I just ordered a new pair of hoof boots. Unfortunately the Easyboot Edge was back ordered, so I got the Easyboot Bare. If they aren't good enough, I'll "upgrade" them for the Edges. They'll get us through the winter, which is all I need. I actually like the tread on the Bares better, less aggressive and more like an actual hoof. I mean, how many wild horses weak hiking boots?
For now Cherry's wearing the Old Macs. They're not miles to big, but enough too big that they interfere with her gait. For now though, I'll take a little interference and clipping over a lame pony. With her boots, she's sound on gravel, without them she's not. So she wears them.
I just hope the new boots get here quick, and that they fit.
On another "new tack" note, I made ground driving lines today. I went to the hardware store and bought some rope and a couple of scissor snaps. It's just poly rope, nothing special, but it feels nice in the hand. That's why I bought it. All the other rope was either too thick or too stiff. The only drawback is that the rope is quite luridly colored.
It's got black, bright blue, red, and teal. Teal? Did I say teal?! Oooooh! Yes, there is indeed teal in the rope. I guess the rope color isn't such a drawback after all! Ahem. Anyway, they really are quite bright. At least I won't lose them.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Hoof Boots Revisited
Cherry needs hoof boots, like yesterday. My lovely Old Mac's don't fit anymore because they were sized for her awful flared feet. Now that the flares are substantially reduced, they're far too big. Surprise surprise.
So now I am on the hunt AGAIN.
I've pretty well made up my mind, though. Barring the possibility that they simply will not fit, I'm going to buy a pair of Easyboot Edges for Cherry. Those are the ones with the caterpillar screw on them. They seem to be the best option at the moment.
I'd love to have a pair of Easyboot Gloves, but I'm not comfortable committing to a boot with such a narrow margin of fit at this stage of the game. Maybe those will come once her feet have fully transitioned.
As for extra pads, I'm on the fence about them. It sounds like a good idea, but I'm not sure if Cherry really needs them. She's not an extreme case by any means, just tender on hard surfaces and rocks. We'll see. If she needs them, I'll buy them.
Cherry needs to move so that her feet can be healthy, but she doesn't want to move except on grass. So I'm going to put boots on her to encourage her to move. And so I can ride wherever I want instead of being limited.
On another note, I trimmed her again today. This time I did all four feet, just redoing the mustang roll and backing up her toes. She moved better after I'd finished. Not totally comfy (at least on the concrete), but better. I watched her standing around in her paddock for awhile, and was very pleased to note that for the most part she stood square and comfortably. Good sign!
So now I am on the hunt AGAIN.
I've pretty well made up my mind, though. Barring the possibility that they simply will not fit, I'm going to buy a pair of Easyboot Edges for Cherry. Those are the ones with the caterpillar screw on them. They seem to be the best option at the moment.
I'd love to have a pair of Easyboot Gloves, but I'm not comfortable committing to a boot with such a narrow margin of fit at this stage of the game. Maybe those will come once her feet have fully transitioned.
As for extra pads, I'm on the fence about them. It sounds like a good idea, but I'm not sure if Cherry really needs them. She's not an extreme case by any means, just tender on hard surfaces and rocks. We'll see. If she needs them, I'll buy them.
Cherry needs to move so that her feet can be healthy, but she doesn't want to move except on grass. So I'm going to put boots on her to encourage her to move. And so I can ride wherever I want instead of being limited.
On another note, I trimmed her again today. This time I did all four feet, just redoing the mustang roll and backing up her toes. She moved better after I'd finished. Not totally comfy (at least on the concrete), but better. I watched her standing around in her paddock for awhile, and was very pleased to note that for the most part she stood square and comfortably. Good sign!
Friday, October 15, 2010
Ground Driving
I've decided to take up ground driving! Why? Cherry and I desperately need something new to do. We're bored, quite frankly, and when Cherry is bored, bad things happen. Also I need a way to get her moving that doesn't involve me sitting on her. Lunging is out, since circling does nothing for her joints, and it bores me.
