Draft Hoof

This is a picture I took a few years ago at our state fair of a Percheron's foot.

Normal people take lovely pictures of the horse's head, or body shots showing the sheer size of these gorgeous animals.

But not me! I take a picture of the bottoms of the hooves. An area very few of us ever even notice, which is why they often look like this. No one complains, not even the horse. And the horse has every right to be really pissed about being forced to live with this crappy shoeing job!

Drafts can be big, naughty, combersome animals to trim and/or shoe so their hooves usually aren't maintained on the most frequent basis, not the mention the cost, unless owners work on their own draft horses. Which is often the case because after all, they are just draft horses, it's not like they ride them or anything. Right?

This horse is suffering from severe flare, causing separation of the white line and opening his hooves up to potential cases of white line disease and/or abscessing. The flare should have been addressed with the trim. It hasn't been addressed with the trim, so this hoof, with it's $200 or $300 dollar shoeing job (for all fours) is in exactly the same predicament as any long-term neglected hoof would be.

Flaring also allows the soles to become flat and tender so you can see in the picture the pad that is added to protect the sole and frog. This pad and shoe takes the entire bottom of the hoof out of function. The frog atrophies like any other body part that isn't being used. Draft horses can have just as wonderful and shapely hooves as any other horse. Owners of drafts just need to educate themselves about how to make that happen. Their horses could move and pull with much more athletism if their feet were more normally shaped.

One of the worst cases of flare in draft horses that I've ever seen is on the Percherons owned by the Preifert Fence Panel company. Boy, if you get to chance to see their hooves in a picture or in person...yikes! I happened to see a picture of these horses in the Capital Press paper and I cut it out, it was so horrible. The team of horses were pulling a wagon at break-neck speed as part of the opening ceremony for last year's Bishop Mule Festival. I could not believe they could keep from tripping over the duck billed hooves. It was an awful sight. No horses should have to live with feet like that, especially working horses.

I just wanted to point this out to you. If you are interested and you happen to be walking past the pretty draft horses at the fair, notice the hooves. This should shock you just as much as when you see a horse that hasn’t had any hoofcare in years. Spencer’s hooves are a good example of extreme neglect. (spencersnewlife@blogspot.com)

If this doesn’t shock you, let me know, I can help you learn why it should.

Pat

Hoof Stands

If your back tends to tire when it’s time to pick pooh from your Hanoverian’s hooves, or if you need a stand when you clip around the coronet band while preening your Palomino, nothing will come in handier than a hoof stand!

For anyone who is considering the purchase of a hoof stand, I can’t recommend it enough. The benefits are nearly endless.

It will save your back during daily hoofcare, and when cleaning and prepping hooves for competition.

It will keep your horse comfortable while you work on his hooves so there is less fidgeting.

Your hoofcare professional will appreciate your horse being familiar with quietly leaving his hoof in/on the stand.

If you’re considering learning to trim your horse’s hooves yourself because you don’t live near any competent hoofcare professionals, you’re going to need one of these babies eventually.

In my opinion, though, not all hoof stands are worth purchasing. I figured I’d save you some money and frustration by sharing my thoughts about two of the most popular hoof stands on the market today. The Hoof Jack and the Hoof it – Hoof Stand.

I’ve always used the Hoof Jack.

Its cloth cradle is comfortable for the horse and offers enough flexibility that you can maneuver the hoof as you need to work on it. The posts are rubber instead of steel. The stands, cradles and post come in different sizes. The stand is shipped to you with a DVD on how to properly use it. Best of all the Hoof Jack is light weight.

You do need to remove the cradle from the stand when you need to change over to the post. To do that you have to unscrew a wingnut, but that’s not a big deal and after some practice, changing from cradle to post takes about 2 seconds. I sometimes will prop the hoof on one end of the cradle if I’m being too lazy to change out to the post, but that does wear out your cradle faster. All parts are replaceable.

I’ve also used the Hoof it Hoof Stand.

While the Hoof It Stand is less expensive than the Hoof Jack, and you can make it work for you, it is not as convenient to use as it might seem. Raising and lowering the post within the cradle can be frustrating and the post has to really be pushed into the cradle or the hoof sits on top of the post and rocks around when you’re working on the bottom of the hoof.

