Basic Barefoot Trimming DVD progress

Just an update on how we are doing on the DVD.  The packaging is being developed and the title of the DVD is currently:

Discovering Your Horse's Natural Hoof.

Learn to Trim Your Barefoot Horses.

You will be able to purchase the DVD through the Rainier Equine Hoof Recovery Center website.  The original site has been replaced by one I'm working on myself and is still under construction.

And of course, all proceeds from the DVD sales go to the REHRC non-profit i.e. hay for the horses we are rehabbing.'

I'm hoping that we'll be distributing the DVD this Spring.  Just like natural hoofcare, it's a process!  But don't give up...it's just a very busy time of year.

Thanks!
Pat

For want of a horseshoe nail

For want of a nail the shoe was lost
For want of a shoe the horse was lost
For want of a horse the rider was lost
For want of a rider the battle was lost
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail


Too bad they weren’t aware of what a healthy, perfectly trimmed barefoot hoof can accomplish. A win for the hoof, a win for the horse, a win for the rider, a win for the battle, and a win for the kingdom.


But most importantly it's a win for the horse!

Hoof Watchers

I had to share this comment! It's such a great topic. And my reponse was getting so long I had to post it. Thanks Desiree!

Hi Pat, I live up in Port Townsend. I do CMO rides so we go over lots of different ground. I do the trimming on my horses. It's interesting (scary) to be in a large group of horses and look at all of the different feet that they have to live with. I find that the feet are the first thing that I look at when I meet a horse for the first time! LOL!! Any updates on Whiskey? Desiree.

Desiree,

That's funny about the feet. I think we all get that way when we start working on our own horses. We spend so much time scrutinizing our own horses feet asking ourselves, "Is that angle getting better?" or "Is the foot coming down on the medial or lateral side or on the toe first?"

So as we really start seeing wonderfully healthy feet on our own horses, we can't help but look at others and wonder why their owner can't see everything that is way off.

One day after I had just gotten done trimming the hooves of one of my clients at a big beautiful boarding facility I was sitting in my car putting away my calendar and reshuffling the mountains of stuff on my front seat. (Stuff that flies onto the floor every time I have to make a quick stop. Drives me nuts!)

A horse came walking toward me being led by an attractive young woman in her twenties. Her horse was slender and black and beautiful. I looked down at the horses feet. Not intentionally, just that my eyes were drawn to them, just like the eyes of passers-by are drawn to my husband’s prosthetic hand.

Disbelief at first and I just settled on the horse’s hooves and watched her walk by. It was a little like watching a person walking in swim fins, but not as exaggerated. The heels were very underrun and the toes incredibly long.

Her poor mare’s hooves reminded me of glam finger nails that I sometimes see on people. Fingernails beautiful contoured and painted, but crazy long and causing their fingers to be nearly useless.

I think this owner was feeling proud of herself, walking past a barefoot trimmer with her barefoot horse.

Okay, I'm aware that there are some wild bands of horses who grow very long toes and very effectively use those toes to dig through snow, sand, dirt in search for the sparce food in their environment, but this would not be the case at a fancy boarding stable.

I wanted so badly to get out of my car and stop her and tell her what I saw about her horse’s hooves that could be corrected to make her horse so much more comfortable.

It is possible that the owner was trimming her horse herself. If so, bravo to her! I really think it’s great when owners get involved with their horse’s feet. If she pays someone for the service, I had to ask myself, how could a hoof care professional do that to a horse and not know it was really harmful and even dangerous, especially when she was riding her horse.

Horse’s trip and fall and roll over riders when their feet aren’t functioning properly. I believe that is why Linda Parelli recently took a bad spill on her horse Remmer. I bet she never even considered it might be his feet. His feet were the first thing I thought of when I heard about the accident.

It’s kind of like have bad tires on your car and expecting it to get you safely around. It can most of the time, but at some point…well, people have gotten killed.

And even more recently Remmer has abscessed and had to sit out their trip to the UK. Linda sounded okay with giving her lovely horse a break and she was happy that in a few days, the abscess would rupture and he would be good as new.

That tells me that neither she, nor her “genius farrier” understands the cycle of abscesses.  Or that separation in the white line of the hoofwall and/or bars is the cause of abscessing.  And there should really be no separation in Remmer's feet since he's been under the care of a genius farrier for awhile now.

Of all the horses I know, I feel so sad for that horse. He’s has an owner who loves him with every fiber of her being and would do anything for him no matter what the cost.  Sadly he has some of the worst hoof care money can buy.

What can you do though? I never stopped the gal with the horse who had the super long toes to offer advice. I figured it would likely fall on deaf ears. People are not ready to hear it until they are ready to hear it.

Thanks for the comment Desiree. Wisky is doing as best that she can. Her hooves are really improving and she has a great trimmer working on her at home and we are constantly brainstorming on ways to keep her comfortable while she is growing new hoof capsules. I learned a lot from working on her. So I’ll always owe her that.

Horse Poem by Jessica

This is a lovely poem my young niece wrote and her mom sent to me. I had to share with you.

A lonely barn

On a warm, cloudy day

Right before the sun sets

Stomping hooves
Wind flying through my hair
Running horses
The beautiful animals
I ride in the wind
I play with the horses
On a lonely weekend
I will be happy

Thank you Jessica!  You look great on Pearl.

I've Been Polled!

Well, no one has ever accused me of being opinionated.

That's not true.  Really a few hundred people have accused me of that. Haw Haw!  It's true.

But here's another opinion of mine that probably won't matter much to anyone else, but it might.

I think we should band together and rise up and demand more informative horse magazines! If they are going to whittle the pages down in horse mags today, the information should be more user-necessary and less user-fluff.

Okay, let me back up a little bit.

I was just over on the Eclectic Horseman site where I ordered a DVD set called
Four Strands of Rawhide with Randy Rieman and Bill Dorrance.  Because I want to learn to braid Raitas (or Reatas) just like Bill Dorrance used to. That was the only website where I could find any instructional material with him.