So ground driving it is!
I don't think I'm ever going to hitch her to anything, though the thought is sorely tempting. How cute would Cherry be as a cart pony?!?!?! Damn adorable. Buuuuuuuut I know nothing of driving, short of the fact that there's these leather strap things that somehow connect to poles that are attached to the cart. Yeeah. Maybe I shouldn't be driving.
I might, might, get her used to something dragging behind her just for fun this winter. The log drag is notoriously Cherry's least favorite event on the obstacle trail courses. While never resulting in blind panic, she usually hops sideways up the trail while keeping a bugged-out eye on the evil log pursuing her, snorting and blowing the whole time. Fuuuuun.
Anyway, the point of ground driving is not to advance to "real" driving, but as a new thing to do for both of us. She walks, I walk, and hopefully we both get a bit of exercise.
So far I've done this twice, and had a pretty good time doing it. I do need actual lines, though. Right now I'm using two roping reins clipped together and a lunge line. They do not weight the same or feel the same in my hands. I'm thinking of making some lines out of rope from the hardware store. They really just need to match and be long enough.
Cherry seems to have taken to driving pretty well. Of course, she's old and broke, and thus will pretty much do whatever inane thing you ask to the best of her ability, whether she totally understands you or not.
So far we've only had a few communication mix-ups. The first one was when I asked her to back up for the first time. I guess she was afraid she was going to run into me or something, because she backed up like she was negotiating a rocky trail on the edge of a bottomless abyss. One step. Look. Really, Mom? Back up? Okaaaay. Two steps. Look. Are you sure? We got over it, though. I did have to stand to the side so she could see that she was not in fact going to run me over.
The second communication fail was all my fault. I asked her to turn right, but I didn't turn right with her, I just kind of long lined her around the turn. Long story short, line got wrapped around her butt and she ended up confusedly backing up from the pressure on both reins. But I learned something! Now I know that I have to follow her through turns so the pressure on the lines remains even and doesn't start pulling on her face. Poor pony, she looked at me like she had no idea what I wanted, but she was doing the only thing she could think of.
And I've learned something else. Driving is kind of hard! In the saddle you have so many aides available. Hands, seat, legs, weight, voice, but driving you only have two: hands and voice. It's hard to get your point across when you only have the reins and voice commands. You can't back them up with shifting your weight or applying leg. It's far easier to confuse your horse with such little actual contact with him. In a way that's good though, it's a new challenge for us!
So ground driving it is!
I don't think I'm ever going to hitch her to anything, though the thought is sorely tempting. How cute would Cherry be as a cart pony?!?!?! Damn adorable. Buuuuuuuut I know nothing of driving, short of the fact that there's these leather strap things that somehow connect to poles that are attached to the cart. Yeeah. Maybe I shouldn't be driving.
I might, might, get her used to something dragging behind her just for fun this winter. The log drag is notoriously Cherry's least favorite event on the obstacle trail courses. While never resulting in blind panic, she usually hops sideways up the trail while keeping a bugged-out eye on the evil log pursuing her, snorting and blowing the whole time. Fuuuuun.
Anyway, the point of ground driving is not to advance to "real" driving, but as a new thing to do for both of us. She walks, I walk, and hopefully we both get a bit of exercise.
So far I've done this twice, and had a pretty good time doing it. I do need actual lines, though. Right now I'm using two roping reins clipped together and a lunge line. They do not weight the same or feel the same in my hands. I'm thinking of making some lines out of rope from the hardware store. They really just need to match and be long enough.
Cherry seems to have taken to driving pretty well. Of course, she's old and broke, and thus will pretty much do whatever inane thing you ask to the best of her ability, whether she totally understands you or not.
