Delilah's Story

This is an amazing story about a horse - Delilah - who lost her hoof and her family who is standing by her helping her through some difficult procedures.

The photos are amazing. Please take a look and help if you can.

Thanks.

Parelli's Again.

Here is a copy of a thread from our American Hoof Association Forum. I felt so strongly about it, I thought I would add it here.

A natural hoofcare practitioner from New York started the thead with this:

Check out this guy's site.

and then check out some photos of the Parelli's horses feet.

When do they come out with the savvy feed line (filled with molasses)?

My response:

Yep, this is very sad. At this year's conference, Linda brought this new farrier out to introduce him to the crowd. She was elated with his work. "Way more than shoeing!" is what she chirped to the crowd after she'd ridden poor Remmer for about an hour during a lesson with Walter Zettl.

Linda announced that her Dutch Warmblood, Remmer, was moving better than he ever had before. Poor Remmer was obviously hurting to my eye, but he wasn't obviously lame, I think because the hooves were so locked up and he probably had some pain equally in all fours. I didn't even notice Allure’s feet. But I could only see from the stands.

I did notice the 2 and 3 year olds were already wearing shoes. The farriers who started that website and the DVD have Parellis so bamboozled. And the Parellis, who I have the greatest admiration and respect for seem ignorant about hoof care, sadly, for such a bright couple.

I posted my experience about the 2008 conference on my blog because I was so sad about their views on hoof care. They advocate dumping molasses in their horses' water and the water of the students’ horses. Which I didn't know until Kay told me and one of the students there confirmed. It would not surprise me at all if they come out with a sweet feed that has their name on it.

During the 3 days of the conference, if I heard Pat say the word "Natural" once, I heard it a balizzion times. He says it makes his heart hurt to see some of the contraptions people put on their horses, torture devices to get the horses to cooperate with them. But his heart is okay with those hooves apparently. My heart was hurting for their horses.

At a tour stop in Billing a few months prior to the Conference, I personally handed Pat two copies of Joe Camp's book, with a note from Joe and a note from me inside along with my business card. I hoped that they read his book, but Joe said a few negative things about Linda (he was complimentary of Pat, but NOT Linda) so anything else he had to say in his book probably turned her off...if she read it. It would have had that affect on me as well.

So Bummer! Parelli's have such a profound impact and millions of horse people all over the world, including the Queen of England and her trainers! They are teaming up with amazing people like Driving Instructor, Nate Bowers whose dad was the most well known expert in natural driving trainer in the country, and the Dog Whisperer - Cesar Millan, and Dressage Horsemaster, Walter Zettl.

And now these farriers who came up with a tricky way to make owners think they are onto some amazing new contrivance for correcting hooves with shoes. And Parelli's they've gotten so far behind these farriers, their DVD is now advertised on Parelli's website!

And THAT has had a profound impact on this one Parelli student. And believe me, I’m not just someone who has dabbled in their training methods for a few years. Although, I've only passed the first Level assessment test with my mare, the Parelli professional who evaluated my test announced to a crowd of students that I was sitting with, that my test was 500 times better than his own. I was knocked out by that. I’ve been a practicing Parelli since 1996.

I'm a Parelli Amabassador! You should see my house! I have ALL the Parelli Level's programs (old set & new set) I have two sets of his original VHS tapes from his earliest days, and every set of DVD's they've introduced since then, Liberty and Horse Behavior and the Success Series, as well as the new Patterns programs.

My closet is full of Parelli shirts, jackets, coats, hats as well as pins, keychains, etc. In my barn, I have 5 carrot sticks and halters, so many different length ropes, I can’t keep track of them all.

I have the complete set of Savvy Club DVDs and CDs. We've devoted an acre of our property to a Parelli Playground AND I have tickets to a conference in Reno next year!

Two years ago I ordered a Parelli Saddle with my name on the gold plate on the back of the cantle along with all the accessories – a year later it arrived on my door step, that’s how back logged they were on their saddles!

I have invested thousands on what these people offer, because when it comes to their theories, I'm a believer! I use what I’ve learned to help other horse owners and with every customer’s horse and they "usually" love to cooperate with me.

It's not just about getting along with horses, it's learning the psychology of horses that works on any animal, including people!

But what they're doing with their horses' hooves and now that they are advocating a farrier who nails shoes and pads onto hooves with underun heels and long toes and they use a laser level to impress them by shoeing horses from the knees down, goes against everything I know to be true about the most important part of the horse besides his mind...okay...deep breath.

Sorry to get so emotional…this one really hits a nerve, but I'm glad you brought it up. I wish we could do something about it.

Oxine and Citric Acid mixture WARNING

Hi Everyone,

In a previous post, which I'm going to take down, I recommended this mixture (Oxine and citric Acid) as it was recommended to me as cure for white line disease and thrush. I've read that many are having a good success rate with treating some hoof condition with it.

But I've had some negative experiences with it. And I'm not longer recommending it. In fact I'm warning against it's use as I do bleach or any other chemical treatments of hooves.

