Two women, two horses, four dogs and one long-suffering husband escaped the gloomy Irish Winter by travelling to the South of France. Follow our adventures as we journey home across France on horseback to raise funds for Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind.
It's now exactly eight weeks since the shoes came off and two and a half weeks since the horses arrived here in Cereste. The difference in their feet due to the dryness here is incredible - not surprising, really when you consider that they've gone from these conditions :
Kingsland, Dec 13th
to these :
Cereste, Dec 21st
Hoof wall quality seems to have improved and Flurry is wearing his into what seems like a nice mustang roll, to our uneducated eyes anyway.
That's a rounded edge, right?
We had a day of rain yesterday, which has possibly caused their frogs to look a bit yucky again. It's time to dig out the silvetrasol spray (some day I'll learn how to spell that!) and start using it on their frogs, especially their hinds.
Two of Flurry's frogs:
GiGi's hind frogs (fronts are under wraps!)
GiGi's sandcracks have finally moved down a bit from the coronet. We have both been looking at these cracks for the last seven years and this is the first time we can see a clear improvement. It's hard to know if this is due to the PHW wraps or the different conditions, but who cares!
Aero has been worrying me. He still doesn’t look comfortable doing his walk therapy in the arena and he’s really reluctant to move from a “good” surface onto a “bad” one – for example, to step off the rubber mat in the stable onto the concrete yard outside, or to walk from a muddy area onto an area with stone or gravel on it.
I’ve been keeping him on the driest bit of ground we have, but he’s had to stay there on his own, otherwise it would quickly get churned up into a sea of mud. Even though the other horses tended to stay just beside him (he is the Boss, after all) I think he’s really missed the social interaction and he’s been getting more and more mopey the longer he’s there.
So, I’ve decided to sacrifice another paddock to preserve his sanity. It’ll give all of the horses a dry, non-hard area to stand on, for as long as it takes for them to destroy it, anyway. It just means I’ll have to get two paddocks reseeded instead of one in the Spring.
I took down the wire to the next paddock – GiGi and Paddy were through like a shot!
GiGi & Paddy eating, Flurry rushing, Aero being jealous!
Flurry was up in the sandy area, but he strode down as fast as his little legs could carry him when he saw that the others were getting GRASS!
Three happy horses...
Aero was looking on enviously, so he was delighted when I caught him and led him down to join the others, heads down and munching!
Four happy horses!
Hopefully that’ll solve his depression issue.
Anja came back today to address the feet issue. She wrapped his front feet with a resin-impregnated bandage which hardens once its been put on. It'll give his feet more stability across the heels while he's adjusting to barefoot, but it still allows some movement which is essential in a healthy foot.
She put a tiny screw onto each side of the hoof at the back...
Aero couldn't bear to watch...
It looks a bit like "Hoof of Frankenstein"
Then the bandage is soaked in water and wound on, using the screws to hook it on at the start. Once it's on, he had to stand with his foot on a foam pad so the bandage would mould to the shape of his foot while it hardened.
The wraps will stay on until they fall off, by which time he will hopefully have adjusted well to the whole barefoot thing.
He looked much better at walk in the arena, but was still quite stiff in trot. We'll probably get his back checked out just to be on the safe side, but when I turned him out afterwards he was in great form! Unfortunately, I missed all but one short clip, but this is getting more like normal "bouncy" Aero.
Flurry, meanwhile, took a backward step, probably because I did too much with him.
He got his flu shot last week. Last time, he was completely wiped out for three days afterwards, so this time I expected the same. True to form, he was lethargic and dull the next day, so I thought “Poor little guy, I’ll just do a bit of easy lunging, mostly walk….” and off we went to the arena.
Well he leaned on that lead rope like you wouldn’t believe, to which my reaction was “Oh no you don’t, mister, not even if your feeling poorly”, so I tried to correct him by getting behind him a little more to get the back end working and doing give and take on the lunge line so he wouldn’t have anything to lean on.
He was not impressed and tanked off in a hissy fit, towing me behind him! Ok, I thought, I’ll just loose school you so I don’t get dragged around the arena. I sent him off in walk and he EXPLODED! Sick and fluey? Don’t think so!