So far we've only had a few communication mix-ups. The first one was when I asked her to back up for the first time. I guess she was afraid she was going to run into me or something, because she backed up like she was negotiating a rocky trail on the edge of a bottomless abyss. One step. Look. Really, Mom? Back up? Okaaaay. Two steps. Look. Are you sure? We got over it, though. I did have to stand to the side so she could see that she was not in fact going to run me over.
The second communication fail was all my fault. I asked her to turn right, but I didn't turn right with her, I just kind of long lined her around the turn. Long story short, line got wrapped around her butt and she ended up confusedly backing up from the pressure on both reins. But I learned something! Now I know that I have to follow her through turns so the pressure on the lines remains even and doesn't start pulling on her face. Poor pony, she looked at me like she had no idea what I wanted, but she was doing the only thing she could think of.
And I've learned something else. Driving is kind of hard! In the saddle you have so many aides available. Hands, seat, legs, weight, voice, but driving you only have two: hands and voice. It's hard to get your point across when you only have the reins and voice commands. You can't back them up with shifting your weight or applying leg. It's far easier to confuse your horse with such little actual contact with him. In a way that's good though, it's a new challenge for us!
Trim #5? 6? I don't remember
I've started doing Cherry's hooves every two weeks now. I might even have to go to doing them every week.
The whole trimming thing is a good news-bad news situation.
The bad news is that she's gotten MORE tender on gravel of late. As in, the last 3 weeks. She's back to barely being able to walk up to driveway without hobbling. It's awful. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
The good news is that her feet look the best they've looked in 3 years. She doesn't look like she's foundered (which she hasn't) anymore. Her feet are not full of chips, cracks, and ugly flares. Her hind feet look pretty damn spiffy. I look at them and think, "yes!" It's a gut reaction. Her front feet...... well, we're working on them.
Yesterday I trimmed her right front hoof. That's it. I trimmed only her right front hoof because I did not trim it enough the last time. Way too much heel, and the bars were sticking up past the level of the wall. So I fixed it. I also rasped a tiny bit off the left front, but not much.
Some time this weekend I need to go through all her feet and mustang roll the wall again. I'm still fighting white line separation, and I think that's what's making her sore. She suddenly became ouchy again after I quit using the nippers and went exclusively to the rasp. Maybe what I thought was over-nippering was actually what she needed. And now that I'm using only the rasp, I'm not removing enough wall for her to be comfortable.
From what I've read, it seems like the lame-on-gravel thing is more of a white line issue than a sole issue. If that's what's going on, thank goodness. Wall is easy to remove. I'd hate to have something wrong with her sole, i.e. her coffin bone.
I've also read that it can take up to a year for a horse to fully transition from shoes to barefoot and that for several months you might need to aggressively roll the hoof (bevel all the way to the sole) to allow the separation to grow down. Cherry wasn't shod, but had horrible flares at least halfway up her hoof (judging by old pics), so I'm going to treat her as a transition horse.
So in the light of day today, I'm going to redo the mustang roll on ALL her feet. And I'm going to do it properly. All the way to the sole edge, no mercy! I might have to back up her toes too. They got stretched forward, and that causes all sorts of problems as well.
I've got so much more to learn about hoof trimming it's staggering. I feel terrible thinking that I might be harming my horse, but deep down I feel that my fuck ups are minor, and that in the long run she's going to benefit from all of this.
The whole trimming thing is a good news-bad news situation.
The bad news is that she's gotten MORE tender on gravel of late. As in, the last 3 weeks. She's back to barely being able to walk up to driveway without hobbling. It's awful. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
The good news is that her feet look the best they've looked in 3 years. She doesn't look like she's foundered (which she hasn't) anymore. Her feet are not full of chips, cracks, and ugly flares. Her hind feet look pretty damn spiffy. I look at them and think, "yes!" It's a gut reaction. Her front feet...... well, we're working on them.
Yesterday I trimmed her right front hoof. That's it. I trimmed only her right front hoof because I did not trim it enough the last time. Way too much heel, and the bars were sticking up past the level of the wall. So I fixed it. I also rasped a tiny bit off the left front, but not much.