However, if you push the post all the way down into the cradle, it’s a pain to get it out again. I have to switch back and forth from cradle to post continually in my job and I could not put up with that much frustration for long. Also, there is a clamp, rather than a screw to keep the post/cradle at the appropriate height and that clamp can be very difficult to open and close.

For someone who doesn’t change back and forth from the cradle to the post often, the savings might be worth it, but in all likelihood, if you buy one, you will eventually replace it with a Hoof Jack. Save yourself some money and just get the HJ first.

Also, I have to comment on other types of stands, especially homemade ones. Before you go that route, think about the stand and what “will” happen “when” the horse knocks the stand onto its side and drops her leg down onto the base. It WILL happen. I’d much rather have my horse whack her leg on a plastic/resin base than one made of an rusty old plow disc.

The super cheap, 3-legged metal stands (my first stand) is really tipsy and just not safe.

Metal posts are also dangerous and not comfortable for the horse. Another thing to think about is the outcome when the horse knocks you off balance and you land on the stand. Give me a rubber post any day!

Hope this helps you!

Pat

2008 AHA Region V 50 Mile Championship

Diane Stevens and her "barefoot" Arabian mare, Elation, Won the 2008 AHA Region V 50 Mile Championship.

This is what she had to say:

Friends and family,
I wanted to pass along my mare Elation's Championship info. Elation and I won the 2008 AHA Region V 50 Mile Championship. Elation was also awarded the covanent Best Conditon Award! Elation had a blistering finish time of 4 hours 39 minutes and also finished with all A's on her vet card. She is a special mare....Thank you everyone for your support!

Diane and Elation

Look at those loooong legs!

Elation is beautiful! And she is shoeless! Diane trims her hooves, herself! Very cool!

Congratulations Diane and Elation!

Q & A Thin soles

Our vet suggested painting a mix of turpentine, formaldehyde and Betadine onto the soles of our stallions hooves. He is still tenderfooted. Is that a good idea or not? My instinct says it wouldn't do him much good, his soles are just thin. That's not going to get material to grow, and could hurt him instead? I just wanted your opinion before we really mess him up with something that shouldn't be done.



NOPE! That is not a good idea. You figured correctly.

It blows my mind that there are vets out there still prescribing this combination of caustic chemicals for horse's hooves. It seems that they feel like they're dealing with chunks of wood with a bone inside. Isn't there some sort of creed they swear to about harming living things?

It would seem that combinatons like that, turpentine and formaldehyde could harm living tissue. The Betadine would likely not be hurtful, I use mild iodine (1 to 2% at most) in my practice for treating thrush, and as a precautionary measure to keep thrush from invading tissue when I’ve had to trim away flappy frog material. (I DO NOT routinely cut away the outer layer of frog material which is the pradice of some farrier’s, because anytime you carve the outer – protective layer of a frog you open it up to harmful bacteria that can lead to thrush and other problems. And you will notice, over time the frog literally atrophies to a thin strip when it’s been cut away routinely. Apparently, it just gives up trying to bounce back to a nice wide healthy frog.

The combination of caustic agents that your vet is suggesting is an old horse-shoers’ trick to harden soles. But it can really backfire on many levels. And heck fire! You can always blame something else if the horse reacts negatively to it.

I’m just left to wonder why it would cause the soles to harden. Is the sole steeling itself to the agents that burn? And if it really does work, I wonder, do vets or farriers know why?

My dad used to tell me that he de-wormed his dogs with things like turpentine and chewing tobacco and my parents treated an assortment of animal related issues with used motor old. Why used? The only thing I can think of is that people were very conservative after the depression era. You wouldn’t have wasted new motor oil on the livestock!

Rule of thumb! If you wouldn’t put it on your dogs’ or cats’ paws, don’t put it on your horse’s hooves!

If your horse’s soles are still thin and tender, then his healthy angles likely haven't been established from coronet to the ground, which can take time. But if it's been awhile, another factor to pay close attention to is diet.

Parelli Savvy Conference 2008

It’s 6:30 in the morning and I'm sitting in our room at the Pagosa Inn thinking about everything we’ve experienced so far at the Parelli's International Savvy Center here in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Today will be our last day and then we have the long drive home to Washington.

