Time, ambition or lack therof

It finally stopped raining (I know someone slap me for saying that word). Most places are dried up but we are gonna get more next week according to the weather network.
I am so sick of mud and rain.
The bugs this year are the worst I have seen this time of year.
Every year on the dot it seems the may 24 weekend the bugs come out. Normally this time of year a quick wipe with some fly repellent and you are good all day. Not this year, oooh no. These flies are back with a vengeance. Sheba and Indigo have been hiding in the shed the last week. They eat their hay and skitter on over to hide in the darkness.
The flies usually aren't this bad until July-ish. First we have sturgeon flies, then fish flies then mosquitoes and last but not least the biting flies.
Driving Indigo yesterday we got completely eaten alive by mosquitoes. They are everywhere. I am really not looking forward to this fly season if it is already this bad.

One instructor quit at my therapeutic barn. I got extra hours. Although more time=more money I am not quite sure more time is available without me pulling hair. They gave me the other instructors hours. Plus now that the mud has seemed to clear up a little people are popping out of the woodwork for shoes. Horses are almost two months behind on training and conditioning because people can't ride in the mud. Reiners need sliding plates, barrel racers want rim shoes for traction, trail horses want caulks. This plus 4-H in our area. I am the only real leader. I have another girl who helps out and wile she does a phenomenal job I desperately need another leader who knows horses and can help me lead the club and teach these kids good horsemanship skills. We were supposed to have a car wash this Saturday but I had something like 4 or 5 kids showing up. I don't think so! I can go riding any time I want so it doesn't hurt me if they don't make the money for their year end trip. If these kids want their big trail ride they are going to darn well show up and do some fund raising.

I have so much to do here before I leave the first week of July for a little trip. I can't seem to find the ambition to do it. Since moving back home from Oklahoma 4 of my good close friends have moved 3 to 10 hours away. I feel like I get up in the morning, feed horses, ride horses, do stalls, ride more horses, drive/ride Indigo, trim horses, shoe horses, go home eat, internet, internet, play with dog, internet (note: should be cleaning or doing something mildly productive) sleep, rinse repeat. I need more random time in there for some non-horse related fun with friends but it's proving hard when no ones around or available. This summer looks like it's going to be a very boring one.

Now a word from the spotty horse:

"O hai"

"Something for me?"

"A cookie you say?"

"If you insist"



"omnomnomnom"

Wile you were gone...

I went outside for 30 seconds to grab a couple things I forgot.
I come back to find a theif!!!

I wonder how many times Indigo has done this wile I was gone to school?
She seemed to know right where the money was.

A review: Hoof dressings

The great people at Absorbine sent me another product to review.
As many of you know I am now considered a hoof care professional. I've seen lots of hooves at school and many since I have been home. The hooves at school in Oklahoma were rock hard. Taking a hoof knife to them was nearly impossible. Now that I am back home it's been raining pretty much non stop. Hooves here are what I refer to as "swamp feet". They are mushy and full of thrush and sticky mud.

This also means they are getting wet and more wet and oh, did I mention wet? It's like having your hands in dish water all day. Their perioples are peeling up and hooves are cracking and looking shelly and brittle. Too much moisture is a bad thing.

Normally I use Fiebings hoof lotion and strait arrows hoofmaker. Both have given me favorable results. I've been through a lot of hoof stuff. I like to use it when it's extremely wet, extremely dry or after I use hoof polish for shows because it dries the feet out.


When I was sent some all new natural hooflex I had an interesting encounter. First of all it's all natural. I love the fact I am not using chemicals on my horse. Secondly it came in a spray and a normal brush and bottle style.
I loved the fact that the spray bottle was not aerosol. However we did have a couple glitches with the sprayer which led us to believe they got frozen in transit and gave me some mixed results. I was promptly sent more bottles of natural hooflex in the brush on container for me to continue testing. I've used it on every horse I have shod and trimmed so far and the results have been lovely. I'll give you the pro's and con's of hooflex natural compared to my old favorite, Fiebings.

First of all I would like to point out that picking your horses feet every day or as much as possible will yield better results with any product in really muddy conditions. The bottom of your horses feet will have time to dry out and there will be less time for stuff to pack in and create bruising or thrush.


