This week I have experienced the opposite situation. When Ryan was pushed into retirement at the age of 19 through lameness 4 years ago his shoes came off and at the same time I looked into the then almost alien concept of having horses barefoot. Yes he had had shoes removed for periods of his working life usually when injured or rested but even then I recall it being a last resort as his feet would invariably crumble and “I wanted to save them”. So I bought Sarah Braithwaite and Nic Barkers Book Performance Barefoot and with every page I recognised so many issues that Ryan had struggled with over the years and oh how I wished I could have turned back the clock there and then. But still I only made a few almost token changes. Yes I reduced some of the sugar from their diet, yes they all got to experience some varied terrain (in the shape of a central paddock becoming a car park which meant they always got to cross it daily) and I took permission from the PB book to leave the trim with my farrier since that would have been a major step for me after 30 years in the same safe pair of hands. So the book went on the shelf and we continued more or less as before. Meanwhile a few young horses came into our lives and I played with the barefoot idea, not shoeing until I felt it necessary. My other old boy Juno joined the shoeless herd last year as he too succumbed to Cushings and lameness and inevitable retirement. Some interesting points at this stage were that Ryan after 4 years without shoes now had a set of solid feet for the first time I can recall – the walls and soles always used to resemble cheese, soft and crumbly. He was so improved that he has recently started light hacking (aided by some boots in front when on roads). Juno though has had less success, requiring almost daily attention to remove small stones collected from the car park surface which cause him great discomfort. Young Patrick briefly wore a set of shoes last year after being a little reluctant to hack out and my need was to eliminate discomfort as a possible cause.
So here I was nearly 5 years on from my introduction happy to congratulate myself on our success (with Ryan) but increasingly niggled by thoughts that I should be doing more. So why wasn’t I? Well I always like the happy comfortable place where I let someone else take the responsibility, in this case my loyal farrier who has so many years of training and experience and has always gone out of his way to help me in times of need. No way was I going to become a trimmer – dodgy back, not knowledgeable enough, not strong enough etc. It was suggested by some I needed a proper barefoot trimmer but I was unwilling to buy into that – there was no supervising body, no recognised qualification (at least not one that involved a 5 year apprenticeship), seemingly no end of apparent experts on social media though many of them seemingly disagreeing with the next and yes it would still be that big leap of faith.
This week things changed…
An old friend who I used to train with in my eventing days got to come visit for a couple of days. We had 18 years to catch up on although thanks to Facebook and email it seemed like picking up where we left off yesterday. Here was someone who had my utmost trust and respect and who could also count many years and many miles of experience behind him and whose path now is firmly in that of using a Natural Trim. Those many miles include regular visits to many countries including Spain, Estonia, Bulgaria, Israel, Egypt, Africa, and the US helping educate horse owners and professionals including farriers and vets in improving the care and welfare of their animals through diet, movement and a simple trim. So he set about opening my eyes and my mind starting with how simple it would be to set up a track system within the confines of our property without impacting on the way we need to use it for events held here through the summer. We then looked at the diet I was using – surprise surprise, it had crept back to where it had been 5 years ago, I was using additives and ingredients and quantities that were unnecessary, no wonder that so much comes out of the other end when you pump so much in to start with! And worse still no wonder all 3 horses are overweight L
And then we looked at their feet. Generally not bad, 8 weeks on from their last trim and still well balanced, pretty much self trimming from the terrain and work they do but yes room for improvement as on looking at a few photos I found from last year the 2 old boys particularly show more separation than was evident back then – so the question was “what had changed”? Well Juno has been retired and therefore has been a lot less active. And yes that diet has been on the generous side for all of them. Life has gotten a bit cushy as I make it very inviting for them to spend time in their stables (they free range 24/7 so can choose) as usually there is MORE food in there as well as water and other luxuries like a fan to deter the midges. Hmmm how interesting….
And so what do I need to change and how will I achieve it?
1) Diet, diet, and diet! Seems I will have enough in my bins to last till next year at least! Quantities are going to decrease to a fraction – little more than needed to add in any medication required so the odd handful not several scoops. The ingredients will change to simpler options so the big feed companies turnover may take a hit! The beautiful wrapped haylage will be replaced by equally beautiful but more beneficial hay. We are blessed with a local farmer who produces old fashioned quality meadow hay (his haylage was pretty much the same I hasten to add but by its nature not as suitable albeit convenient).
2) Movement & Exercise – they need more – a lot more. Since my lifestyle and time is restricted by the continued need to pay bills I am unlikely to find any additional time to ride/exercise so they need to do more themselves. We have laid out a draft plan for a track system which will encourage them to move around a lot more, water, hay, salt will need to be sought out not presented so readily. Watch out for an invite to a “Paddock Paradise Party” where I will provide the food and drink and you can bring a sledgehammer to knock some posts in J
3) Trimming – and this is the surprise part which I found a little mind blowing. It was demonstrated how little needed to be done (remember this was after 8 weeks). The basic assessments and rules were simple to follow. As were the techniques and tools required. I am not out to lose the fabulous relationship I have with my farrier as I will ask him to keep an eye on my efforts. Farriers are not the “devil in disguise” at least mine isn’t.
So what I thought would be a step too far now seems little more than a shuffle – my perspective completely changed, all in a matter of 48 hours. We are all on the same side – the horses!
I hope my views and thoughts above do not offend anyone, farriers or trimmers, (no intention I assure you) but I wanted to try and explain what had held me back for so long. If anyone else is out there is interested Nick has offered to come again (what’s an 800 miles round trip between friends!) and we will put on a course over 2 or 3 days either along the lines of what I covered above to give you a better understanding of what to look for or maybe something in even more depth eg the chance to work on cadavers etc – you tell me what you’d like and as always I will try to set something up without it costing megabucks.
With grateful thanks to Nick Hill of www.cloverroseequine.co.uk for your time, patience, support, passion for your subject, and above all friendship.