Some time this weekend I need to go through all her feet and mustang roll the wall again. I'm still fighting white line separation, and I think that's what's making her sore. She suddenly became ouchy again after I quit using the nippers and went exclusively to the rasp. Maybe what I thought was over-nippering was actually what she needed. And now that I'm using only the rasp, I'm not removing enough wall for her to be comfortable.
From what I've read, it seems like the lame-on-gravel thing is more of a white line issue than a sole issue. If that's what's going on, thank goodness. Wall is easy to remove. I'd hate to have something wrong with her sole, i.e. her coffin bone.
I've also read that it can take up to a year for a horse to fully transition from shoes to barefoot and that for several months you might need to aggressively roll the hoof (bevel all the way to the sole) to allow the separation to grow down. Cherry wasn't shod, but had horrible flares at least halfway up her hoof (judging by old pics), so I'm going to treat her as a transition horse.
So in the light of day today, I'm going to redo the mustang roll on ALL her feet. And I'm going to do it properly. All the way to the sole edge, no mercy! I might have to back up her toes too. They got stretched forward, and that causes all sorts of problems as well.
I've got so much more to learn about hoof trimming it's staggering. I feel terrible thinking that I might be harming my horse, but deep down I feel that my fuck ups are minor, and that in the long run she's going to benefit from all of this.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Trim #4
On Sunday I trimmed Cherry's hooves.
They look great. However, she's a bit tender, and I don't know quite why. Hard surfaces (concrete, gravel) are ouchie for her, but her paddock and the grass are not. She's perfectly sound out in the field, but gets gimpy on the gravel driveway and the concrete barn isle.
I'm trying to figure out why. I took off hardly any sole. Just scraped out the flakey stuff from the seat of the corn. On a good note, her heels want to come down now! Lots of dead sole at the corn this time!
From what (little) I know, there's two possibilities for why she's tender. One is that I accidentally rasped a bit of toe callous off when I was rasping her heels. It didn't look like much, but maybe it made a difference. The second possibility is that I took off too much hoof wall. Which is true, I did. I'm still fixing those horrible flares and white line separation, and I did go a trifle overboard. I was careful not to rasp too far up the outside of the hoof wall, but maybe I did in my efforts to remove wall contact with the ground in the problem areas.
I guess I'll just have to see how it grows out. I'm happy to say that the white line separation is now confined to problem spots instead of being present around the whole hoof. Hooray! The bars are also starting to stand up straight. The were badly folded over, so I've been working to fix that too. Another awesome thing is that those awful stress lines are growing out, and I've figured out what's been causing them. It was the damn farrier himself! Every trim had an associated stress line, which makes sense considering she was LAME after them! That's pretty stressful for the hoof, I'd say. Since I've been trimming, no new ones have formed. Great success! Though there might be one from this last trim. This is the most tender she's been after a trim with me.
This time I waited only 2 weeks since the last trim. There was still an amazing amount of hoof wall growth. I couldn't believe it had only been two weeks. I'm hopeful that her hoof wall will grow right back and, um, sort of "fill in the gaps" of where I took too much off. I'm not sure when the next trim will be, I'll check her in a couple weeks, but she may be able to go a little longer this time.
Next trim I will definitely be more conservative. Less rasping of the hoof wall, except in the places where the white line is a gaping hole. I'm also going to "shape" her sole a little bit more. By that I mean just cut a strip off around her frog. She doesn't grow much sole, but grows tons of wall, including heels and bars.
I feel bad for making her tender, but I'm comforted in the fact that her paddock is soft dirt, so she isn't in discomfort. Hmmm, maybe that's part of our problem. Perhaps more work in the outdoor arena would help. The footing in there is awful, kind of a fine gravel with lots of rocks scattered about. Something to ponder, though I won't be going in there until she's comfortable on the concrete again.