Please excuse the dirty floor. Sometimes things like sweeping before pictures goes right over my head.
Indigo's feet. They are looking much better now that I have been keeping up on them every 2 weeks but shes still a bit ouchy on stones and gets little chips here and there that cause me to always have an old rasp on hand in my tack locker. A far cry from the VERY unbalanced feet with a lot of retained sole I came home from school to. I promptly started applying the natural hooflex every other day, especially after trims.
Everyone's horse that I did got the hooflex applied after I trimmed or shod them. Everyone had very positive results.

So here is to comparing the two favorites for liquid hoof lotion. The Fiebings had some hoof pick like thing on top of the brush. If you want to know what happened to it just ask Indigo and her big yellow teeth.



Hooflex, all natural ingredients. I especially like the fact that it has arnica in it. As you know I am a huge fan of arnica and the benefits of it's anti-inflammatory properties. I've seen it used time and time again on horse and human alike and the results never stop amazing me. I think a hoof product that has arnica in it can do wonders for a hoof that has swelling, be it laminitis, founder, broken coffin bone, abscess, bruising, navicular etc.


It's clear. Well it was. I keep using it and so I got gunk in it from dirty feet, dust and general barn whatnot.

It also smells good. I got it all over my hands in the making of these blog photo's.


Now for the Fiebings.


Well I am guessing from the colour and smell the main ingredient would be neatsfoot oil. It was also listed in the ingredients. It smells like a saddle dressing. Neatsfoot oil typically was made from the legs and hooves of some animals (mostly cows) but can be found made from lard. Because of it's low melting point it can soak into things easily (leather, feet etc). However it leaves an oily residue that can be difficult to get rid of on the surface it was applied. The same was said for my horses hair. Indigo the notorious white dirt roller she is managed to get the fiebings every stinking time on her white legs. Dust and dirt would settle and cause gross patches of dirty, oily hair that I would have to wash several times to get clean.
Not surprising since the colour is yellowy.

So I tried both.

The results looked the same. (Her feet are really not shaped like that I got some on her coronet band so it looks like her feet are really off balance but they aren't)


But the next day (which unfortunately I don't have pictures of, sorry!) the results were in. The hoof on the left was the Fiebings. It had obviously rubbed off all over her coronet band, nose and opposite leg leaving oily, dirty spots. The hoof looked like it did in the before photo's where it hadn't been applied yet and I just brushed the mud off.

The hooflex hoof on the right had a beautiful natural shine to it. No gunk on her coronet band or on her hair in general. Just a nice shiny hoof. I am definitely, definitely going to be using this product in the future. I love it, clients love it, hooves love it. It's natural so that means it can be used on horses that might absorb it into their skin and have it show up in tests like race horses or show horses. Great product. I can't wait until it is available in my area because I want to continue using it.

-------------------

In other news on the blog world's favorite spotty horse:
Now that I got Indigo's feet going in the right direction I need to tackle stains so maybe, just maybe by the time the good shows start she might be sorta, kinda white. I had a horse breed show to bring her to on the weekend. I started washing her tail a few days beforehand and it's still not as white as it should be. Her hocks are also still slightly stained even after washing her three times the night before the show. Not even cowboy magic green spot remover and vinegar could tackle these winter long pee stains in one sitting.
Today I rode her down the road and picked asparagus then headed over back along a field. She is completely convinced that ducks flying out of the ditch just might be this rapture everyone's been talking about. They don't quack, they just fly up and out of the ditch every 50 feet or so along the back of this one field. End.Of.The.World.
The bugs were super bad for the first time today. Even with cheap bronco fly spray they totally ignored it and were making her swishy. I find every year on the dot Victoria day weekend the flies come out in swarms. They reared their ugly heads today and made our ride full of frequent pauses for whole body shakes, nipping at flies and itching faces on legs.
So after this ride I hosed her down and let her out to graze wile I put some stuff away only to see her furiously batting flies with her tail then circling with malicious intent. Uh oh. It was gonna happen eventually but I would rather her not grass stain herself. She rolled with a few big happy grunts in the grass, got back up and greened her other side too. Oh Indigo, if only you appreciate how hard I work to keep you looking spotty and somewhat white. Another day, another groom, another de-staining.

Mind your manners

Manners. Something we are always told to mind from an early age.
Looking at how we raise human children from the time they are born we talk to them, show them things they should and shouldn't do and give consequences for when they breach the boundaries. We like to talk and interact with respectful children. They are polite, mind their P's and Q's and are usually rewarded with more responsibility.
In the same category are our "four legged children". Just like human babies, foals are cute. They look cuddly and usually are curious and like to be scratched and fed things. Sometimes I think we overlook the fact that they are 100 pounds now but will grow 10 times that or more by the time we actually need their respect.