On that site they have an ongoing poll where you can vote on different horse related topics. One of the poll questions really surprised me when it came up and the results REALLY surprised me!

In general, when your horses are in use do they go:

barefoot
166 49.7%

shod all around
125 37.4%

shod on fronts
35 10.5%

in easyboots (or similar product)
8 2.4%

(334 voters)

I was so impressed with this site and the topics that I signed up for their magazine.  Which is what got me on this topic!

Over the years I've subscribed to many of national horse magazines or nag mags as some refer to them. Equus, Horse & Rider, Horse Illustrated, Dressage Today.  I love to keep abreast of everything horse related.  (I don't do any dressage riding, yet.  But you know, someday maybe.  And my dressage horse is a beauty!  He just doesn't know he's a dressage horse, yet.  But you know, someday maybe.)

My first poll question:

Have you noticed lately that horse magazines have been shrinking?
a. Yes, but at least the prices haven't gone up as they have with everything else.
b. Nope, and don't care about this stupid poll question.
c. Get real!  The only thing that hasn't been shrinking is my waist line.

Once you pull-out all the extra subscription cards, what remains isn't much. A front and back cover and 10 pages of ads and 5 pages of articles. Okay that's a tiny bit exaggerated, but it's getting like that.

I think they should combine all those mags, Equus and H&R (which are printed by the same publisher anyway), along with a few others and create one new mag.

Would you subscribe? 
a. Yep
b. Nope
c. Maybe

I let all my subscriptions drop (as did many others I'm assuming, which explains the reduction in pages) except two Equus and Horse Illustrated.

The next one I may drop will be Equus. That's because Horse Illustrated kind of is that magazine that combines all topics and I don't see as many really lame trainers in that one as I have in the others.

So in Equus recently I came across this picture. The article is titled Hoof Supplements on page 27 of edition number 387.

I looked at that photo and was instantly upset.  Someone has once again cut into a healthy frog!  Dang it! 

That same person cut into live sole!  Do you know that the hoof reacts to this assault as an injury because that's what it is?!  That's a fact, not a poll question.

But this hoof is ready for a shoe.  It needs the protection of a shoe now because every bit of protection that it's been busy growing over the past 8 weeks has just been hacked out of it.

One thing about this picture is that you can clearly distinguish the white line ( that yellow line around the outside of the sole) and the waterline just to the outside of the white (yellow) line. Then nail holes and outer (or pigmented) wall.  Sometimes the waterline is referred to as the unpigmented wall.

If your horse should start limping right after being shod, usually that's because of what is referred to as a "hot nail."  The nail was driven into the sensitive laminae above the white (yellow) line.

What would I have done differently with this foot?

1. I would have left the protective outer layer on the frog so it could function normally.  I would not have opened it up to the horse's world of manure, urine, bacteria and most likely thrush which can and will damage that foot to the point where the horse would be mildly to seriously lame without shoes.  If this type of damage continues with every shoeing eventually that frog will just give up trying to heal itself.  Two more poll questions: Do you see shriveled up, atrophied frogs on your horse?  Do you know that frogs aren't really supposed to shed every year?  They only go through that cycle when they aren't healthy and they are attempting to self-repair.

2.  I would not have attacked the sole and hacked any of it out unless there was a layer of dead, flaky sole that was trying to exfoliate because it was ready.  Then I might help it, if that what the hoof seemed to be calling for.  I'd leave it alone if it didn't.  A hoof on natural maintenance trims usually needs nothing done to the frog, bars and sole.

3. I would NOT put a shoe back on this foot because I wouldn't have damaged to the point that will take weeks to repair itself. I would simply put the natural bevel around the wall and grow out those ugly nail holes and any flare.  After the hoofwall was able to repair itself and the holes were gone, I would have a healthy foot the horse could use without shoes.  Or if not, I could just pop a pair of Easyboot Gloves on the fronts and off I'd go.

I do all the time, still I hate to see these pictures in magazines.  I wish editors would educate themselves in fields that have passed them by. 

Two more poll questions:

Why is the white line termed the white line?
a. because calling it "the yellow line" made too much sense.
b. because calling it the distal laminar junction is too hard to remember.
c. because there are no blood vessels in the area of laminae that connects the wall to the sole, so it's white, rather than red as is the sensitive laminae, the area that connects the wall to the coffin bone.

Why is the water line termed the water line?
a. because that where the horse stores water in dry climates.
b. because it sounds almost as ridiculous as calling a yellow line a white line. 
c.  because that area of unpigmented wall is the most moist part of the wall drawing moisture from other areas of wall and is generally the area of wall that should come into contact with the ground first during a stride.

I have never seen those two questions answered in any nag mag anywhere. Have you?

I like my answers!

Well, I know I'm going to get some flake for both of those "c" answers though.  I always seem to illicit at least a couple "you're so dumb" response when I try to sound like I know what I'm talking about. Haw haw!

And what is your response to that Eclectic Horseman poll question?

Just curious!

Thanks for reading!

Pat

Licensed Professionals!

So I just came across this list of professionals on the Washington State Dept of Licensing website who are required to be licensed to perform their job.

For the past few years now, I’ve felt that hoofcare professionals, anyone shoeing, trimming or administering repair of any sort, professionally, to the hooves of horses, should be licensed.

What I found interesting about this list is the how some of the professions who are required to be licensed  compare to hoof care professionals who are not required to be licensed.

It's nice for me that I'm involved in one of the few professions that doesn't require anything more than a business license, and that's not something many farriers require of themselves which resolves that whole tax paying deal, however I think that would be a smart requirement of us - as well as a way to help ensure that horseowners are offered some assurance that they are hiring a professional farrier who has a basic idea of what he/she is doing

Did you know that to be a professional taxidermist, you are required to be licensed?

