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.
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.
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!!!!
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.
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.
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?
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 ??????????.
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
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 ?
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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Must have been really sore for him.