I've thought about this a lot over the last three weeks and a few days since I have been home. I know I have not blogged a lot and I apologize to my readers who are still here. I love you guys.
This kind of stemmed from a couple posts ago how I got bit on the top of the head by the PITA (Pain in the a$$) warmblood. No I did not need stitches I just had a big goose egg for a few days.

I've been in on average 5-8 barns a day since I have been home. I see all sorts of horses that are ridden and handled all sorts of ways. I can categorize them by their owners really, but that's for another post. Right now I want to focus on the horses behaviors in regards to manners in the long run.

Here are some things I notice the horses that are going to hurt you display.

Reaching out to you as you come close.
If a horse has to be in a stall it is nice that he is allowed to look around by poking his head into the isle way. Some barns accommodate this by making extra wide isle ways. Personally I am of the belief that a properly mannered horse should move out of your way when you walk. I don't want to have to avoid horse heads when I am walking or leading another horse. Same goes with being out in a paddock. I want my horses to come closer when I ask, not come poking and nosing around when they please. You don't see the lead mare getting poked at by a younger horse because that usually means there's a consequence just like you wouldn't see a human child come poking into an adults space. It's rude and eventually will lead to the horse going "Gee I am allowed to touch (human) whenever I want, I wonder what skin tastes like?" and you get bit or at the very least end up with a lippy horse.
I work with horses feet. I do not appreciate getting goosed by a clients horse wile I am handling their feet. I also do not like having heads resting on my back or snot being snorted up the back of my shirt.
For horses in stalls I spin a lead rope as I walk by. They do not become head shy because they run into the rope themselves. They learn that sticking their great big heads out (especially to bite me on top of the head) is not a really good idea because there's consequences they cause themselves. If a horse is in a paddock I'll shoo them away, poke their nosy-nose or rub their face in a way it's very annoying to be in my space.
If I want them to be near me I will approach them. It's perfectly acceptable to come to me which horses will do and I like a horse to do (I am lazy I hate having to "catch" horses) but keep your nose to yourself. The nose turns into lips and lips turn into teeth and I am 100% certain people don't like to get bit by big yellow horse teeth.
Curiosity is very acceptable but there's a time and place which does not belong with sticking their nose and possibly teeth in my business without being invited (EG- A hand offered to smell).

Backing.
Or lack thereof.
I have a saying and it's so far as I have ever seen. Your horse only stops as good as he backs up. This is very true on the ground and in the saddle.
A horse that can be backed up properly will flex at the poll and shift his weight to the hind end on the ground and in the saddle. This means the horse has accepted the pressure you are creating and is going with it, not bracing against it with his nose out in front of him. I can go as far as to say most horses when I apply pressure to the halter stick their noses out and brace against the pressure in the barns I am at.
I'll give you this scenario. I was working at my new barn, the state of the art one. The horses there are handled by lots of people some with horse experience and even more without because they need volunteers to run a place like that. The horses there are depressed and every single one of them display a condition called learned helplessness. They would have in human terms "Chronic depression". They often act out violently, biting at handlers when asked to trot and in extreme scenario's kicking or striking out. Today I had this young kind of problem gelding. He was kind of antsy tacking him up and when we got him into the arena after one trip around I had to dismount his rider when he charged ahead and threw a buck. I tried to stop him as a ground handler but he stuck his nose out and pushed right through my pressure. Long story short we got him another horse. The other horse went to spook at the same thing, tried for a second to push through the pressure but he stopped, flexed at the poll and allowed me to back him several steps instead of taking off and bucking once.
I was at a barn today shoeing some horses. They were very well mannered and were easy to handle. I backed every one up a few steps in the cross ties easily, even when a bit startled and jumped forward. Guess what each one did? Yup they flexed at the poll and backed without sticking their nose out and leaning on my pressure.
Leaning into pressure also means a horse will rub on a rider. This is getting away with murder in my opinion. In no way do I look like a fence post or will I ever be a fence post. Bridles are made of materials that can bruise or cut my skin I am not a personal scratching post. When I take a bridle off there will be no rubbing, pushing, scratching. Period. If a horse wants to scratch once the bridle is off and I am not handling it anymore be my guest.

