Wednesday night was our last evening trip out around our 3.5mile lane hack. Dusk hits at 7pm and even though I put on a huge amount of hi-viz gear, I just don't want to risk the ratrunners coming out of Bristol. They obviously do not expect to see a pony on the road, and I'm not sure whether I prefer them to belt past or slam the brakes on. The tractor drivers are also in a real hurry at the moment. That said she felt fine in her feet and I pushed her a bit more than I normally do. So we are now going to switch routes. Evenings are going to spent going round the fields as light permits, and playing the Parelli friendly game. Saturdays, I will have my weekly lesson and Sundays will be doing a longer route hacking across varied terrain to keep her feet conditioning.
It's now 7 and half months since we went without shoes, and we seem to be doing fine.
Friday, 25 September 2009
Sunday, 6 September 2009
Went for a 3.5 mile road hack today. She seemed fine. Had a few ouch moments when she trod on some stones. It always seems to be her right front foot. She never stumbles on her left foot. I am getting somewhat curious again. I did at one point think the bruising had come back, but when she heard some shod horses coming down the lane, their riders voices only marginally louder than their horses feet, she trotted like her life depended on it...just couldn't wait to meet new friends. We also discovered just how grippy our feet were trotting down hill to get to a gateway when yet another ancient roaring tractor came up from behind with a haylage bailer in tow. I will trot her up tonight to see if there is any change in her gate..hopefully I will be able to find someone to look at her footfall.
I'm also going to give Parelli a go this winter so if anyone has any hints/tips, please let me know. No hate messages please...they are so dull and smack of ignorance.
I'm also going to give Parelli a go this winter so if anyone has any hints/tips, please let me know. No hate messages please...they are so dull and smack of ignorance.
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Oh joy!!!
I haven't posted for quite some time, sorry. So what has been happening since I last posted...
Dressage at Urchinwood, where we cam home with a very respectable 65.49% and just out of the rosettes. 1st place was up in the 70% region so not only was it close, but the standard was also exceptionally good. Then I discovered that 70% of the class were eventers out for a fun day, not that it should matter one bit, but I was very proud that my New Forrest pony held her own in such company, and was much better behaved away from the ring. We had one little skid in a downward transition from canter to trot, but that had a positive effect in as much as she listened to me more from then on, so our second transition down from canter was the most perfect I have ever had. We even scored an 8 which is so fab I could hardly contain myself.
Exercise wise I have been trying to do at least two days a week around the farm fields, dairy cows permitting, with a day out on the 3.5mile lane route, and Sundays extending our range to 15miles over lanes, fields and stony tracks. I still allow my pony to pick her way where the tracks are a bit rough, after all she knows what she is treading on now, and she has come back sound every time. That was until last weekend (23rd Aug). I went for a hack with my YO. Who on a tight schedule, pushed us fairly quickly. Add to that the horse she was riding spooks without notice, so we frequently found ourselves face to face, or nearly squashed. A saddle fitting on monday (the pony has also been on a diet), and trim on Monday evening, we were due to go for a gallop around the fields on tuesday. I thought she felt a bit strange on the way out of the yard, but it was only when I asked her to trot on the tarmac, that she showed up short on the right front. So we turned and headed for home. The following day, the shortness was alot more exaggeratted, but as teh vet was coming thursday to give her boosters, decided to wait and see what he had to say. The verdict was a bruised toe in her right front. I can only put this down to the patch of rubble we found our selves on when our fellow hackee decided to pull a paddy at an open track. The vet suggested that it may be through kicking her stable door, but as I am not there in the mornings I have no idea what happens, besides we don't get told anyway. This is the worst she has been so far, and I think from now on, I am going to stick to going out on my own so we can go at a pace which is comfortable and helpful to her feet transition.
She is now sound on soft ground, but is feeling her right foot, even where there are a few stones.
One thing puzzles me...why use sharp edged stone for paths, etc. Surely they are more prone to getting stuck in things, tyres, shoes, etc only to be carried away?????