Next day, I did a normal schooling session with plenty of lateral work, transitions etc. He was leaning on the left rein a lot to start, but he lightened up before the end so I was happy enough.
Unfortunately, next morning he had a lot of heat in the heel of the left hind. My theory is that the extra-high frog on that foot is causing the heel area to become sore when I work him. Leaning on the left rein is probably a symptom of this – he’s reluctant to use that leg properly so he has to lean on my left hand to compensate. We’ve now stepped right back to 20-30 minutes of walk/trot work and the heat in the heel disappeared within two days.
I'l have to accept that although he's the best of the three, he won't be up to "full" work for a while.
GiGi has been stuck in a slightly stiff, slightly sore place. Some days she seems good, then the next day she'll be quite stiff and shuffly again. She had one day of "chestnut mare" attitude, where she didn't want to go forward at all, then when Anne insisted, she exploded!
Anne: I was more worried about her today, there were no tantrums like yesterday when I took her for her daily stroll, but when I was leading her back to the yard, across the uneven ground, she stumbled quite badly in front. Then when I led her out for Anja to look at her she was very stiff, and stumbled again when I put her out. I will just have to wait and see how she is tomorrow, I could feel no tenderness along her spine, but then I'm no expert!
Aine the chiropracter will see her again before we go, and sooner if she gets any worse. Lorraine O'Brien is calling on Thursday to check her saddle fit, so for the time being I can do no more.
We started all three horses on a new kelp supplement this week. It's made from organic kelp grown off the West coast of Ireland, which is full of all sorts of good stuff - lots of minerals, plus Vitamins C, B2, B6, B12 and K. It's called Seahorse Atlantic and is made locally in West Cork. The manufacturer assures us we'll see a difference in their coats within 6 weeks, and ultimately we should see an improvement in the quality of hoof growth as well.
I can't believe it's Friday already! I've had a crazy week, first there was the gargantuan dressage show that ran from 8.30am to 5.45pm on Sunday, which then ate into a lot of Monday as well, as I sorted out results and wrote up a report for the Irish Field. My room-mate from college came to stay on Sunday night as well, which was great, but it added to to the general business of the day!
Anne and I have both been kept busy for the rest of the week, with therapeutic walking or working of the three barefoot horses, starting to weed and tidy up our vegetable gardens and I've even begun some house tidying in aniticipation of Christmas visitors.
Strawberry bed weeded and runners
set for next year
Anyway, here's this Friday's Weather Watch :
What's missing from these Yahoo! forecasts is the wind - it's still quite windy today (Friday) after yesterday's gale force conditions. The Met Eireann forecast is a bit different, too, they are saying that the weather will improve a little from tomorrow. We shall see....
Meanwhile Equine Preparations Continue....
Yesterday (Thursday) the weather was spectacularly foul. All four horses were huddled on the dryish hard standing area, because that's best shelter from this wind and rain.
Anne: Gigi has been stumbling behind from time to time and at first I thought it was just laziness, but when the dentist was up to do her teeth, he had a quick feel of her back and discovered a tight spot behind the saddle. So an appointment was made with the chiropractor, Aine Dillon, on what turned out to be one of the worst days weatherwise we have had for a while. Having battled with a 12 foot solid wooden gate, in gale force winds, doing a drive and dash with the trailer before it blew shut again, we reached the safety of the yard.
Gigi quietly succumbed to an examination while munching on a huge pile of haylage. I'll say this for my mare, as long as there is food and company, she is quite happy. She had quite a few problems, neck, back and pelvis all needed manipulating, and she has some heat in her hocks, which I am just hoping is due to the hoof trim, and a different alignment of her back legs.
So a check of the saddle is called for, and hopefully I can get it fixed before the departure.
Martine: The day was so awful that comfort food was called for, so I made a great big pot of potato and jalapeno soup - yum! It warmed us all up no end.
Later in the afternoon, Dave-the-Vet came up to do routine flu vaccs for GiGi and Flurry. He was also meant to bring the dental gag so he could check Aero and Flurry's teeth, but unfortunately he forgot it, so he'll be back tomorrow.