Not turning to face you when you approach.
This is a big no-no. You never see a horse keep his butt to the lead mare when she approaches. You can bet that horse is going to turn around and give that mare both ears out of respect (and possibly the ruling of her iron fist...err hoof). Think about it as if you were talking to another person. You acknowledge them and their back is turned but instead of turning to greet you they keep their back turned to you wile you talk. Rude right?
I cannot count the times I went to get a horse that was in a pen or stall and I clicked to them to say "hey I am here" and have had them either ignore me or reply with a threatening hoof and nasty look. Neither is acceptable. You can teach a horse this many ways. I prefer when in an enclosed space to tap them (rope, lunge whip, halter, broom, whatever you have) until they turn to face you. Generally teaching a horse how to disengage his hindquarters from the ground is adequate enough to move a horses hind end when you look at it.

So from getting at all this basically they are three common things that results from lack of being able to control where a horse moves. If you have a say in where his legs go you have control over where his mind goes. If you control his head his legs must follow.

I see these are the three most common things that horses are allowed to get away with on the ground. They seem to branch off into hundreds of other behavioral problems that I could talk all day about. I love a horse that is well mannered just like I love people who are well mannered. They are easy to get along with, don't invade your space without being asked and respect your opinions.
So having said that, what are some things you hate that other peoples horses do. Did your horses do them (or do the above listed). How did you correct them or are you still fighting the issues? I would love to hear.

Who has a cute little ass?

What does a cute little ass, $50 and trimming horses have in common?

Any guesses?
Any?
Any at all?

It all starts with the cowboy, herein known as Maverick. (If you don't get this reference firstly go slap yourself, then go google it and finally invest in the series. A true classic.)

Though James Garner Maverick didn't wear a carhartt jacket.


Anyway back to the main issue here.
So Maverick was out shoeing and trimming horses.
Amongst the horses was this cute little dude.

Maverick knew how much I wanted a cute little ass to call my own, how much I talked about them and was the first to crack an ass joke at school when a donkey or mule came in. I was also usually the first to offer a trim for the mini asses at school when they came in because the boys were not fluent in ass whispering and often got their asses kicked.

So Maverick asked about said little ass. It so happens this little ass was a bargain, having come free with some rescue horses. At just $50 he was for the taking of the first poor sucker person sympathetic enough to give him a home.

He was a big sucker for ass scratches.
The cute little ass that is, not Maverick.
I won't lie, I shrieked with delight upon seeing this picture.
It was the ass scratchings that did it, I am sure.

So Maverick loaded him up and took him home after calling me and telling me he got me my cute little ass. Part of the $50 deal was he had to bring him home... that night.
Umm...Did you just send me a picture of someone riding in the back of your truck with said cute little ass?
Uh yeah mmhm.
I guess if the goose neck hitch is good enough to hold the trailer in place the cute little ass can't beat it up too bad if someone rides back there to keep him company, right? It's only a few miles home.

Well that night the cute little ass was let loose with Mavericks horses. Although the cute little ass is barely knee height he tore a strip off of every one of them. The horses will make a wide berth when this little dude comes a walking.

So moral of this story is his name is Pepe. He has already trained Maverick well, who promptly bought a large bag of horse treats specifically for him. He already knows where the small spots in the fencing are and climbs in and out regularly to see who is going to fork up his next taste of grain or a treat.
I think we might have the worlds smartest ass on our hands. We'll see how he takes to the harness and cart later this summer.

Collective thoughts

So many things I have had to think about since I went to school and have come back.
I'll number them, no particular order.

1. Breeding season is in full swing: Think about it when you breed this year. When I was in school we got so many horses with poor conformation, poor attitudes as a result of poor breeding that no one wanted cause of someones decision to breed a horse instead of buying. Make sure the horse you are going to be creating is in demand, even if you don't plan to sell them now down the road you would hope they can have a good chance at a good home.

2. Especially paints. Now if you have read this blog long enough you will know I am not the biggest fan of paints. However having said that I do like a well bred paint I just have seen far too many come into that school and back home that were bred because the owner drank the "kolor koolaid". Half of them are bats*&^t crazy because they have some sort of genetic link missing from their brain which makes them short circuit at every obstacle in life. But they might have a pretty coat colour, never mind them having good conformation. They are not worth anything for a good, working/showing home because they are going to have problems and not be able to perform their jobs. I do not blame the horses nor do I hate EVERY paint horse I just have found more than any other breed paint horses are abused in the breeding industry. I blame the owners who breed low grade horses, I blame the owners for not dealing with behavioral issues, I blame the OWNERS. There are SO MANY unwanted horses out there and lets face it, the horse selling industry is in the crapper. Give another horse a chance and think about going to buy someone elses baby instead of breeding this year. This applies for all breeds.