It’s okay to use cutting tools on the hooves of live animals without a license, but not okay to cut into dead animals without one. Interesting? Well, morticians must be licensed and their profession involves the non-living.

Some of the professionals on the list that Washington State (and most other states) requires license for include: accountants, animal massage therapists, auctioneers, professional boxers, bulk commercial fertilizer distributers (Big BSers I guess) check cashers, crematories, egg handlers, explosives experts (I s’pose that one makes sense) recreational fishing and hunting requires a license, as well as game farming, interpreters, insurance agents, nursery owners, pest inspectors, plumbers, real estate agents, river outfitters, seed dealers, shellfish harvesters, shopkeepers, stock brokers, talkie tooters (not makin’ that up) timekeepers (for professional athletes – are you kidding me?) travel agents and professional wrestlers.

All those professionals need to be licensed, but those of us responsible for the horses ability to stay upright when needed, are NOT required to test for a pesky license!

That just blows my mind. 

Just an observation.

pat

Pond Bridge

These pictures might explain why our Barefoot Playfield is taking so long to complete.  Rich doesn't like to do projects that don't involve heavy equiptment.  Many thanks to our friends Jim and Don for all their help!  We have a ways go but it's going to be one heck of a bridge!

See video of setting this beam.

What good are horse people?

A thought, a question really, just popped into my head this morning while I was watching the Today show. What good are horse people? And the many answers to that question came flooding in to my early morning brain behind it.

I was listening to reports about the huge bonuses that bank and corporate executives who helped send our country into a deep recession are paying themselves and the controversy regarding whether they really deserve the millions they are receiving.

Who am I to care really, I’m just a tax paying horse person. And what good are horse people really? We don’t deserve huge bonuses for our work. Or do we?

I visit horse people nearly every day in my job as a hoof care professional. My definition of a horse person isn’t the big breeder who owns the facility that is worth millions, and breeds horses that sell for thousands. That’s a business person.

A horse person is someone like me. Someone who loves horses, and owns a few acres with more horses on it than it can support. Our every spare dollar goes into buying hay from the local hay farmer and who keeps the local feed stores in business.

A horse person is someone whose spouse or partner may not be considered a "horse person" exactly, but they've come to care very much about horses and often spends most his or her free time feeding the horses, then dragging a two-wheeled cart around and filling it with the outcome of feeding the horses.

Our partners may not be "horse experts", but may have expertise in many other fields, such as fence building and mending, gate adjustments, footing and bedding, mud and manure management, composting, and a host of other demands involved with horse care.

Horse people don’t own horses that are worth thousands usually. They own the horses that someone else has tossed aside. Tossed aside for being too lame, too arthritic, too old, too blind, or just one too many.



We feed those horses, groom them, pay for their hoofcare, dentistry, and medical care. We love those horses and will do anything to assure their peace of mind and comfort.


We do so much more for our beloved “throw away” horses than the poor horses who live on the million dollar farms could ever hope for. Very often, those horses feel the touch of a human only when they are being led to and from the breeding barn.


And it's not just horses we take under our wings and into our dwindling bank accounts, it's all the other animals who find themselves in need of food, shelter, healthcare and love.



But the most crucial aspect of being a horse person is our kids. Not just our own kids, but more likely our grandkids. As well as our friend’s kids, our cousin’s kids, and most often our neighbor kids.

Kids, who love horses and like to hang around the very horse people who spend most their time and all their money taking care of their horses. Yet are willing to take time out to tack up horses whose main job it is to be led around with a kid on his back.

We horse people influence those kids. We teach them how to care for and manage life for the animals we are responsible for. We teach them about safety, sharing, and play, not just for the horses, but for themselves, their family members, and their friends

Is it worth it to horse people to take all this extra time and do so much for kids that we probably would otherwise rarely see if we were not horse people?

Well, when I look over to see my 8 year old neighbor standing at my field fence waiting for me to notice her and invite her over, and I see her sweet face light up and watch her dance in the air when I ask her if we should get one of the horses out for her to ride, and when she jumps into my truck to ride with me to attend a lesson, or when she gets a little nervous when I ask if she’s ready to try trotting...I'd have to say yes...it's very worth that extra time.



When I watch my little granddaughter carefully extend her arm out to the Belgian draft horse, who was formerly abused and dangerous and whose head weighs more than her entire body, to offer him a corn

chip which he politely takes from her small hand, I wonder why those bank executives are getting millions of dollars in bonuses, when it’s horse people who really deserve to be rewarded for their lifes’ work.


But what do I know? I’m just a horse person and really what good are horse people anyway?

This good!

WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?

Question: Would you use a wood sealer/preservative on your horses’ hooves?

Some of you have and some still do. Anytime you smell a little thrush and run down to your local feed store to purchase one of the most popular hoof treatments on the shelf.

That's what I discovered today. There is a wood sealer that you can buy for less than $18 a gallon and its main ingredient is 10% Copper Naphthenate. The other 90% called "inert ingredient" is likely petroleum products like kerosene. That's according to Rich.

Rich purchased several gallons of this stuff today to treat the lumber for our bridge over the pond in our playfield. While he was treating some of the lumber, I was outside and the aroma was so strong and so familiar to me, but I couldn't place it.

Then Scrunchy, the curly coated cattle dog, jumped up and sat her little curly white butt down on one of the beams and her butt turned very bright green.

As she turn and mooned me with her neon green bottom and wagging tail, it slowly dawned on me. That color! That unmistakable smell was the same as the hoof treatment that I've warmed so many owners NOT TO USE!

I checked and sure enough. Copper Naphthenate is the main ingredient in a popular hoof treatment, a product name that ends with the first syllable in the word “toxic" by the way.

The ads brag that it's antifungal, and it seals and preserves the hoof. Why yes it does. I find this stuff inside horse's hooves months, sometimes years after the owner has applied it.

It has the same affect on hooves that it has on wood! Only the percentage prescribed for wood (10%) is much less than what is prescribed for your horse's delicate foot - nearly 40% in some of the products I found on line!