Dressage at Urchinwood, where we cam home with a very respectable 65.49% and just out of the rosettes. 1st place was up in the 70% region so not only was it close, but the standard was also exceptionally good. Then I discovered that 70% of the class were eventers out for a fun day, not that it should matter one bit, but I was very proud that my New Forrest pony held her own in such company, and was much better behaved away from the ring. We had one little skid in a downward transition from canter to trot, but that had a positive effect in as much as she listened to me more from then on, so our second transition down from canter was the most perfect I have ever had. We even scored an 8 which is so fab I could hardly contain myself.
Exercise wise I have been trying to do at least two days a week around the farm fields, dairy cows permitting, with a day out on the 3.5mile lane route, and Sundays extending our range to 15miles over lanes, fields and stony tracks. I still allow my pony to pick her way where the tracks are a bit rough, after all she knows what she is treading on now, and she has come back sound every time. That was until last weekend (23rd Aug). I went for a hack with my YO. Who on a tight schedule, pushed us fairly quickly. Add to that the horse she was riding spooks without notice, so we frequently found ourselves face to face, or nearly squashed. A saddle fitting on monday (the pony has also been on a diet), and trim on Monday evening, we were due to go for a gallop around the fields on tuesday. I thought she felt a bit strange on the way out of the yard, but it was only when I asked her to trot on the tarmac, that she showed up short on the right front. So we turned and headed for home. The following day, the shortness was alot more exaggeratted, but as teh vet was coming thursday to give her boosters, decided to wait and see what he had to say. The verdict was a bruised toe in her right front. I can only put this down to the patch of rubble we found our selves on when our fellow hackee decided to pull a paddy at an open track. The vet suggested that it may be through kicking her stable door, but as I am not there in the mornings I have no idea what happens, besides we don't get told anyway. This is the worst she has been so far, and I think from now on, I am going to stick to going out on my own so we can go at a pace which is comfortable and helpful to her feet transition.
She is now sound on soft ground, but is feeling her right foot, even where there are a few stones.
One thing puzzles me...why use sharp edged stone for paths, etc. Surely they are more prone to getting stuck in things, tyres, shoes, etc only to be carried away?????
Monday, 6 July 2009
McTimony verdict
Well, again its been a while. The footy pony has been on a diet, and is finally begining to loose weight. The farmer isn't terribly impressed with my dust bowl, and the yard manager keeps muttering about sand colic. I could understand that if a) she was prone to colic and b) if I was grazing her on a beach dune or somewhere like Frensham Ponds in Surrey. Sadly, she is on concrete like Somerset red clay.
I had a McTimony practitioner, Helen, look her over a week ago today. So respected that I didn't even get to finish her double-barrelled surname before my vet was saying "yes, go right ahead, she is excellent". OK...cool. Helen was very interested in the transition to barefoot as she has decided to take her 30 year old mare barefoot, whom she still competes at dressage. All through out her assessment and treatment, Helen could find no tell tale signs of foot pain. So although, my pony is footy, less so now the fructans going in are minimal, we both reached the same conclusion. We have become so used to ridden horses not feeling what is under them, that we tend to over-react when the sense of feeling returns, and assume that they are at risk of going lame. In actual fact the horse is learning to feel with its feet once more.
I had a McTimony practitioner, Helen, look her over a week ago today. So respected that I didn't even get to finish her double-barrelled surname before my vet was saying "yes, go right ahead, she is excellent". OK...cool. Helen was very interested in the transition to barefoot as she has decided to take her 30 year old mare barefoot, whom she still competes at dressage. All through out her assessment and treatment, Helen could find no tell tale signs of foot pain. So although, my pony is footy, less so now the fructans going in are minimal, we both reached the same conclusion. We have become so used to ridden horses not feeling what is under them, that we tend to over-react when the sense of feeling returns, and assume that they are at risk of going lame. In actual fact the horse is learning to feel with its feet once more.
Friday, 19 June 2009
First snag.
