OK, its coming clear now, our golden rule is if the gravel gives, we like . If there is no give, we no like . Harder ground (after dry weather) is not our favourite therefore.
Trying to get a balance between not being too tight versus not mollycodling the boy! I dont mind him picking his way but I do not like to see stumbling. The grass overnight is not helping, but its only marginally worse and I havent the heart to keep him in tiny pen 24/7. I will need to boot for certain rides as its outside his range. _________________ X
SueH with Jake and Clay
Good day out with my big boy Link yesterday - hacked over to the forrestry commission woods and had a few good canters up the mountain bike tracks! Brilliant sunshine and a great day to be out.
Feet absolutely fine and not showing any ill effects from the grass which is roaring through now - a couple of mis-steps on very sharp crushings but I wouldn'd want to walk over that myself. He had a little wall height when we went out and after 4 hours he still had it when we came back - so off it came! Hardly wore them at all.
The grass overnight is not helping, but its only marginally worse and I havent the heart to keep him in tiny pen 24/7. I will need to boot for certain rides as its outside his range.
Sue, don't beat yourself up - its so much better to boot and ride than have him uncomfortable, when you can't control the grass, so you are doing the right thing
The important thing is that you are listening to your horse and recognising what the issues are that you can and can't control.
Thanks Nic. I just got a bit over- excited and now I'm a wee bit disappointed. When I discussed whether to de-boot with Sarah I was just going to see how we coped and a drop off in performance was expected as I cant provide 24/7 grass free tracks. BUT what happened then is I was completely blown away by how amazing he was without boots compared to my expectations of feet falling off - dont laff . Then my expectations rose as the weeks went by and he coped with longer rides and more challenging surfaces. But then, recently performance on sharp stones was dropping slightly. I forgot along the way that he is rehabbing from a poor starting point - no heels whatsoever and so has always struggled on stones which we avoid. Now I know on your blog you say about transitioning:
"This is a classic, typically from people who know a little bit about barefoot and have heard that horses need to "transition" to stony surfaces. Of course the point is that horses with healthy feet can already cope with stony surfaces - so if they can't, you know that they have unhealthy feet..."
Well, Jake does have unhealthy feet in that he has foal heels - they are coming but this will take time..... AND he appears grass sensitive. Problem is its difficult to say which is dominant factor in his lack of foot health. The question for me is if he had big tough heels, would feeding him grass overnight affect him sufficiently to need boots for stones ?? Time will tell I suppose. I do plan for him will come off grass altogether for trial period at least as soon as we get our own land. I suppose I could do it now as at trial for a week but it feels a bit mean being cooped up in a pen for a week, as knowing he is grass sensitive wont change the fact I cant keep him grass-free yet as its out of my control.
I have noticed that with a little encouragement [food, excitement e.g. riding out with high energy horses or seeing new mares, racing friends) he forgets the surface.
At least his is, despite having grass overnight, mega fine on smooth tarmac and last night's performance on road was fab to watch [see post "So glad we're barefoot"] Indeed he manages hours of roadwork with heel first landing.
Well, Jake does have unhealthy feet in that he has foal heels - they are coming but this will take time..... AND he appears grass sensitive. Problem is its difficult to say which is dominant factor in his lack of foot health.
I sympathise...sometimes there is so much chicken and so much egg its impossible to unravel
The comment I posted on the blog is the sort made by people who think barefoot is JUST about toughening up (or worse, the sort of people who force their horses over bad surfaces thinking that is what they need). As you know, its often more complicated than that!
We had a horse years ago that we tried to "toughen up" for ages, and after a few months she had great looking feet and the beefiest digital cushions you have ever seen, but still hated stones.
At that point Sarah Braithwaite was telling me it was all about grass and I didn't believe her The same horse off grass is rock-crunching, on grass is a wimp over stones
In your situation, I would boot over bad surfaces, ride without when possible and get on with life - at least that way you are having fun and building the back of the foot as best you can
Yes its not as if its that difficult to cope with is it. The big deal is all in my head. We have lots of cool heel conditioning routes and for others, I will boot up. Things like jumping, stressage etc. can all be done bare as on soft surfaces - there is not reason why we cant get out there and have fun.
Last night J did 2 hours of roads and tracks, lots of trotting all totally fine. The one bit of stoney track has fluffy green central verges so we can walk on this bit and avoid stones.
The more thinking I do on this ( it entertains me whilst I poo pick - I even talk to the bloody horse about it) I suspect grass is the baddie isnt it. After all I'm comparing performance on April (pm only) grazing versus performance on Feburary grazing NOT performance on zero grazing. Sarah B has always advised me it diet diet diet as prime factor of course........ _________________ X
SueH with Jake and Clay
Well Nic - we had the yard dressage league last night. It was very interesting to sit and watch very discretely.
A number of horses were less than fully sound, some actually stumbling, others breaking in trot or canter. Some with slight unevenesses, changes of attitude at transitions, different stride lengths, or a subtle head bob on every second step, one or two throwing a wee strop when asked to go forward or just getting irritable.
By the way the grass is growing so fast after the rain a couple of days ago that you can hear it squeaking.
My guy is sound on the rough stuff - I was telling myself that anyway - but after Sarah's course last week I'm watching all the signs over the whole body - the ears are not in a go forward, happy mode on the rougher bits - they are back and he is looking for an easier path, slight hesitancy I wouldn't have noticed before.
These UKNHCP courses are great, but they don't half make you notice things you'd rather not!!!! Thanks Sarah...
today took wrong turn and ended up on gritty road. I had unhappy ears on rougher bits + looking for an easier path + hesitancy. Spent much of ride on verge [Luckily most rides round here have verge sections], unless tarmac smooth and then he's happy on that but not as happy as he's been. Gets on soft and he's all forward again.
what would be good is a boot bag so i can take boots off when we get to smooth mossy tracks on mountain. _________________ X
SueH with Jake and Clay
April grass is here, for sure. I am happy for the cows and lambs, but it means horse management is back to being more intensive
Three of the horses here are showing the earliest signs of being less capable over stony ground than they were a few days ago, and so are coming off the grass altogether for the moment, particularly as we have had heavy showers last night and this morning after lots of warm weather.
The rest of them though are fine out at night, and its probably no coincidence that its the hardest working horses who are able to cope best with the higher sugar levels in the grass at the moment.
I've put another hunting clip up for those who were interested in the sort of ground we cover Please excuse my occasional inadvertent commentary
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. If there is no give, we no like 
. Harder ground (after dry weather) is not our favourite therefore.
The same horse off grass is rock-crunching, on grass is a wimp over stones 
Thanks Sarah...
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