And the price! You can get a whole gallon of wood preservative for a buck or two more than you’d pay for an 8 ounce bottle labeled "hoof treatment."

Whoever thought of using a “wood sealer/preservative” on a horse’s hoof?

Probably the same folks who are okay with suggesting old timey remedies like turpentine, acetone, aluminum chloride, formaldehyde, alcohol, bleach or Lysol, or Oxine/Citric Acid combinations.

And please allow farriers to use CS (copper sulfate) treated sole packs typically used under shoe pads. CS destroys thrush and frogs and sole.

Copper Sulfate treated hoof packing (commonly used with NBS - Natural Balance Shoes) was used under a pad on this hoof. It's not a clear photo, but trust me, the frog is missing.

Dang, as I list this so many "chemicals" come to mind that have been recommended to horse owners to apply to their horse's feet!

This has got to stop!

This only product I will recommend to soak a horse's hoof is Epsom Salts. I have no idea if it helps anything, but I'm pretty sure it can't hurt. It doesn't have any antibacterial or antifungal properties, but it helps the owner feet better about doing something to ease their horse's discomfort. That's important.

(This product can be found at your local farrier supply store or on-line.)

Mild iodine is all I will treat thrush with and lately I’ve been using Hawthorne Sole Pack to treat thrush (inside boots) and fill in large areas of separation, splits, etc. It’s a pine tar/mild iodine combination that packs like playdough. When it’s packed into large areas of separation it keep other foreign materials out and the horse can still go barefoot.

From now on, let's take time to read the labels on products we apply to our horses's feet. It could be harmful to their health.

Ain't That a Kick In The Head...

Did I do that?


I just wanted to add a post today to remind everyone I care so much about, those I know and those I haven't met yet, to please be so careful around your horses.

Spencer has been getting so much better around people, but he can easily revert back to that unhandled stallion who joined our group last year. Occasionally, he expresses his annoyance with his feet! But usually, his aggressive gestures are directed at the other horses while he's eating. Not at me.

Still he sometimes lets me know when it’s me bugging him. Normally, I get after him for forgetting not to kick around me, but on Sunday, I wasn't paying close attention and probably could be in the hospital today, or worse, if I didn't have such a hard head.

I was clipping the hair around Spencer's gargantuan front hooves so I could get a better view of them. He doesn't always display obvious signs of annoyance, so they are easy to miss and Rich missed them as he was standing at Spencer’s head. Draft's are typically just so easy going that we can take their tolerance for granted without even realizing it.

And I was busy clipping away at his lower legs not realizing Spencer was getting bent about it. Guess where my head was while I was coming around behind his front legs with the clippers? He raised his hind hoof up and bam! To the moon, Alice! That’s where I felt like I was for a second or two.

First, I felt this:


then I saw a nanosecond of blackness, followed by this:

A couple pints of blood later, I decided I didn't want to go to the hospital and wait for 7 hours in the lobby with 87 sick people like we did a few weekends ago when Rich dove head first off a stack of hay bales and landed on his head on the edge of the utility trailer. His injury was worse then mine. He didn’t cry. I did.

This morning, I spent a couple hours playing with Spencer in the round pen. We just did some ground work, but I had my helmet on. From now on whenever I'm around him or any other untrained horse, I will be wearing my helmet. I don't care how silly I look.
Later I went to work and trimmed 4 unruly horses and 1 nice one. I felt okay, but I was so paranoid of my head that whenever one of the horses would lift a hind leg I'd jerk back, wishing for my helmet.

About a month ago, I was standing beside my beefy QH gelding, Danny, in the driveway. He was next to the fence and I was on the other side. Our dang dogs suddenly ran up to him and didn’t start yapping until they were right next to him.. He spooked and jumped into me, knocking me off my feet and sending me backwards onto the gravel. I HAD my helmet on then and could tell from the impact I would have gone to the hospital if I hadn't been wearing it.

Anyways, I know I don't have to remind you to be careful out there and protect your noggins even when you're not riding, and to make sure your guests who come to ride your horses are always wearing helmets even if they are just standing beside the horses. But I will anyways because I care about you.

Heads up!
Pat

Yes, it was me...Sorry.

Abscesses Revisited.

I think I get it now and I'm so excited!!

I wrote an article last year about abscesses. But I’ve since had an epiphany about them, what causes abscesses, treatment and how to keep them from starting in the first place.

I once thought there were two types of abscesses: The kind that start in the white line and work its way up the hoof wall; and another type, subsolar that start under the sole and work its way up and out the heel bulb or rupture out of the sole.

That’s only partly correct.

Recently I read an article by a farrier who was certain sole abscesses start with stone bruises. The sole doesn’t bruise. The sole tissue has no blood as the farrier suggested, causing bruising. A farrier of all professionals should know that. Farrier’s, vets and trimmers often cut into the sole (even when they shouldn't) and it would seem to me that if the sole could bruise, the result of cutting into it would be a bloody mess.

Some suggest abscessing is diet related, but I don’t think that’s true either.

There is only one kind of abscess. And maybe “abscess” isn’t even the best word to use to describe what is happening, but for now, lets use it because that’s the word we are most familiar with.

Abscesses begin only in the whiteline of the hoof. I’ve only ever seen sole abscess start in the area of the bar. The bars of the hoof are an extension of the hoofwall and the bars have a whiteline, just like the outer hoof wall.

I didn’t put this together until I attended a seminar recently with Swedish natural hoof care practitioner, Ove Lind. Swedishhoofschool.com

So what I used to think was a very complex topic, I now realize is VERY SIMPLE.

When we allow separation of the white line to take place, we are going to get abscessing. Bacteria invade the white line and works its away up the whiteline/laminae until it reaches soft tissue where it can erupt and relieve the horse of pain. Abscesses that start in the outer wall, erupt at the coronet band and abscesses that start in the white line of the bar erupt at the heel bulb.

