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hobnob
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End of Dec report and a whole year of owner trimming !!
Why am I up at 2am - stonking cold and cannot sleep as too much snot !!
It's pouring out now I have sat up with a cup of tea!!
Anyway - ponies are stonking too but in the foot department. We have had a couple of days of minus night temps and this has made the ground rutted and rock hard. LGL pone is trotting over this with no bother for the first time ! Yee ha - nothing has changed apart from field has been made bigger due to strip grazing and she has been belting round it with her chum alot lately so maybe extra movement. Would still like heels to be lower but I guess they will in their own time. Quarters got a bit flaky when I last trimmed so maybe she is trying to scoop them out like a wild pony ? Wish I had taken more photos and wish I could learn to post them on here to see what a difference a year has made.
Hope you all had a good Xmas and Happy New Year and lets all hope for maximum soundness in 2009.
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sarahh
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Boy had had a busy couple of weeks and has been loving it.
He dressed up as a christmas tree and won a jumping class with my little sister.
Click to see full size image
On boxing day we went to the beach. 3 mile gallop across nice firm sand and he & his barefoot friends managed it far easier than their shod companion.
Frogs are now looking very beefy on hinds & rapidly catching up in front
Tyler continues to be rock stomping despite mostly working in the sand school while being backed
x
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evie
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End of year report:
Still wasn't right after that loss of heel in front. So threw out a big abcess on right hind heel bulb too, then much happier. Load of sole bruising came out a couple of weeks ago. Sound, happy and jiggly out riding with boots in front though. Front heel almost normal now, collateral groove back to proper depth but there's a bit that's manky so being soaked & scrubbed still.
Had her massaged today, very tight through right hand side - all leg/foot problems in last few months have been that side though so not surprising. Posture immediately afterwards lotslots better. Will get her done again in a couple of weeks to consolidate the improvements.
I was hospitalised for 5 nights over Christmas with my poxy lungs, so moving to new yard on full livery cos I can't cope DIY at the moment - only 7 hours turnout a day but completely grass free and she will at least have company, so it's swings and roundabouts... I will be able to do much more riding she'll be ringing the union!
Condition - she is still embarassingly fat, but the podge is going down steadily and she doesn't need many rugs! Increased work level at new yard will only help.
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brucea
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Finished off my year today with a lovely 4 hour hack in the frigid sunshine to the woods and round the hill and back again!
But it was COLD!!!! Struggled to get above freezing all day here and ground solid.
Had put on Link's Easy Bare boots becuase I thought he might need them - but ended up taking then off half way round because he was short striding and getting tense shoulders - once they were off he opened out freely with his usual big ground covering walk. I use them less and less now, there will come a time soon I hope when we won't need them at all.
Happy New Year to everyone when it comes.
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