1. It didn't touch the white line infection on my gelding.

2. I used it on a founder mare's thrushy frogs and it cured the thrush and destroyed her frogs.

3. I took a whiff of the mixture after it was diluted and it burned my throat and caused me to feel like I was going to pass out.

This is solution that I've read it used for santising restaurant kitchens and practitioners have been using, apparently with success on some cases of white line.

But it is strong, scary stuff and should not be mixed in an enclosed area. It's being recommended by some very experienced professional hoof care practitioners, but I'm concerned that it will kill live tissue along with bad bacteria. I doubt anyone has done that type of a study on it.

So please don't use it on your horses. As a cleaner, it probably works well, but as with any cleaner, don't breath it!

I apologize for recommending it before testing it myself.

pat

On the Road...Again

Some days, when I'm on my way to horses, I look out my window and think about the past. I wonder why there have been so many difficult times. Not just financially, but physically and esspecially emotionally. I've been hurt by people who walked away feeling better about themselves for having made me feel terrible.

I think about the journey my life has been. I remember the many years worth of morning racing into town traffic, cursing the other drivers and the crappy weather and my vain attempts at trying to be at my desk in the basement of city hall, trying to look busy before the boss got there. Then feeling the adrenalin rush subside and wishing I was still in bed, toasty warm, in comfy pajamas with my soft pillow cradling my head. Instead of sitting in a chilly office, wearing constricting undergarments and a wobbly office chair cradling my butt.

.

Now, I set my own schedule. My head leaves my pillow when I hear the donkey's braying for their breakfast. I love the rain, the sun, the cold, the heat. It's all good!

I love the horses - most of them, and the horse owners -most of them (lets be real). And I'm usually on the roads when everyone else isn't. That's often when I turn to look out my "office" window and realize how much I'm enjoying the journey...to the next turn, to the next horse, to the next day that I get to be here - alive and happy.

"Living well IS the best revenge."
George Herbert

That road trip is one I taped parts of last January to and from Mineral Lake, Washington.

Gotta run now! See ya on the road.

Pat

Founder isn't fun!

This is Cricket. She's been the subject of other posts. She came here as a founder case, and was rehabbed and sound for awhile, but something happened while I had her on a borrowed pasture and I found her in the acute stage of laminitis (inflammed sensitive (dermal) laminae.)

So I brought her home just about the time apples were ripening. Neighbors often don't understand how detrimental sweets can be to certain horses. She was offered a few two many apples over the fence and that sent her over the edge to founder. The laminae has been destroyed and she will need to grow out new hoof capsules and if everything is right, she may be sound again. We'll see.

Cricket has been spending most of her time for the past few months in the stall. I've been feeding her differently types of hays and some beet pulp mixtures, MSM, and a product called Remission. I've been trying to keep her trimmed, but it's been difficult for her to completely unweight one foot. She's not very cooperative anyway, but this makes working on her feet so much more difficult!

For the first few months after the initial laminitic episode, she lived in the Soft Ride Comfort hoof boots. Which work very well in these cases, because if they're fitted well, they don't rub. But when I took her out of the boots she could barely take a step.

So we lined her stall with some recycled mats that Rich was able to get from a school renovation job. They work really well. Very cushy and more comfortable for her since she was laying down a lot for a few months.




Another benefit of these mats is they are very thick. I took a picture of the bottom side, but managed to delete it from my camera. I'll get another one and load it later. This stall usually floods in the rainy season. So we don't have to worry about that happening again. Nice. The urine drains better with these than with regular stall mats also.

Yesterday, I decided that if I was going to get her feet trimmed and treated for the nasty thrush infection she's developing in her frogs, I was going to have to lift her up off all fours. So I pulled out the horse sling that we invested in when I had my first serious founder case here for treatment. This sling cost $1,000. Rehabbing horses isn't cheap!


Here is the sling laid out and ready to go. The white padded tubes at the top go between the horse's hind legs and the fleesie pad at the bottom goes around her chest.



This is her with the sling partially attached. We have a ways to go and she wasn't real happy about the padded tubes between her hind legs. But I didn't get a picture of her with that part on. Once we had the entire sling on her body, Rich got concerned about how she would react when she realized she was attached to the back hoe and lifted her up a bit too quickly.

When she felt the tubes zip up between her legs she freaked out. The area we were doing this in was too confined and well, Houdini would have been proud of how she managed to get most the way out of the sling, before she allowed us to detach it from her body completely. What a disappointment.

What did we learn from this situation? Sedate the victim? In her case, we probably should have done that.

Go slower with the lift? Yep, equine wedgies are not well tolerated by frisky mares. Geldings don't seem to mind them. Go figure.

Make sure the area is clear of everything! Yes, Cricket busted a rasp in half during the freak out! A rasp! It was a Save Edge rasp though. A Heller Legend probably wouldn't have broken!:0) That's why I recommend the Hellers!

Well, more about Cricket at a later date. I figured I haven't shared any shots of Neenah for awhile. Here she is! Having a rest!