It’s that simple! Separation of the whiteline allows abscesses to start. Separation is caused by neglect or improper trimming whether a hoof is shod or not.

Shod hooves can abscess. But a shod hoof is locked down restricting flexibility and circulation. That conditions impedes the abscess from working its way to soft tissue were it can erupt - resulting in pain relief for the horse.

Shod horses with abscesses, I know, are very often misdiagnosed with mystery conditions like navicular and laminitis. Translation: Your horse is lame and we don’t know why.

Either the horse is put into corrective shoes, (more constricted) put down, or the shoes are pulled and the horse is put out to pasture where it very often becomes sound again on it’s own. Also a mystery as no one noticed the abscesses finally ruptured.

So now I believe I really get it! Correct and frequent trimming, as well as not allowing the bars to be weight bearing will keep your horse from abscessing. It’s just that simple.

When I hear my horse abscesses over and over again. I know that the hooves of that horse aren’t being trimmed correctly. That’s all there is to it!

Abscesses in the hind hooves often cause so little pain we don’t even know it’s happening until we notice a rupture site at the soft tissue above the hoof.

Or abscesses can be so painful, the leg swells, the joints lock up and the horse can’t put any weight on the hoof for days.

What is the correct treatment? There is none. Once the abscess starts, it must be allowed to run it’s course. It erupts when it gets to soft tissue and the white line it invaded on its way up is now dead and the rupture site must grow out. As for the abscess that starts in the bar, that very often means the horse may lose a large section of bar and sole in the heel area or even the entire sole depending on how much of the solar papillae was invaded.

We have to give the horse time to grow out a new hoof often times, before we see complete soundness again. As this is happening we often see off and on again lameness. No lameness at the walk, but lameness at the trot and this can go on for months even years of the horse isn’t allowed time for the abscess to rupture.

What is the worst thing we can do for the abscess? Dig it out? If we did at something that’s on it’s way up, all we are doing is giving the horse a secondary problem to grow out. And if the dig site becomes deep and wide, more debris is allowed to enter the hoof and possibly cause bone infection as a result.

So when your horse abscesses, make sure it’s barefoot, has time to heal and no digging.

That’s where I stand on abscesses now.



Subsolar abscess: This mare was lame in shoes for years with no obvious signs so she was diagnosed as a founder case. The owner's comment was that she should have been dog food long ago. Sad. We pulled shoes and abscess was allowed to rupture. She was slowly becoming sound again and owner was advised by her vet that natural trims cause abscessing. She was put back into shoes before she had a chance to fully recover. I haven't heard anything about her beyond that, but it wouldn't surprise me if she's been digested by a dog by now.


You can see the rupture site of an abscess that started in the bars, here just above the center sulcus between the heel bulbs. This horse was never shod, but he went too long between trims and separation of the white line resulted. I hate to admit this is my horse and he was a gravel cruncher before I allowed this to happen.

Lesson learned. A year later, he's much improved, but still not the cruncher he was. Boots solve that.



Rupture site at coronet band from abscess that started in the white line. Separation of the white line was the cause. This abscess started at the same time as the one that started in the bar so that tells me there was a large section of separation that went into the bars.



A horse will usually exhibit more pain if the abscess is in the front hoof rather than a hind. The leg and fetlock joint can swell and the no weight can be put on the leg without the horse exhibiting intense pain.



Does this resemble a founder stance? Yes it does. And a huge diagnositc mistake could have easily been made on this horse. Thankfully, I was certain it was an abscess and I was right. He was laying on the ground for 4 days before the rupture. I just allowed him to rest and the abscess to rupture and he gradually recuperated. It's been a long road for this poor guy. Due to the abscess, he foundered in all four feet. A full recovery has taken just over a year.

It's important to note that we probably won't even realize our horse is abscessing until it gets close to soft tissue where it can erupt. That's why digging at the abscess is a mistake. By the time the horse is experiencing pain, the abscess has made it's way so far up the hoof to get past it. NO DIGGING!

Itchie Horse Cured!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        This Butt was made for scratching! So that's just what he'd do! If you weren't payin' attention close, he'd scratch all over you!!! 

This butt was rubbed bald from scratching nearly every spring back in the day.  

I wondered if other horses becomes so miserable in the Spring and Summer, that he/she has trouble focusing on anything, except how much they ITCH! 

It's really not a funny condition.  It can change a horse's personality as the itch just drives them mad.

What you see in this picture is nothing, I've seen horses rub themselves bald in patches.  And even their sweet personalities would change and they would become grumpy, even mean.  I just could not blame them once I experience the hell they were experiencing. 

                                                              

Danny would just be strolling across the pasture or paddock and suddenly drop to the ground, then

he get into a sitting position and use his front legs to push himself back and forth and rub, rub, rub his belly on the ground?

Danny would rub his chest between his front legs until it callused with a thickened layer of hide.  Snce he was about 4 years old until he was 10 or so he did that most summers. 

He'd find a new way to scratch himself with each warm season of itchiness. Not only was there a cost to him as far as his sanity, but also the cost of lotions and potions and bath treatments. And to my heart watching him suffering and not being able to resolve it for him.  

In my quest to find relief for my boy, hundreds of dollars were thrown at sprays and chemicals guaranteed to give him relief that probably cost next to nothing to produce. 

Many of the products required bathing the horse in them every few days. I'm retired now, but I wasn't then and most horse owners have families, jobs, and a herd of horses and live in the Pacific NW where the term “sun breaks” was a coined!

At one point, I just gave up the battle of the itch. I felt bad for him that he was so distressed from Spring until Fall, but I was out of ideas.  He really had trouble concentrating on anything other than trying to make the itching stop.

I discussed the situation with MANY vets and other owners of horses with his same symptoms. There were as many theories as to what causes this problem, as there are horses that suffer with it. Am I right? Those of you with an itching horse know what I'm talking about. Allergic to the saliva of midges? Maybe.  I even learned all about neck thread worms, not his issue but something to be awere of. 