Once every year, since 1996, the Parellis, and their amazing team, have opened their beautiful learning center to the public. This year it was opened to Savvy Club members and their guests.

The first conference I attended here was in 2002. Just flying into Durango and catching a ride to Pagosa Springs was an adventure! And they took such great care of us here. It was amazing and fun.


Nathan Bowers with Thunder and Lightening! The first horses we see as we walk up to the big Coverall. If you go to his family's website www.bowersfarm.com, Nate and his father (who passed away last year) have some excellent DVD's and books on driving.





Savvy Team: Amy Book is riding 2 horses at one time. That was a hoot watching those little guys trotting around the arena. They really gave her buttcheeks a workout! Everyone was roaring. That is Emily, on one of her big half draft horses. They look like brothers although not related. Their names are Ahug and Akiss.



Looking into the covered arena on one of our breaks.


Amy Book and Casper, the only other person Pat has allowed to play with Casper in public.


Kali The Cowgirl playing with her horse and 4 Atwood Ranch Babies. She eventually loaded all 5 horses into a horse trailer to the cheers and standing ovation of the crowd!

Savvy Team - Team Work!

At this conference, on our second night here (after being dazzled by the savvy highlights of the day) we were treated with an incredible meal and the traditional dance with a live band in the huge covered arena. Pat Parelli picked his guitar with the perfect precision of a professional player. (Oh, he’d like that I think!) The Saturday Nite Dance after a great dinner! There must have been at least a couple thousand Parellittes at this conference. (I think basically, the people who are the most critical of PNH, are the ones who know the least about it.)

We learned that there will be many changes in the Parelli organization. For one, this will be the last Savvy Conference held here in Colorado. Starting next year, rather than hosting their annual Savvy Conference here, the Parellis will be organizing 9 Conferences around the world, (7 in the US) and they will no longer be hosting the many tour stops around the country.



The first tour stop I attended was in 2001. It hardly seems possible that Pat Parelli, his family and staff, who have appeared in huge venues all over the world, including performances for the Queen of England, and they were once at the Trails End Arena, in Tumwater, Washington. Caton was a teenager pestering the girls at every opportunity. Now, he’s engaged!

We were also told about all the major changes that are coming to the Parelli program. There is SO MUCH we can expect in the future; I can’t even begin to list it all here! But we’ll be hearing much more by January 2009.

Rich and I attended a tour stop recently in Billings, Montana, Pat shared some of the upcoming changes with the volunteers and one thing he told us was that, instead of the tour stops, they will be sending local Savvy teams to the many local equine expos, and state fairs. I think this is a smart way for them to get their message out to people who might not otherwise attend to a tour stop just to see them, so they might not ever be exposed to the awesome relationship building skills they can learn through Parelli Natural Horsemanship (PNH.)

The rest of us will no longer have to travel as far to attend a Savvy Conference here in Colorado. The closest one to us will be held in Reno and we already have tickets! There is a possibility that we may be able bring our horses and perform auditions for the new patterns programs.

No more levels! Rather than the assessment tests of the past, students will be auditioning their skills in front of Parelli Professionals and they will become certified if they excel in the area they are auditioning for.

It’s sounds unusual, but they’ve given this a great deal of consideration and research and even though the changes mean many of us who have been working on passing our levels will be moving onto something different, but these innovative new changes will help us reach our goals faster and keep our horses being getting dulled by repetition of the 7 games. That happens when students learn only enough to become boring with their horses.

It’s been so emotional watching the amazing riding and equine relationships that Pat and Linda’s young superstars have with their horses. I have to say, this is the first time I’ve seen anyone riding two minis at the same time!

Not many people around the country are privileged enough to see Master Horseman and teacher, Walter Zettl instruct a riding lesson with a master rider, like Linda Parelli.

Walter Zettl encouraging Parelli Course Students.


One of the Play Fields.


Pat, his son Caton and Dave Ellis cutting cattle.

But it was quiet as night, as thousands of us witnessed this dressage master teaching Linda while she rode her Dutch warm blood, Remmer.

