Simulcast Interview

To listen to my debut on webcast radio, click on arrow above! Enjoy!!

This network is a great deal for horse people. Check out the website! I love it! There is so much great horse info packed into it!

www.naturalhorsenetwork.com/horseradio.html

Pat

Cadaver Dissection

A farrier friend and I recently spent a very interesting afternoon, cutting into horse body parts. That is gruesomely fascinating to me and I learn a great deal every time I cut into a hoof. This was an exceptional experience because we didn’t just limit our dissection to the hoof, but instead went up the leg to the knee and did some serious investigation of the tendons and ligaments. We took lots of pictures and clips of the how the tendons activate the leg and hoof. Good stuff! Allen’s specimen was from a healthy horse with lovely pale pink laminae. He meticulously took it dissected the hoof and leg and that was so interesting to watch. My hoof, however, was from a foundered horse and his laminae was extremely red. After we removed the navicular bones, I found a hole in the bottom of the N. bone from my hoof, which was about the size of a nail head. I looked for information about this condition and could only find it described in a farrier text book and it is termed Street Nail Syndrome or Collar Button Disease. Old terms with no explanation of what causes the ulcer. But I’m sure it’s painful and often goes undetected because we think we’re dealing with founder issues only. I cannot stress enough how importance of x-raying the bones of lame horses, even if we think we know that the problem is, we need to get those x-rays and have them taken by a vet who really understands the hoof. They’re may be underlying causes of severe pain that cannot fix with trims, diet or environment. We can work miracles with our natural trimming techniques, but we cannot fix a dead horse and we shouldn’t try. More stuff to learn about these amazing hooves! It just never stops!

This and that

Well, the webcast interview went pretty well. When you're being recorded you really start to notice all the interjected "ums and "ahs." But it wasn't as unnerving as I thought it was going to be. Toward the end, I was just getting wound-up and Colleen forgot to hit the button to continue recording so we sort of broke off suddenly somewhere in the middle of my rantings. Coincedence? I'm sure it was. And that's probably okay. We're going to do it again another day.

We have two new patients that have checked into our Hoof Recovery Center. Classie and Cricket. Two very pretty Appy mares. Both very lame, of course or they wouldn't be here. I will be adding posts with more information and photos to come just as I did with Dexter. I'm optimistic that their outcome will be more positive than his was.

We also have a new dog living with us. Our granddaughter, Olivia, named her Scrunchy. She looks kind of like a scrunchy too. She reminds me of Cookie Monster with her curly fur. She's very cute! Photos forthcoming when we get her looking less scrnchy-like.

Stay tuned!

I'm My Biggist Fan!!

Well finally! My big break into show biz has arrived! I knew it would happen someday!!

Just kidding.

But something fun just came up! I'm going to be interviewed regarding Natural Hoof Care (what else) with the Natural Horse Network.

This network, that I just discovered myself, is a great deal for horse people. Check out the website! I love it! There is so much great horse info packed into it!www.naturalhorsenetwork.com/horseradio.html

You can call or write in ahead of time with questions about natural hoof care. It's going to be a teleseminar, I'm told and I don't if that's webcasting or what exactly yet, but I guess I'll find out soon. I'm so excited!!

EVENT: NHN presents a session with Pat Wagner

DATE & TIME: Saturday, October 27th at 11:00am Mountain (10:00am Pacific)

TO ATTEND THIS EVENT, CLICK THIS LINK NOW...

http://instantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=974892

That's Colleen in the picture!

New Additions to the Farm

Recently, I met a very nice lady who was doing her best to care for 2 geriatric horses and a mini donkey and mule. Her husband was the sole caretaker of them and he took the best care of his equine charges. Sadly, he passed away suddenly and his wife was left to care for his pets as best she could with help from friends and a neighbor. They were doing well, except for their hoofcare so I was called in to work on that part of their care. One thing led to another and well, Annie and Franny came home with me shortly after my first visit! Annie's hooves were quickly brought back into shape. I trimmed her 2 days after she arrived here.

Franny isn't a very friendly sort and has made past hoofcare impossible. So when I met her, her hooves were over 6 inches straight out in front of her. The walls had rolled under on the sides and she was walking on the outer hoofwall. Her ligaments were stretched beyond their normal limits and running away from, and kicking at people, was showing signs of pain.

Her first trim involved removing as much of the excess hoof as she would stand for...with a hacksaw. The procedure went well and we at least relieved the stress on her ligaments and tendons. However, as soon as we turned her loose, she thanked me by kicking me in the stomach. (What's up with these mini mules? Doesn't any one handle them after they're born?)

I've yet to trim her a second time as we're working on making friends first so the procedure isn't as traumatizing for her... or me.

We are up to 12 equines now, most are rescues, and we're going to stop now.

Um, yeah, that's what I said after each one came here to live.

But really, I mean it this time!

Yes, I said that too.

2007 Parelli Conference

We laughed, we cried, we cheered, we fell silent waiting for more...and more...and more. It was such an emotion packed 3 days. It was draining and exhilerating at the same time and we're goin' again next year!! I love everything about Linda and Pat Parelli and the Savvy team. I just wish they didn't shoe their horses.

I've been going to the Savvy Club Forum and members have been posting these of amazing pictures. Rich and I are in some of them. See if you can spot us. (We're on the end of the bleachers about 1/2 way up. Rich's mustache is easy to spot.) It was such awesome experience. We purchased our tickets for next year's conference while we were there. I see they're almost sold out already.