But sometime back I discovered what the problem was that caused Danny and many other horses to itch and rub their hair out.  For some horses it can be lice or mange, but for us, it was bird mites. 

I discovered this quite by accident.  Bird mites! Are you kidding me?  Mites picked up from birds landing on a horse's back or infesting the barn, stored blankets, which are just a few ways they get to horses.  It's so common and the itch from bird mites is just maddening.  I know because I've gotten them off horses who are infested with them, in my own hair! It is just terrible.  You cannot do anything or even think straight until you rid yourself of them! 

So how did I figure that out, it was a series of serendipitous experiences.  Initially, I discovered bird mites after a pair of sparrows made a nest on our back porch under the roof.  I thought this was the coolest thing!  I took pictures daily from the time the eggs were laid, hatched, and everyday as the babies progressed in their development.  The parent birds really hated me for awhile and would dive bomb my head every time I went outside!  

These little guys were covered in tiny orange mites as are 98% of all wild birds.  Before they latch on and start sucking blood from their hosts, they are translucent.  As soon as they start feeding, they turn a rust orange color. 

Some say that parasites like bird mites are species specific meaning not transfer from one species to another, but in the case of bird mites,  I discovered, that is just not true.  They are easily transferred from one species to another, including people, pets, livestock, and poultry.   And since then I think I've met a few pets that suffered with them. Even a goat or two who rubbed themselves to the point they were covered in callused skin and no fur.  

I actually saw the little red mites these hatchlings were covered in crawling from this nest up the wall of our house! So I looked went to my computer and searched "little red bugs on birds" and read all about Bird Mites!  I used delousing powder and carefully treated them and the wall around the nest.  that seemed to solve the problem.  And the babies thanked me, but the mom bird, bounced off my head the next time I walked outside. 

I learned that once the birds leave the nest, the mites will migrate, looking for something warm that is full of blood.  Got swallows nests in your barn?   Is your horse going crazy itching itself on anything it can find?  If so, he or she is probably infested with mites and this problem is actually more common, I've experienced, than lice. 

Thankfully, mites are fairly fragile and if I got them in my hair, (Being under horses daily working on their feet - it happened a few times.) shampoo and conditioner usually solved the problem.  But for horses I use a solution that is a bit stronger and it works. 

I cured Danny's itching (and many horses since then) by bathing him in a solution of water, Dawn dishwashing liquid and a bit of bleach. I've treated many horses this way and always they got instant relief.  The itch almost immediately stopped and their hair began growing back in. 😊 

I'm not a vet and I'm not recommending you try this, but it worked for my own horses with no side affects.  If you're considering it, you might be apprehensive about the bleach so just try the water and Dawn and see if that works.  It might, maybe not as quickly or you may need more than one bath. 

Danny hasn't been itchy like he was back then in many years.  And anytime I see one of our horses rubbing like he was, they get a bath and it generally only takes one bath.  

I once bathed a white horse who was very itchy and I saw gazillions of tiny orange specs rolling off of him in the water.  It was shocking and that confirmed my suspicions that I was not dealing with a simple lice issue.  

To see a horse suffering with this condition can be so sad.  I once tried to tell an owner what was happening with his pretty paint gelding who I'd always known as a sweet, good natured guy, and he refused to believe me. He'd talked to the vet and what did I know.  This horse was normally an easy horse to trim, but when I arrived that day to work on his feet, he couldn't hold his foot up for more than a few seconds before he needed to itch.  I saw he had rubbed large patches of hair out of parts of his body and the owner told me he had started rubbing on trees and the barn and anything he could find.  I knew immediately what was wrong and made the suggestion that he just needed to bath him, my words fell on deaf ears.  He told me the vet advised that it was sweet itch or something and he'd get over it.  Then he later called me to cancel our next appointment and I never saw him or his horses again. 

You might wonder why was the problem only in Spring and Summer.  Maybe could an issue year around in areas where the temps don't drop much in Winter.  Here in the PNW though, the warmer seasons are when the birds are out, and it's likely mites don't survive cold temps.  I need to consult with an entomologist!   

So Danny is going on 22 this year and he's pretty happy that experience is behind him.  Haw, behind him. 🤣

The Glove!

Hey, just wanted to share with you all, my opinion of this fairly new hoof boot.

I LOVE IT!


This boot was developed with the input of Pete Ramey and the name he came up for it is right on. It has to be fit perfectly so you can't just go buy a pair off the shelf at the tack store, well you can, but chances is are, it won't fit perfectly enough to work well for your horse. There is only about 3mm (about the width of a dime) between sizes.


When you get a good fit, you have a wonderful hoof boot for your horse.

Power Strap for extra security.






The only drawback I've found so far is that they are so popular, I can't keep them in stock. And Easy Care, Inc., has them on backorder most the time because supply isn't keeping up with demand. Bummer. I hope that changes soon.


If you've ever considered going barefoot, but hoof protection options stopped you. Now is the time to try it! Easycareinc.com for more information.

Lights! Camera! ACTION!

I just wanted to share some big news! For a few years now I've been day dreaming about making a video (DVD) on the topic of How To Trim Your Horse Naturally.

Well, it appears that it's going to happen! Filming starts on the 24th of this month. I'm stoked! And very nervous!

This DVD will illustrate, on a variety of hooves, how to perform a maintenance trim on an average Equine Hoof - horse, mule and donkey, and focus mainly on the tools, tool handling, and correct trimming.

It will be affordable to most horse owners and it will be professionally filmed with a high definition camera, and edited by professionals, so you are assured that the quality of the DVD will be excellent if you choose to purchase it.

I can hardly believe my day dream is coming true and the film crew from Epona Producations will be coming to our facility!

How did this happen? Well, it started when one of my Natural Hoof Care Practitioner Colleges went on maternity leave and asked me if I would trim some of her customer's horses in her area (one being in North Bend, WA. Drive time with traffic? About 2 hours one way). Until she could return to work.