He told us that he hasn’t been able to attend dressage events in many years because of what he sees going on in the practice arenas. He said classical dressage training has changed over the years and the torture of the horses that he sees today makes him sick. (However, that same sentiment is true for many other types of training. Winning seems to be everything.)

He was so complimentary of Parelli horses and students. The horses are calm, he said, and will stand still when being mounted. And the students have soft hands.

On another note, my heart was breaking while I watched Remmer move around the arena. On all 4 of his hooves, he was wearing thick pads, wedges and egg bar shoes. I’m guessing that he must be dead lame without all of that on his hooves.



(Linda on Remmer. This is when I noticed the eggbar shoes, wedges and pads. He was toe stabbing with nearly ever step, not landing heel first and his gait seemed a bit stilted. )

While in one of the “shopping” tents, I noticed a booth with a DVD about fluid movement and thought perhaps the man attending it was an equine chiropractor, but after we chatted long enough for him to admit he was a farrier, and I divulged my profession, he said he had a real problem with the title, Natural Hoof Care Practitioner because there was nothing “natural” about using nippers and rasps on hooves.

I didn’t correct him by saying that it was not the process that was natural, but our end product was much more natural than his.

(Remmers hooves. I couldn't get a real clear shot. )

After hearing his side of the issue out, I mentioned that someone needed to fix poor Remmer’s feet. His response was that there was no longer anything wrong with Remmer. Remmer's “done been fixed!”

Not without a bit of skepticism in my voice, I said, “He's fixed...?”
He replied, “Yes Ma’am! He is fixed!”

I locked onto his eyes at that point, and felt him lose a bit of his confidence, but then I was distracted by a couple southern ladies who were using my 6’5” husband as a sweatshirt model to see if they could find a shirt that would fit a gal back home. (If she is the same size a Rich, she must be a force to be reckoned with!)

Well, I guess horse shoer’s logic means a hoof with a bunch of crap nailed onto the bottom of it means “He’s done been fixed!”

I’ve heard shoers make that stupid announcement more than once. They watch a foundered horse trot off in the most hidious horseshoe contraptions, and just because the horse isn't limping, they proudly proclaim, “That horse is sound! Look at that!“

That horse is not sound! It’s still a foundered horse! It just doesn’t know it when the hooves have been locked into and numbed by the shoes. But if he’s ridden in that situation, he’s only going to get worse, not better. It’s kind like going on your daily run with a cast on your broken leg. Your leg is supported by the cast, but it’s still a broken leg and running on it WILL make it worse.

In my opinion, if a horse cannot move soundly barefoot, he is not sound. No matter what you nail to the bottoms of his feet, HE IS NOT SOUND!

Pat Parelli says that it makes his heart bleed when he sees what horses are put through by professional predators and others who prescribe to cruel traditional methods of training.

I wanted to tell him that it makes my heart bleed to see what they are doing to nearly all their horses feet. The babies aren't even given a chance to prove what they can do barefoot. The damage shoes cause begins as soon as the young ones are started under saddle.

Pasture (horse shoer’s) trims perpetuate the need for shoes and shoes perpetuate the need for more drastic shoeing measures. It’s an endless cycle that can easily be prevented.

Pat is critical of others who go out and buy bigger bits to get control of their horses. Yet, has nothing to say about farriers applying more drastic (and devastating) shoeing methods to cover up the damage previously done to the hooves by shoes. Bigger bits, just like bigger corrective shoes, don’t fix the problem…just temporarily covers it up.

Get the horse out of the shoes, transition him to barefoot and you have a healthier, more naturally moving horse. Even if you feel the need to have the shoes tacked on for riding. At least you are shoeing a healthy hoof and not a hoof that can no longer function.

That’s were bare hoof practitioners and farriers differ. We feel that a sound barefoot horse IS “fixed.” A horse with all kinds of crutch material attach to his hooves in order to keep him from limping, is not a “fixed” horse. Bandaging a cut, doesn’t mean the cut is healed. It just means you’ve attached something to catch the blood.

While watching Linda perform an extended trot, I could see in my minds-eye how incredibly he could extend if his hooves were not so restricted that he feels nothing but numbness to the pain. If he not as obese and his hooves were sound barefoot, he’d be more than a wonderful mover, he’d be amazing!