Flurry has awful teeth - if I'd known how bad they were I may not have bought him. He is prone to diastemas, which is when there is a gap at the bottom of two teeth. Food matter gets wedged in the gap, rots and causes infection - imagine a piece of steak stuck between your teeth for weeks and you get the idea. The treatment is a General Anaesthetic job - knock out the horse and carefully open up the diastema from top to bottom by means of judicious drilling, rounding off the edges, so that food can just pass through and will no longer cause infection.
So far, Flurry has had to go through this twice since I bought him - for four diastemas the first time and I think five the second time. Thankfully we have a brilliant Veterinary practice locally, Tower Equine Hospital, whose head Vet, John Hyde, has a special interest in equine dentistry - he's done a great job each time.
I'm just hoping that there aren't any more diastemas threatening to cause trouble, but it's way more sensible to get him checked out now before we go than to risk having trouble with his teeth while we're in France.
We're coming up to the end of the first week now, so a Barefoot progress report is warranted.
Best of the three horses is Flurry. He's walking fine on level concrete and soft ground, he's just a bit tender on rough or stony ground. I rode him today for the first time, he was pretty good. His usual stiffness to the left and perhaps just a tiny bit tentative in trot. I gave him a brief canter on each rein, too (couldn't resist!), he felt fairly normal.
GiGi initially looked good and then worried Anne quite a bit on day three by looking rather sore in trot. Anne backed off immediately and then just walked her the next day, and by day 5 she looked a bit better. Lazy to lead but walked and trotted on well on the lunge!
Aero is the one I expect to benefit from "barefoot"the most, but he's the one who is suffering the most at the moment. Within two days of his trim he was looking very sorry for himself and was quite reluctant to move around the field, let alone walk onto the hard standing area. I moved him into a drier area where there is a good pick of grass for him, and thankfully within a day he had perked up a bit. He has had some heat and slight swelling in his left hind fetlock, probably due to the sudden change in the angle of his joints when he had the trim last week.
He has been quite sore while doing his daily walk work in the arena, but by day 5 we were beginning to see an improvement - he's walking carefully and not striding out like he normally does, but he is looking less sore than before.
He's now asking to be let back into the very muddy paddock with his buddies again, by standing at the gate looking hopeful! We'll keep him where he is for another few days, though, it's done him good.
In case anyone is wondering, my arena is not covered in gravel! That's rubber chip, made from old tyres and with the metal bits removed.
Today was B-Day : Barefoot Day. Martine and I have arrived at this point together, but from different routes, so we've decided to co-write this post.
Martine:
I’ve always know, somewhere at the back of my mind, that shoes are not really good for horses feet. I can’t remember where I first heard the phrase “take the shoes off to give the feet a break”, but I’ve usually done it, once a year for my own horses, for two – three months at a time. I’ve never done anything more permanent, though, because horses need shoes, right?
Over the last few years, I’ve been thinking more and more that my daughter's horse in particular didn’t need shoes – 80% of his work was in the arena, with the odd road, field or beach hack thrown in to vary his routine – but I never followed through on it. Anyone I discussed it with had the attitude “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it”, so I left well enough alone.
Then I read Joe Camp’s book Soul of a Horse. He does verge on being the crystal-swinging, incense-burning, tree-hugging-hippy horse keeper from time to time, but he makes a lot of very sensible points about why horses were shod in the first place, and how is it that wild horses somehow survive without shoes, in many cases in the most extreme rough terrains.
I know a lady locally who started on the barefoot path two years ago, and hasn’t looked back since – I’ve chatted with her on and off about the barefoot idea, but was never brave enough to do it.
I did some more research on the internet, both scientific and anecdotal, and followed the story of two Irish women who were transitioning their horses – poniesathome and twohorses. Theirs is not a story of an easy transition and plain sailing, but it showed me beyond doubt that it can be done, given time, knowledge and willingness to invest in hoof boots.
I resolved that on our return from France, I would finally take the plunge and Flurry would “lose the shoes” and I mentioned this to Anne.