3. Nature, seriously you can stop raining any time now. The sun can come out and we can break 60 degrees. Oh how I miss 95 and dry in Oklahoma. I do not however miss the dry, hard as rock feet though I smelled slightly less like a thrushy decaying hoof there.

4. I'm still not done unpacking. Nope, everything is all over.

5. I've had my fill of big, dumb horse with lazy owner. One barn I work at has this warmblood. Ok, a lot of barns I work at have warmbloods but this particular one is SPOILED beyond belief (See #2 about the owners). He was orphaned as a foal and although would be a very lovely animal he was treated like a big dog. Well said spoiled 1400 PAIN IN THE ARSE has the habit of sticking his gigantic block head out of his stall the moment I walk by to try and knock me out with his anvil of a skull. I've been warned he "play bites". Putting the word play in front of bite does not excuse the 1400 pound PITA. I shut his stall so he couldn't bite horses, or me. I am tall enough but hes taller. 1400 pound PITA bit me RIGHT ON TOP OF THE HEAD from over the top board of the stall.
I foresee a hair-on horse couch in my living rooms future.

6. Even though I have been home for two weeks, give or take a few days, it feels like I have been home for months. Months away from cool mornings in forge class, months away from shoeing untouched, crazy horses, months away from such good friends. Thank goodness for facebook!

7. Something I have seen a lot of wile back home: Not a lot of farriers check the lengths or angles of their horses feet to make sure they match. You can check length by fluffing the hair up on the coronet band and measuring from where the hairline starts to the ground with a tape measure or if you have them a set of calipers. Unless your horse is lame or has a serious one sided conformation problem theres no way hes going to take off a significant (1/8-1/2 inch can make a huge difference in how the horse moves) amount of hoof on one foot and not the other. Why does this happen? Well the ground, hair, environment or how the horse is standing can play tricks on the eyes of even experienced farriers. It was stressed so much in school to check angles with a gauge and length with calipers. A little bit off, especially on a horse that is being used can make them a lot off in the long run.

8. Sole. With the weather we have here as an extreme wet where horses are kept in stalls more than turned out or do not have enough of an abrasive surface in their paddocks. I am seeing a lot of retained soles that are hiding layers of chalky sole, past abscess holes and thrush that you didn't think was there. Layers and layers of sole that is not properly exfoliated will be breeding grounds for thrush. Remember last week when I was talking about being covered in thrush? That was really bad sole thrush that quite literally squirted out of the foot when I started taking away the chalky sole. Excess sole that cannot exfoliate also risks the potential of causing pain to the foot by placing too much pressure on the circumflex artery in the foot which in turn reduces circulation and can cause a whole mess of other problems and lameness's.

9. Just so you know I am not racist, I just happen to like less paints than most breeds so don't go getting your panties in a knot because it does not apply to all paint horses.
I do really like this paint stallion. They do a good job at raising properly conformed horses with good minds and solid upbringing. Lots of thought is put into breeding the horses on that property and I really haven't met one of his offspring I didn't like. They are local but are known all over North America. Good horses.

10. Keep the horse between you and the ground because the ground is really muddy right now.

Sunday stills: Rust

I apologize I haven't been around for many Sunday stills since I went to school. There was just not the appropriate internet connection available to be uploading pictures.

I'll try to get the challenge done every week from now on so long as I have an internet connection (which I should).

Rust and rusty things. Let me tell you about some rust and hammers.

First hammers need to be well balanced if you are using them all the time. Balanced for the length of your arm and the proper weight for the job. If the hammers handle is too long and your arm is too short it is going to stress your elbow. If the handle is too short and your arm is too long it's going to stress your wrist. Just saying, first hand experience here. Literally, I hit my hands A LOT. I also do not recommend hitting appendages of your body with hammers because the outcome is almost always black and blue.

These hammers however are part of my family history. They sit here on my fathers workbench in the garage just waiting to be used once again.