They look great. However, she's a bit tender, and I don't know quite why. Hard surfaces (concrete, gravel) are ouchie for her, but her paddock and the grass are not. She's perfectly sound out in the field, but gets gimpy on the gravel driveway and the concrete barn isle.
I'm trying to figure out why. I took off hardly any sole. Just scraped out the flakey stuff from the seat of the corn. On a good note, her heels want to come down now! Lots of dead sole at the corn this time!
From what (little) I know, there's two possibilities for why she's tender. One is that I accidentally rasped a bit of toe callous off when I was rasping her heels. It didn't look like much, but maybe it made a difference. The second possibility is that I took off too much hoof wall. Which is true, I did. I'm still fixing those horrible flares and white line separation, and I did go a trifle overboard. I was careful not to rasp too far up the outside of the hoof wall, but maybe I did in my efforts to remove wall contact with the ground in the problem areas.
I guess I'll just have to see how it grows out. I'm happy to say that the white line separation is now confined to problem spots instead of being present around the whole hoof. Hooray! The bars are also starting to stand up straight. The were badly folded over, so I've been working to fix that too. Another awesome thing is that those awful stress lines are growing out, and I've figured out what's been causing them. It was the damn farrier himself! Every trim had an associated stress line, which makes sense considering she was LAME after them! That's pretty stressful for the hoof, I'd say. Since I've been trimming, no new ones have formed. Great success! Though there might be one from this last trim. This is the most tender she's been after a trim with me.
This time I waited only 2 weeks since the last trim. There was still an amazing amount of hoof wall growth. I couldn't believe it had only been two weeks. I'm hopeful that her hoof wall will grow right back and, um, sort of "fill in the gaps" of where I took too much off. I'm not sure when the next trim will be, I'll check her in a couple weeks, but she may be able to go a little longer this time.
Next trim I will definitely be more conservative. Less rasping of the hoof wall, except in the places where the white line is a gaping hole. I'm also going to "shape" her sole a little bit more. By that I mean just cut a strip off around her frog. She doesn't grow much sole, but grows tons of wall, including heels and bars.
I feel bad for making her tender, but I'm comforted in the fact that her paddock is soft dirt, so she isn't in discomfort. Hmmm, maybe that's part of our problem. Perhaps more work in the outdoor arena would help. The footing in there is awful, kind of a fine gravel with lots of rocks scattered about. Something to ponder, though I won't be going in there until she's comfortable on the concrete again.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
New Saddle Blanket!
My new saddle blanket came! And OMG, it's HUGE! I know, I know, I ordered the double blanket on purpose, but it's bigger than I thought it'd be. Opening the package was like unwrapping a rug to use on my floor. "I'm going to put this monstrosity on my horse?!" Yes, yes I am.
And I did. And it looked ridiculous. It sat like a weird wool tent on my horse's back. Oh no! It doesn't fit! Then I remembered that, duh, you have to break in new blankets. Whoops! Silly me. It still looked pretty big, though.
I saddled up anyway with my English saddle and went for a ride. A short ride, and a slow ride, as my back has not been happy recently. Cherry seemed perfectly happy in her tack, and the saddle blanket didn't seem to bother her at all, despite running all the way from withers to rump (I told you it was huge).
The saddle also seemed to fit better with the blanket. Before it felt like I was being tipped to the back of the saddle, but with the new blanket I felt centered and like I was sitting where I should be in the seat.
Oh, and it's PRETTY! The pattern is awesome, and the colors are great. The light tan matches my girth, the brown matches my saddle, the black matches my bridle, and the sage green doesn't clash with my teal stuff. Great success!
I did discover the reason the damn thing is so big. It's the oversize model! Not just double, but oversized double. Ohhhhhhh. Of course, I made this discovery AFTER I rode in it. Of course I did. Instead of 32X64, its 36X68. No wonder it looks so damn huge. It IS huge. There must have been a mix-up at the company, but it's too late to do anything about it now. It's hairy and sweaty and mine. That's okay though, I don't think I would have been as happy with a smaller blanket, but time will tell.