Anne :
When we first started talking about "the Trek" I was concerned about Gigi's inability to go down hill at a decent pace. She really minds herself, and still has the odd slip and slide. Whereas Flurry marches happily off, albeit doing enormous slips and slides, but how were Gigi and I going to keep up with Martine and Flurry. Then I read "Riding the Milky Way", the story of a trek from the centre of France to Santiago de Compestela in Spain. Their reasons for going barefoot seemed so logical, and they found that the horses had much better grip without the shoes, obvious when you think about it. They used "hoof boots" some of the time, and managed the journey without resorting to shoes, although they did have problems with loosing boots.
Had we left it too late ? Could we transition our horses in time ? Well surely it was worth a try. Would I be able to convince Martine ? Well I did manage to convince Martine and we got the contact details for the "barefoot lady" from our mutual friend Frances.... as to the rest, we shall see!
Martine:
So Anja Koch, Equine Podiatrist, arrived into the yard at mid-morning on November 10th.
She started on Aero, Tansy's horse. First thing to note was his very flaky, brittle feet, which my farrier had also pointed out recently. Once his shoes were off, I could see much more clearly what she was talking about. His front feet were ok, and should grow into a good barefoot shape quite easily.
Left one done, right one to do
His back feet, though, were extremely long - years of wearing shoes and being trimmed into a shape suitable for shoes has forced the hoof capsule to grow forward, giving him a breakover point which is too far forward and causing him to flick his toes off the ground as he trots.
Very long - in fairness it's just over six weeks since his last shoeing
Much better - the deviation is even improved
That bulge at the front shouldn't be there
Same foot post trim
Anja pointing to where the toe should be
Pointing at the same spot post trim - toes are MUCH shorter
GiGis turn
More brittle feet - pre trim
Post trim - shorter and more rounded toe
Flurry's big round front foot
Flurry' front post trim
Flurry's hind foot - just looks a bit long in the toe from this angle
But take a shot from the side and you can see how high the frog is
The heels will come down and the frog will recede
Anja advised us to walk the horses in-hand in the arena for a couple of days - twenty minutes of marching around will be more beneficial than a whole day mooching around the field, as it should really get the circulation going.
She left a rasp with us, with instructions to even off any chips or rough edges that appear over the next few weeks and she’ll come back to us just before the horses leave to do another trim and tidy-up job.
We’ve made contact with an Equine Podiatrist (Beatrice Vuillaume) about an hour from Cereste who will help the horses continue to make the transition when we get there.
Both she and Anja have been very helpful and also realistic – we all agree that it will be tight to have the two horses fully transitioned within 5 months, but that it is possible. Worst case, we get them shod before we start the big trek – their feet should be good and healthy at that stage, so three to four weeks of wearing shoes won’t hurt. Best case, they manage the whole lot barefoot, and somewhere in between is the scenario where they wear hoof boots part of the time.
It will be worth so much to us if we can achieve it, in terms of safety and security while travelling over varied terrain, and in terms of not needing to worry about cast shoes and finding farriers in the middle of nowhere.
Gigi and Mick
Anne:
Gigi had the added pleasure of a visit from the equine dentist, as horses no longer live naturally, grazing the prairies all day long, they tend to grow spurs and sharp edges on their teeth, that need to be rasped off from time to time. Gigi seems to really enjoy the visits from Mick Dillon, who has endless patience with her, doing all the necessary work without the use of sedatives.
Gigi giving Mick a good look at her teeth
Paddock management for barefoot horses.
The first load spread
Standing around in muck and slush all day is not good for hoofs, so we’ve had two loads of mixed stone delivered to ensure that the horses have the option of a dry hard area to stand on. There are big stones underneath, and then “blindings”, which is limestone chip and dust, spread on top.
All three horses were happily standing on it this morning, shoeless. Strangely enough, yesterday morning, GiGi was reluctant to stand on it, even though she still had her shoes at that stage.
The end result - they seem quite happy to stand on it!
The horses have somewhere between six and eight weeks left living here – hopefully what they have in the paddock will be sufficient for their needs – a hard dryish area, a sandy area and a muddy area (which was grass once upon a time) plus regular work either in the arena or on the road as they adjust.