I finally got around to reading barefoot books by Pete Ramey and Jamie Jackson.... I think my pony may have become slightly underrun on her heels, so is probably walking a little on her toes. That said, her hind feet are definately beginning to shorten from 13cm long by 10 wide. We will take another measurement on the 20th July when Sam is back to trim. I went on a 3 and half mile lane hack hack yesterday. The last time we went out (2 weeks ago), Tansy struggled with the stones. Since then she has been taken off the paddock she was in and turned out for an hour at each end of the day on a paddock seeded for ponies. The rest of the time she is out on a wood chip school with an Arab for company. The arab is allowed no grass due to azoturia, which is controlable if she is not allowed rich pasture. That Tansy was able to cope with the trip out yesterday all points to the pasture being the root of the problem, so this weekend we are creating a bare paddock area for both Tansy and her arab pal. The farmer doesn't like the idea, but then our ponies are not dairy cows, and as it is only for the spring/summer months, that paddock can be left to recover over the winter and the bigger horses will then graze it down for us in the early months.
The next thing I discovered was that a little collection of stones had worked their way into the white line quite deeply close to the heel where the bar comes in. I managed to pick them out with a shoe nail, but there is some sensitivity there and it looked like the beginning of an infection. Fingers crossed I have nipped that in the bud. More after the weekend....
The next thing I discovered was that a little collection of stones had worked their way into the white line quite deeply close to the heel where the bar comes in. I managed to pick them out with a shoe nail, but there is some sensitivity there and it looked like the beginning of an infection. Fingers crossed I have nipped that in the bud. More after the weekend....
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Hoof Boots...are they a compromise?
I have just taken a look at the Rockley Farm website. Located in Exmoor it is not terribly far from where I live, and I may give them a ring to see if they have a rehab place available. The boots are working a treat. I have a pair of Easy epics. The idea is to have them tight, but not over tight. I also suspect that the richness of the pasture (it is a dairy farm and the farmer seems to think that ponies need to be kept on knee high grass) is not helping, and is producing the footy tendancies. The problem is, if I have to use hoof boots because she is sensitive in her feet due to the pasture, how on earth am I going to condition them???? The tough bit is that dear Tansy is now only allowed an hour of grass in the morning and an hour in the late afternoon, and if people are using the menage, that is all the turnout she is getting, so the weight is not coming down either. The yard manager suggested I ride more, the only trouble with that being that I am already out with the pony until 9pm (at least an hour and a half of riding at trot with a bit of canter) and both food and sleep deprivation is beginning to take its toll. I'm trying hard not to be suspicious of their motives, as they will charge me £25 an hour to exercise her, in place of providing me with suitable starvation turnout. If push comes to shove, at that price I will be moving to a part livery place where they have everything except the kitchen sink, and the service is full monday to friday with DIY on the weekends.
Thursday, 14 May 2009
Looking good.
OMG!!!!! Went for a hack round the farm last night with some yard friends. I was a bit concerned as she has been feeling the stones of late, to the point where I have ordered some hoof boots. By all accounts it takes 9-12 months for the new growth at the top of the coronet band to have reached the sole...so it will take that long for her feet to adjust.
Having said all that our showing debut preparation is coming along a treat. We even managed a collected gallop!
We are still doing our 3 mile road hack each Sunday, although this weekend looks like it will be cancelled as there is a trail bike day at the neighbouring farm...so probably not a good idea to be out on the roads with trailers laden with quads and trail bikes blasting past. I try not to get annoyed with careles drivers, but sometimes it hard not to blast a string of expletives when vans and towed caravans career past at break neck speeds....oh my kingdom for a horsebox.
Having said all that our showing debut preparation is coming along a treat. We even managed a collected gallop!
We are still doing our 3 mile road hack each Sunday, although this weekend looks like it will be cancelled as there is a trail bike day at the neighbouring farm...so probably not a good idea to be out on the roads with trailers laden with quads and trail bikes blasting past. I try not to get annoyed with careles drivers, but sometimes it hard not to blast a string of expletives when vans and towed caravans career past at break neck speeds....oh my kingdom for a horsebox.
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