All posts filed under: Horses

Reno

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Reno is a 5 year old Percheron gelding. Trained and worked in harness regularly, Reno came in from the pasture lame one day. No one really knows what happened. Just a blown up hock and a lame horse. For several weeks he would improve then appear to reinjure himself in a frustrating downward spiral. I decided to accept him as a rehab project in January when his owner, frustrated, was looking an option that did not involve euthanasia. Reno was apparently a very nice horse, one who could be handled and ridden by children, despite his size…18 hands. Above is a photo of Reno from behind on the first day. No he is not walking…he is standing. Note the contracture and atrophy on the injured left side. He virtually stood like this nearly 100 % of the time, with the left hind in the air. I put Reno in a smallish paddock with my mini fosters. He was great with the little guys and there was no drive for him to overexert himself. It was …

Spirit’s hoof rehab

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Spirit is a mini that I rescued in December. Since I have such an interest in feet, I thought it would be cool to record the changes in his hoof quality with regular trimming. On his arrival, it was clear that Spirit’s feet had recieved little attention in the previous few months. He had bad thrush infections in all four feet..tiny necrotic frogs and alot of false sole in reaction to the frog weakness. Below you will see his left hind…pre-trim, then post first trim (you will see the false sole and lack of concavity)…then post third trim (where you will see normal concavity and a healthy frog)…a thing of beauty! This foot was in the best shape (and the photos were the best) so it is presented here. But the remining 3 feet are coming along as well. As the frog health improves, so does the rest of the foot. I’ve used Eclipse wound cleanser with each trim. We’ve had cold hard conditions here in New England which has helped the cause tremendously as …

Meet ‘Holiday Spirit’…

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In early december, I became aware of a miniature stallion at risk at the New Holland Auction in PA. Though at the time I thought surely someone would adopt him… it turns out he was out of time. I had to step up. As fortune would have it, I instantly had a crew willing to drive (9 hours each way) down to get him, as I was out of town for a meeting. I returned home in time to get a stall with a run-out ready for the little guy. He arrived the evening of Dec 15th…my mom’s birthday! What a joy he is! Cute as a button and a very sweet temperment… The first challenge was keeping him adequately quarantined from my other horses as there was some question about a strangles exposure. Its been over two weeks now…so far, so good. My Vet came out to see him shortly after he arrived to check him over. She thought he was likely around 15 years old and in reasonably good condition. He has something …

Educating Peanut. Part One

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Educating Peanut, Part One… In June of 2006, I glanced into a neighbors pasture as I drove home. I was surprised to see a Belgian foal on the ground and stopped to investigate. As it happens, he was 10 minutes old and I watched as he stood and took his first steps…it was love at first sight. I had no experience at all with draft breeds but this did not deter me from inquiring about him and after a brief conversation with my dairy farmer neighbor, a deal was struck. Having spent the past 10 years studying natural horsemanship pretty intensively, I felt pretty confident about his early handling. Turns out, everything about him was easy. Weaning was a simple matter. Halter training and leading went uneventfully. He learned to stand quietly for me to trim his feet with very minimal fuss. As a yearling I brought him to Mark Rashid while he was visiting New Hampshire and he got us started with lunging and ground driving. Peanut was indeed an easy-going horse…sensitive and sensible…all …

Peanut and Bear

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Peanut’s 3rd ride was with a total newbie….my brother Bear….who had never ridden a horse. I had spied Bear making some advances toward Peanut on the sly that looked like a ‘connection’…so I taught him to halter and saddle, then mount (though that went less than perfectly, but oh well…more for Peanut to get used to and prepared for). Peanut will be a perfect mount for Bear in regard to his size and even at this young age, Peanut does not look too small to carry a big guy like Bear. I then led him on a 10 minute ride, lead line style and gave him the basics of being centered. Good first lesson for Bear and Peanut did great in his 3rd saddling. Video links below.. http://s306.photobucket.com/albums/nn258/mamajud/RESTING%20HEART/?action=view&current=DSCN1321.flv http://s306.photobucket.com/albums/nn258/mamajud/RESTING%20HEART/?action=view&current=DSCN1322.flv

Renegade Hoof Boots

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One of my Equine Podiatry specialist friends turned me on to the new Renegade Hoof Boots, in particular their Ice Boot which has studs for traction. I have had a tough time keeping Easyboots on, even the Bares and Epics, at a gallop, which we require while Skijoring. This past weekend, we had the opportunity to test them out at a race. They were fabulous. Manny was faster than he has been all season, the boots stayed on, did not accumulate snow or debris and did not rub or irritate his feet in any way. He wore them for about 7 hours and we had no traction issues at all. Love them and endorse the product completely. More info at http://www.renegadehoofboots.com/ . Manny pictured below, at a gallop, sporting his bright orange Ice Boots. I know the orange doesn’t fit our fashoin motif, but hey…they are tough to miss and quite a conversation piece.

Perfect Hoof Wear, Volume One

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About a year ago, I took on the care of my horse’s feet, myself. I pulled the shoes and started trimming. I read everything I could get my hands on and studied very hard. I finally hooked up with KC LaPierre and his HPT theory in June and have been studying his program exclusively since. The difference in my horses’ soundness has been huge and we are able to do more and more…shoeless. KC’s theory teaches us not only how to trim for balance but why stimulus is so important for the developement of great structure and therefore function. His new product Perfect Hoof Wear, is an amazing new concept in protective hoof wear in that it allows expansion of the hoof and therefore allows stimulus to affect the foot positively. More info is available at http://www.equinepodiatry.net . I elected to test drive this product on my OTTB, Canon. He has decent feet and no soundness issues currently, but he has pretty typical TB feet. He has a clubbed RF and his LF heels are …

Paddock Paradise

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I’ve had some requests to show some picture documentation of my ‘paddock paradise’ here at Resting Heart Farm. This all started when I found myself collecting horses, lol. I went from 2 to 6 horses over the past year and have only about 12 acres of pasture for grazing (4 or so are not even mine). After reading Jaime Jackson’s book of the same title, I used some (not all) of his ideas to create a network of fencing alleys that do several things…. Right now in winter, it is a simple track around my main field. It allows the horses 24/7 access to the main barn and stalls, but keeps them off the main pasture and on the perimeter only. The circular nature is great for keeping them moving…in contrast to a small paddock approach to winter. This is particularly useful with youngsters as they get pretty bored very easily. So I’ll give you a tour… Here I am standing at the barn looking down the track. The water trough is at the bottom …

The Lounging Rock

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I kept this big rock within my ‘paddock paradise’ track, as the horses just seem drawn to it. Its where they hang out, play, even take alittle snooze. Here Manny and Molly contemplate spring and the lower pasture, which will soon be green and lush!