The horseowner that I got to meet in North Bend is an amazing woman and when I discovered that she and her husband are professional film makers, I had to share my dream with her about the DVD. One thing led to another and we started making plans!

Gayle and her husband own Epona Productions in Northbend. They travel all over the world making many award winning films!

Here is a sample of Gayle's work! Tree Kangaroo Conservation Program Interesting and well done!

I'll keep you posted and if you are interested in purchasing a DVD when it's ready, go to Rainierhoofrecovery.com (A website currently under construction) or send me an email.

Wish me to break a leg!

Pat

For Heaven's Sake - part two.

So I just wanted to follow up on my post regarding the farrier who owns the blog Farrieritis (see post below titled "For Heaven's Sake.")

I'm convinced that farrieritis is an actual condition that so many horses fall prey to. I'm kidding...sort of.

In the post, I had put the question to Marcia asking how the farrier and vet working relentlessly on her horse was working for her. I was being a smartass and I apologize for that.

At the time that uploaded that post, I also sent and email to her asking how her horse was doing. They were doing all they could...was her response.

Today, she sent me a sad email letting me know that her sweet mare had been euthanized. I am very sorry to hear that she had lost her lovely mare.

But sadly, I'm not really surprised by the news.

I personally don't believe there is a such thing as coffin bone rotation as the equine medical community explains it.

It has long been thought that the laminae is the only connection of the coffin bone to the inside of the hoof wall and when it fails, the coffin bone is allowed to drop or rotate.

Please correct me if I'm wrong about this, but what about those two big tendons, the extensor and the DDFT Deep Digital Flexor Tendon? These are two big tendons that hold the little coffin bone in place!

These tendons are so strong that you could probably tow a Volkswagen with them. One, the extensor (with attaching ligaments) at the front of the coffin bone, and other, the DDFT, is attached, via ligaments, to the back of the bone. Both run up the leg and attach above. So how in the heck could a little coffin bone rotate completely out of position with this tendon/ligament apparatus stabilizing it?

(The above paragraph has been revised after receiving input from Mrs. Mom, see comments.)

The coffin bone might detach and leave it's tight position against the wall when the laminae fails, but not to the degree that we see in some radiographs or rads.

A rad may show what appears to be a tipped down coffin bone, but what is really happening is that the hoofwall has flared away from the bone due to poor trimming methods or due to neglect. The bone hasn't gone anywhere, but flared wall (poor trimming and shoeing) makes it appear that it has.

That is so common and I can't begin to tell you how common that is. When I point it out to vets in my area, you'd think I just poked a hole in their brain and poured in a smart potion.

The only possible way we can know for sure the degree a coffin has rotated is if we take rads of the hoof before the incident. We need a baseline. As well as pictures of the outside of the hoof to see if the wall has changed its dimensions.

Pictures of the outer wall are cheap and easy and we should ALL have them on our horse's hooves. When the hoof fails we can look to those pictures and see if there are any changes caused by among other issues, improper trimming.

Equine doctors are not to be blamed for situations such as Marcia's horse enduring because they don't know what they don't know. Vets get almost no education in school about the hooves of horses and defer much of the treatment to farriers. I believe that is starting to change as the field of natural hoof care emerges as a positive treatment for horses with hoof ailments that traditional medicine is losing.

Farriers are not to blame as they know what the know from going to farrier school and they are taught by professionals, some of whom have never been to farrier school themselves.

Or very commonly, they learn uncle Joe who learned to shoe horses by trial and error - and out of necessity when he was young. When Joe began crippling fewer horses than not, he went into practice as the local farrier and he was busy because most people couldn't or wouldn't do that dirty, dangerous, difficult job for any amount of money!

So Joe passes his skills on to others, but with no knowledge whatsoever regarding hoof anatomy or hoof function and so it goes. I've met a number of farriers who went into that profession after losing their job and needed a quick-to-learn skill to make some money to support their families. Not because they loved shoeing horses or cared anything about horses' hooves.

That's just how it is, but we are working hard to change how people think about traditional hoof care and how it might not be the answer to their horse's prayers.

Rehabilitative trimming and "different" rehab practices actually save the lives of many of these horses if they are lucky enough to fall into the hands of a natural hoof care practitioner and not someone like the author of ferrieritis.

For more info on CBR see http://www.nobenaho.com/CBR.htm

Pat

UPDATE regarding tendons:

Extensor Tendon: This tendon is attached to all the bones in the foot except the Navicular bone, it bears no weight and is therefore slim and generally trouble-free.
At the lower end of the long pastern bone it receives reinforcement on either side from the branches of the Suspensory ligament, which increase its width.
The function for the extensor tendon is to extend the bones of the foot and lift the toe.


Flexor Tendon: Running over the back of the knee in the carpal canal and held in position by a carpal check ligament. It then extends down the back of the cannon bone between the superficial digital flexor tendon and the suspensory ligament.

In the middle of the cannon bone the deep digital flexor tendon is joined by the carpal check ligament, known as the inferior check ligament. The tendon then passes over the sesamoid bones, before passing between the two extensions of the superficial digital flexor tendon.

At this point, the deep digital flexor tendon becomes broad and fanlike, passing over the navicular bone before inserting into the lower surface of the pedal bone. This takes some of the strain from the muscles situated above the knee in the forearm or above the hock in the gaskin.

“For Heaven’s Sake!”

Okay, this post has been rattling around in my head for awhile now and a recently received email from a farrier whose website I’ve basically ignored for a long time, sent to me.

All he sent was a comment from someone who commented on his site. Yes, I made the mistake of commenting on his site one time awhile back, then I forgot about him.

I had commented on a post showing pictures of what appeared to me as a butchered hoof. I could not help myself. I asked why he would do that to a hoof. His reason was that he'd had many years of experience. So I guess that made it okay.