After spending oh about...$500 on hammers at school I come home to find my dad had my grandfathers old forging hammers and never even told me!! Almost as if they were made for me in weight and handle length these hammers from the past are now mine to forge with just as my grandfather did in his shop. A bit rusty from years of sitting in a tool box they are better to me than my mass produced expensive hammers. They may be rusty but quite useful for many years to come. Too bad they didn't keep the old anvil too, I would have loved that.

I've washed my hands four times

And they still smell like thrush. Oh and I took a shower so they smell like thrush and shampoo.

Today so I thought was going to be a relatively event-less day. I really only had one thing planned that had a certain time. I felt like I had nothing to do and like usual when I feel like I have nothing to do I get swamped with more stuff than I should be able to do.

I was eating breakfast and puttering around when a friend called me. He had some horses that were in dire need of a trim and correcting. After a brief conversation I made plans on short notice to trim some horses later that day.

I cleaned out the rest of the calf barn which needs to be done by hand. I cleaned it maybe a week before I went to Oklahoma. Straw was added mostly every day so horses weren't lying or standing on soaked bedding and there is enough ventilation and stall dry added that it isn't a problem to go a few weeks. Well let me tell you about 14 weeks of two horses pooping (Sheba and Indigo) turned out to be a bit much.
When I was in Oklahoma I think I cleaned one stall in total. This meant when it came time to clean the shed I was totally out of stall cleaning shape. Sure I could wrestle and shoe a large horse but cleaning stalls just killed me. My old shoulder injury of the torn rotator cuff started throbbing. I admit I only got 2/3 of the shed done and quit and I've never quit. So today I finished it with the help of the broom eating horse, Indigo who seems to still have her taste for corn brooms.
The wind here is unreal. The back barn door blew off and the wind took the aluminum shovel right out of my hands! The good thing about wind is it will dry up the really crazy amount of rain that has occurred here. Who thinks I should go back to 95 and dry in Oklahoma? Meee!!

After finishing the shed I brought the spotty horse in to work on her feet a bit more. She was ouchy a little bit still but her soles are exfoliating more. A little visitor came to brush and sit on Indigo before I was on my way to my new job. Yep another job.

Right before I went to Oklahoma I got a phone call from the head instructor of our local therapeutic riding center. They just got a lot of money and a biiiiig government grant to build a new facility since their old one was being built up around just outside the city. I never handed in my resume, they hand picked me.

Long story short I came in a couple days and they hired me, part time for now but before long they said it will likely be full time. I am going to get my NARHA certification and teach riding and hopefully driving lessons. No one else in this county can compare to the program they run of over 200 students! So in August I will go to get certified which I am pumped about. They said if I take an apprenticeship for shoeing they will hire me on as a farrier when I come back to do all their horses feet.

After I was done there helping with lessons and tacking up horses I scooted over to trim some badly balanced feet. Ever seen thrush squirt out of a horses sole before? For the life of your fingers and nose I hope none of you ever do. It smells AWFUL! Hopefully the horses will be on a more regular trimming schedule this time. No pictures, it was too dark and rainy. Soon though.

It seems everything is falling in place, but the anti thrush stink soap.

This is a good reason...

To come home.

Just as I am reconsidering my trip back to Canada from Oklahoma because of the cool temperatures, still naked tress and mud, mud, mud, I hopped on the spotty horses back.

I rode her but not before doing her feet. I mentioned about her feet being a mess, well they were and still are not correct. When I left she had lovely concave feet with good toe callouses for a barefoot horse. Her frogs were big, healthy and she was sound without shoes on, not even ouchy over big gravel.
I came home and before I even picked her feet out I noticed she was off just leading her into the barn. I picked her feet and to my horror I found flares in all directions, medial-lateral balance completely off and soles that had appeared to pancake completely without any exfoliation. She was tiptoeing around on flat ground.
I got to work right away and found the complete polar opposite of Oklahoma "granite" feet; swamp feet. Her feet were picked frequently wile I was gone and she had 12 weeks to be a horse and not be worked. She did not have thrush but her soles mainly concerned me when it came to her being very tender footed. There was too much sole pressure on her circumflex artery.
I knifed and knifed and knifed and nipped and rasped as much as I dared for one day, making her feet somewhat more concave. Her soles hadn't so much as thought of exfoliating with the wet Canadian winter and spring we seem to be having. With some luck since I have been home and trimmed her (Thursday the 21st) I noticed yesterday that her soles have started to exfoliate again and her frogs almost overnight have expanded. Concavity is starting to come back to her feet.
Because Indigo is a little toed out, as a very alarming number of horses are due to them never getting trimmed as foals (topic for an upcoming future post), she needs balancing more often than other horses. Her feet were trimmed wile I was gone and I am thankful for that but I should have paid for another time because though 6-8 weeks is what farriers gripe about, most barefoot horses need to be maintained and balanced which means more frequent trimming intervals. This goes a long way towards your horses limbs well being, especially a horse you plan to use regularly. You can let them go 8,10, 12+ weeks but by the time your farrier comes by and has to hack off a ton of hoof on one side, heel or toe because your horse isn't balanced, the horses limbs will suffer the sudden change. Tendons tighten and loosen, ligaments are strained and muscles thrown out of whack. From what I have seen in the horse hoof world now that I have been more educated is that not a lot of farriers put thought into medial, lateral balance, no matter how well they can put a shoe on. I wish more owners seen it. Before I went to school I seen it but never paid any mind to it. So do your hoofcare provider a favor and look at your horses feet regularly and note any changes.