Parellis joined forces with the Myler bit brothers and came out with a cool new bridle that comes with a bit that fits your horse's personality. I don't think it's for sale on their website yet, but I have one and I love it!! I actually save so much money with Parelli items. I only buy what I need now. I used to buy every gadget that anyone would tell me worked. Now I only buy what Parelli's sell that actually does. I have so much stuff that I never use from my normal days. I could have a pretty big tack sale all by myself.

Under the Horse Sneak Preview

Pete Ramey's New Natural Hoof Care Program

Here is a sneak preview of Pete Ramey's new 10 DVD program. It is a necessity for anyone who wants to learn to trim their own horses, and professionals with a desire to get better and learn more about natural hoof care. Buy it! Watch it! Loan it to your farrier and veterinarian! But make sure you get it back so you can watch it over and over again.

The sad truth is that the hooves are the most neglected and abused aspect of every horse's body. We owners will budget for fancy show equipment, expensive saddles, trailers, trucks, costly supplements, and grooming supplies. We spend millions on that stuff. But we sure don't like to spend money on, and really have the least knowledge about, the most important part of the horse. The hooves!

Without healthy hooves, we will not be riding our horses. Well, I have to take that back. Most horseowners are riding horses whose feet hurt to some degree. Most of us just don't recognize the problems our horses are living and performing with daily.

Every horse deserves for us to know this information and Pete does a spectactular job of delivering it.

The second most neglected, yet most important part of our horses is their teeth! Don't get me started on that...

Q&A Toewall Separation

Hi Pat:As I said in my phone call, our Arab/Quarter Horse mare, Zippy, hasdeveloped a stretched white line on her right front hoof. We have had heralmost 2 years and I have been trimming her for about a year and have neverseen this.We moved her about 2 months ago. She was in a mud free area that was partsand and part dirt. She was with another horse, so she moved around a fairamount. She spent the nights in a stall (large; 12 x 18) and had access tofree choice orchard grass hay. We moved her to a boarding facility muchcloser to our house which is dirt and weeds with a two sided shelter. Wescoop manure daily. She sometimes has another horse in with her, though notat present. Here she is fed alfalfa twice per day. When we bought Zippy, shewas in a very muddy paddock and not very clean stall and fed alfalfa twiceper day. Even at that she has always had good hooves.There is about a ½ "space between the white and water lines, with dirtpacked between. She had developed what looked like a hard ridge around theedge of the hoof underneath. I nipped this and it seemed to be dirt mixedwith horn, although it was too hard for me to scrape off with a hoof pick. This ridge reappeared 4-5 days after I nipped, but when I squeezed it withthe nippers again, Zippy seemed sensitive, so I left it alone. She is not lame (yet) and has no ridges or other abnormalities on the outside of thehoof. Any advice on how to deal with this would be greatly appreciated. TW

Hi TW,

I've seen what's in the pictures a few times and it does generally come on suddenly and usually tenderfootedness is associated with it.

There are a couple possible causes. One is acute lamintis - founder. Possibly caused by a sudden change in feed or sudden over-abundance in feed, spring grass or some form of mechanical founder rather than organic.

Correct whatever caused that incident and grow the hooves out and continue trimming.

Another possible cause is thrush. We think of thrush as being a stinky condition of the hoof which happens now and then during wet weather. But it's a fungal/ bacterial infection which can lead to a very painful condition that can degrade the hoof structures it attacts.

To know if it's thrush, press on her frog and her digital cushion and see if she responds with sensitivity. There might be some other cause of the heel pain, but generally, it's thrush. What happens is that the horse doesn't want to come down on his heel when pain from heel pressure is present, so they start impacting first on their toe and then on their heel. You can walk her around and really watch for how her hoof is landing. That toe first landing will disrupt the toewall/sole/lamelar juncture and cause the separation you're seeing.

Take care of the thrush or whatever is causing the heel pain (an abscess could also be the culprit) and get her landing on her heel again and the toe wall will again grow down tight and the separation will grow out.

Please don't treat it with chemicals, or anything you wouldn't be willing to gargle with, including bleach! There are so many caustic thrush remedies on the market. I use "gentle" iodine.

You might also want to take a look at your horse's diet and see if any improvements can be made. Let me know how it goes.

Pat

Trip to Pagosa Springs, Colorado

Pat Parelli sliding Magic to a stop right in front of us!

We got back last week from a wonderful trip to Pagosa Springs to attend the annual Parelli Conference! It was amazing! Astounding! Emotional! Motivational! I got a hug from Pat Parelli! (His idea, I didn't attack him, although I did consider it, but my husband was taking pictures:0)

We drove there and back and Rich did almost all the driving! Our only stop on the way there was in Moab, Utah where I got to see the Arches for the first time. Beautiful! We arrived in Pagosa Thursday evening and stayed in a wonderful room at the Hot Springs Hotel. Rich and I got to experience the Lobster Pot! Wow, I'll never eat another lobster. Poor things.

We left Pagosa at 5pm on Sunday and pulled into our driveway at 7pm the next evening. What a haul, but that is the 2nd time I've driven through Utah at night. You miss lots of pretty scenery when you do that.

They have a new program out that I recommend to anyone looking for a better relationship with their horse! Also they've partnered up with the Myler Bit Company and they came up with the coolest new bridle. A few were sold at the conference. We will test them out and reporting our findings and once they've worked out the bugs, they will be selling to the general public.

Well, off to work! Have a wonderful day!

Pat (Parelli) Wagner