Yes, because he made no sense at all in his email conversations with me, I posted the pictures on my blog warning horse owners to protect their horses from anyone who would do that to their horses hooves. But if they do, the horse most certainly would need some sort of protection. Shoes being the preferred choice of hoof protection by that horse shoer.

It easy to figure out that a hoof that has been gutted will be a lame hoof. Enter horse shoes!

So after many months after I forget this guy exists, here what I received. So bizarre!

A comment regarding "Coffin Bone Rotations", an entry at Farrieritis, was written at 7/2/2009 6:25:36 AM.
________________________________________
Comment:
Hello John, You were to nice to Pat. lol
She is the kind that knows it all for heaven sakes. People are the reason for horses bad feet most of the time and then some are as you said just founder and with rotation. My daughters horse is now getting the shoes you spoke of and it all began with a virus, then colic and now rotation, and this was no ones fought, just happens and good folks like you can most of the time fix it. We now have the Vet and Farrier working relentless to fix this horse and keep her out of pain, Thanks for your comments I think you are a hell of a good farrier or you would not have been able to explain the problem with the hoof you showed and with the x ray.
Marcia
________________________________________

Ironically, the commenter states that her - quote “…Vet and farrier are working relentless to fix this horse and keep it out of pain.”

I only have one question for Marcia. “How’s that workin’for ya?”

Okay, so why was this sent to me? Oh, yeah, I figure if he can convince enough people that he is right, then he will feel good about what he’s doing to the hooves of horses -- backed by his many years of experience, doing this to horses, of course.

I’ve said it a million times, but I’m going to say it again here.

Why do we shoe our horses? The main reason we shoe are horses is for our own convenience. Period!

What's wrong with that? Nothing. If your horse isn't suffering from the shoes.

Going natural isn’t as easy paying someone to nail shoes onto their horse’s feet. Going natural means owners have to take a more interactive roll in their horse’s hoof care. They must educate themselves about the most important part of their horse's anatomy that let's face it most horseowners know as much about as brain surgery.

In the past years, for more and more horse owners whose horses are barefoot, their horses are worth the time and trouble.

Still, I keep hearing people blame bare hooves for every ailment imaginable - no matter which end of the horse is afflicted. From a blind eye to runny poop. "Oh, that must be caused from your horse being barefoot." What?

Everyone knows horses survived for millions of years without our intervention of nailing shoes onto their feet, but now that we’re involved in their care, they can’t get along without horse shoes being nailed onto them. For Heaven's Sake!

That sarcastic remark right there should tell us something about what we are doing wrong to their feet to cause a need for something as extreme as nailing iron to the bottoms of their hooves.

Horseowners are figuring out that there is a better, healthier way. The problem is they are figuring it out faster than the equine medical educational institutions and the farrier schools.

What is wrong with shoes?

The shoe isn’t so bad if the application is done correctly (9 out of 10 times, shoes are not applied correctly) AND if the shoes could be removed at the end of every ride, which we know they can’t be, unless we are farriers as well as horse owners.

What else?

Shoes create constant pressure on the hoof and

CONSTANT PRESSURE KILLS LIVING TISSUE,

CONSTANT PRESSURE KILLS LIVING TISSUE,

and

CONSTANT PRESSURE KILLS LIVING TISSUE.

The hoof IS held together by live tissue – the sensitive laminae.

The shoe supports only the outer edge of the entire hoof (peripheral loading) causing the horse’s entire weight to be supported by that living tissue this is connecting the coffin bone to the wall- the sensitive and insensitive laminae.

My horses were once shod. I remember my mare pulling her foot away when the nails were being driven into her foot. That alone told me, shoes were not a good deal. But it was when she tore a good portion of her hoof off when she stepped on her shoe with her other foot, (see the June 09 issue of Equus for an example of why you should grab the lead rope and runaway with your horse if you hear your farrier bragging that his shoes don’t fall off) was when I knew I had to figure out a better way for her than shoes.

That was over 5 years ago and she’s not worn shoes since nor will she ever be shod again. Funny, she is NOT lame.

So let me ask you something. If you’ve got a horse whose coffin bone has rotated, (if that's even a true diagnosis and it's usually not) how can you, with any compassion for your horse at all, look that horse in the eyes and say, “I realize you’re in constant, excruciating pain, and you can’t get off for aching feet for long, but I’m going to pay someone to pound nails into your hooves now too. So that your aching feet can locked up with these nice pieces of iron, until you start getting better or until you die trying.” ?

I, on the other hand, would look that horse in the eyes and say, “How about we put these boots on your feet with these soft pads in the bottom, so you can comfortably move around until you either get better, or it's determined that your condition is chronic and we chose to end your suffering.”

Who do you think that horse will thank later - whether it be from its pasture or from its grave?

When it comes to hooves, I’m the first to admit I do not know it all. I sure don't know much about hooves compared to people like Dr. Robert Bowker or Pete Ramey (hoofrehab.com) and others like them, but when I hear and read comments like the one emailed to me, I’m convinced that I know a hell of a lot more about hooves than most horse-shoers; more than some horse owners (most horse owners know more than their shoers) and a large percentage of veterinarians.

Especially the veterinarians who feel compelled to taking their hoof knife and gouging out an abscess. Why do you people do that? Leave it alone! How many holes do you have to make before you figure out you’ll never get past it. It’s working its way up the hoof to soft tissue where it will rupture. Digging out the hoof until you get to blood only opens the hoof up to infection. Isn’t it enough that the horse is already dealing with the abscess? Is it better that we add a giant open crater to the problems it already has?

Okay, sorry, I'll save that one for another rant.

Here is another experts take on "coffin bone rotation"

http://www.nobenaho.com/CBR.htm

Andrea commented on this post: Here are the pictures she sent. One is of her shod gelding and one is of her barefoot mare. Most of you can guess which is which. Andrea, we are all so very sorry about your gelding. He is the reason you're doing things so much differently with your mare. Bravo to you!