The day after I got home I trimmed Indigo and went for a quick bareback ride across the alfalfa field. She was ouchy even on the soft ground but obviously not feeling bad enough to pass up a good ol toss of her head, hump of her back and a launch off all fours into the air in an attempt to land me on my butt in the soggy field when a van went by making a startling noise. Silly spotty horse, you just keep thinking I don't know your tricks by now. Try again.

As I mentioned her feet are looking much better just after a few days so I hopped on her again. Before I even got to the driveway the spotted pill made an attempt to trot off. I don't think so. She was tender on the gravel but the soft grass sparked something in her as she gathered herself up and tried to slowly jog her way into getting away with murder.

If I had come back just to ride this horse it would have been worth it. I rode quite the bit in Oklahoma but nothing is quite like this little DIRTY

FILTHY HORSE!!!

Ok, seriously Indigo I had to deal with enough S^&% head paint horses in Oklahoma. Giving yourself a mudero coat pattern is so not necessary.

Real funny.

Can't someone make the weather go back to 95 and dry already? I would really fancy an afternoon ride wearing a tank top right now.

All pictures in this post by Sarah

Home

This is so not fair... So not fair.
The day I left Oklahoma I could have been in shorts and a tank top but I had to shoe ponies so jeans it was. Safety sandals don't work as well as they claim anyway.

I got my diploma, sweaty in a t-shirt.
So much has happened at school.

I spent a few days in Missouri with a certain cowboy.

"Hey, whatcha doin' over there with that camera?"

"Are you taking my picture?"

Why yes, yes I am. Hold still the lighting isn't that good.

"Fine"

I spent a few days wandering around seeing the lovely country and rolling hills before traveling back home where the trees are still naked.

Back home it is so strange. I go away a few times a year usually for a few days or a week or so but never three months. I go away for a week and it's like new buildings go up overnight, people get married or move away. I am gone for three months and it's like time never touched this town. Everything in the barn is in it's place (minus a few barn cats), the horses were muddy and happy to see me. Indigo nickered her way over the moment I yelled out. It's like time stopped just for me to go to school and now has resumed in a tidal wave of people needing my help, horses needing to be ridden and job offers.
I plan on taking an apprenticeship. I have a few offers here in Canada and a couple in the US, some close, others far.
So far I have been trimming. I am going to pick up an anvil next week and can work in the local homestead's coal forge whenever. I inherited a bunch of useful hammers that were my grandfathers. I wish I would have known about their existence before school it would have saved me oh...$300 or so.

I trimmed Indigo's feet yesterday. She was trimmed wile I was gone but the winter was not kind on her feet and she was ouchy on them as I led her into the barn. When I left she had lovely, concave, healthy feet with big frogs. When I came home I found her soles had splatted, frog's had shrunk in size and the medial (inside) sides were sky high on her fronts and the lateral (outsides) were sky high on the hinds as well as the quarters on both front feet strait instead of nice and round. There was nothing level about them and lots of flares. However it was so nice to be able to take my hoof knife and nippers to a sole and not have to chip at a foot like it was made of granite (AKA: Oklahoma feet). They are going to take a few trims to correct. I am thinking the really wet winter was to blame for the soles and contraction. Only time will tell.

Everyone missed me. I have been getting call after call and e-mail after e-mail from everybody and their dog. Just when I think I am getting a vacation from school the real work starts. Anybody need a trim?