Maybe I'll use it as a rug if it doesn't work out as a saddle blanket.
And I did. And it looked ridiculous. It sat like a weird wool tent on my horse's back. Oh no! It doesn't fit! Then I remembered that, duh, you have to break in new blankets. Whoops! Silly me. It still looked pretty big, though.
I saddled up anyway with my English saddle and went for a ride. A short ride, and a slow ride, as my back has not been happy recently. Cherry seemed perfectly happy in her tack, and the saddle blanket didn't seem to bother her at all, despite running all the way from withers to rump (I told you it was huge).
The saddle also seemed to fit better with the blanket. Before it felt like I was being tipped to the back of the saddle, but with the new blanket I felt centered and like I was sitting where I should be in the seat.
Oh, and it's PRETTY! The pattern is awesome, and the colors are great. The light tan matches my girth, the brown matches my saddle, the black matches my bridle, and the sage green doesn't clash with my teal stuff. Great success!
I did discover the reason the damn thing is so big. It's the oversize model! Not just double, but oversized double. Ohhhhhhh. Of course, I made this discovery AFTER I rode in it. Of course I did. Instead of 32X64, its 36X68. No wonder it looks so damn huge. It IS huge. There must have been a mix-up at the company, but it's too late to do anything about it now. It's hairy and sweaty and mine. That's okay though, I don't think I would have been as happy with a smaller blanket, but time will tell.
Maybe I'll use it as a rug if it doesn't work out as a saddle blanket.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Made a Decision, Sort Of
I've made up my mind on the whole boarding situation, at least for the time being. If something comes up or changes, I'll have to rethink it.
I've decided to stay where I am. For now. Cherry is well fed, well cared for, and I know she's looked after when I'm out of town. These are important things for me, and at the moment they are worth paying for. Especially now, with winter coming.
Winter is when things blow up around here, boarding stable-wise. There have been other barns in the area who've run out of hay, had roofs collapse under a snow cover, not fed enough, not bothered to provide unfrozen water, etc. Those things haven't happened here for the last three winters, and it freaks me out to think that I'd move and then be screwed.
If I moved now, right now, I'd only have a month, perhaps two, to regularly ride. I'm not sure if that's worth the hassle. If it was June, that might be different, but it's September. It'll probably start snowing in November, and due to plenty of hills and a crappy 2WD truck, I can't always get around so good once the snows hit.
So I think I'm going to maintain the status quo for a bit longer. Cherry is not suffering, so there's no need to rush. It's just me that's depressed over the lack of places to go. I'm just going to have to suck it up and deal.
If I continue to take care of Cherry, it's quite likely that she's got several years of riding left in her. No need to be hasty, 6 months isn't really that long in the grand scheme of things.
I've decided to stay where I am. For now. Cherry is well fed, well cared for, and I know she's looked after when I'm out of town. These are important things for me, and at the moment they are worth paying for. Especially now, with winter coming.
Winter is when things blow up around here, boarding stable-wise. There have been other barns in the area who've run out of hay, had roofs collapse under a snow cover, not fed enough, not bothered to provide unfrozen water, etc. Those things haven't happened here for the last three winters, and it freaks me out to think that I'd move and then be screwed.
If I moved now, right now, I'd only have a month, perhaps two, to regularly ride. I'm not sure if that's worth the hassle. If it was June, that might be different, but it's September. It'll probably start snowing in November, and due to plenty of hills and a crappy 2WD truck, I can't always get around so good once the snows hit.
So I think I'm going to maintain the status quo for a bit longer. Cherry is not suffering, so there's no need to rush. It's just me that's depressed over the lack of places to go. I'm just going to have to suck it up and deal.
If I continue to take care of Cherry, it's quite likely that she's got several years of riding left in her. No need to be hasty, 6 months isn't really that long in the grand scheme of things.
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