Linda seemed to be thrilled with his performance however and brought her farrier out in front of the crowd to thank him. “Way more than shoeing!” She chimed out to the audience.

My heart was bleeding for her horse and I wondered if he would be lame the next morning.

How would I have fixed a horse like him? First off, I would change his diet. I would educate the owners about understand the impact that sugar has on the lamina of the hoof. Sugar weakens the lamina and causes it to break down, laminitis and pain. Pretty simple.

Some people add molasses to their horses’ drinking water at home and when traveling. They offer their horses the best “sweet” feeds money can buy. With no regard to what they’re doing to their horse’s hooves.

So diet causes a problem that is later addressed with shoes. Diet, farrier pasture trims and shoes! One leads to the other and shoes perpetuate the need for more drastic shoeing methods.

Sunday 9pm:

We just got back from a late dinner after our last day at the Parelli Ranch. It was an amazing day! I love it all, but my favorite part was watching Pat’s talented niece, Amy, playing with his stallion, Casper. She is someone we are going to seeing a lot of in the future.

During the conference, the new Patterns programs were introduced. Yes, I got them!

At the end of the day, Pat, and his business manager, Mark, sat down in the middle of the arena and asked the audience for their thoughts on what they would like to see in the future for PNH.

Despite having to listen to a couple whiners complain about issues the Parellis had no control over, like “I haave Die-Lup. So how kin you’ll maake it ez-er fer maee ta down lood stuff fraum yer weB siTe?

Huh? “Duh, I don’t know…Try getting a new ISP perhaps.

But one lady said she’d like to see a Senior Savvy Club! That one got cheers!

The three days were filled with mind-blowing performances, educational sessions, standing ovations, laughter and lots and lots of tears. It was so worth the trip.


Casanova, Son of Nova aka Bossynova. He looks a lot like Neenah, only bigger!




This is what we were treated to outside our hotel window just before we left for the long drive home!






Monday and we are homeward bound.

Riding in the back seat of a Subaru Outback. We are about 70 miles from Twin Falls, Idaho. We’ll spend the night there. On the way home, we’ll be stopping in Battle Ground, Washington to help out a foundered pony.



This is really the life!

Thank you E!

I just wanted to thank you publically for your generosity. I appreciate that you went to the trouble to forward a donation and this really awesome stamp. Thank you for keeping up with the posts here and on my other blogs. It's folks like you who keep me going.



Much appreciated,
Pat



This stamp depicts the wild herds of Sable Island Horses of Canada

Hoof Trimming Clinics

August's trimming clinic went well. The September clinic is full and will be the last one held this year. Well, unless I hear from at least 3 people who really want to learn to trim their own horses and wouldn't mind working during the cooler weather.

We had 3 awesomes students this month. Don and Debby from San Diego and one of my local customers, Kirsten.

We had a few horses hauled in for trims over the weekend and took a field trip down to the end of our road to trim 4 beautiful horses that belong to our neighbors, Scott and Karen.

Snacks and lunch is provided. And on the last day we all go out do dinner to unwind and recap our 3 days together.

A good deal of prep work is involved in gearing up for the clinics, which includes...


...setting the garage/classroom back up since the last clinic.


Snacks are set out for the students to munch on during the day.


The dogs are kicked out!


And the horses are advised to be on their best behavior!










When everything is ready to go, it's time to hit the garage door opener and...














...class is now in session!




After we go over our tools and get our aprons fitted, we spend the early part of our days discussing hoof anatomy, diet, and other aspects that are critical to producing healthy hooves, before we move outside to work on the horses.

Important natural hoof care literature is available for review.

success with. We break into the Chest of Death, (filled with frozen cadaver hooves.)
Samples of different types of gravel...not to be confused with the food.


Then it's time to go out to the horses!




After I demonstrate the trim, horse and hoof handling, Kirsten starts her first trim on Danny's hinds.


Our driver escorts us back and forth between the barn and the classroom...well, she would if she could reach the peddles.


Tool handling! Learning to handle the tools while being mindful of the hoof is not an easy skill at first.





Debbie is working on one of Peaches hinds.

Don seems to be having fun working on Little Jake!

(A frequently asked question is why do farriers and NH practitioners always where hats? Well for me, a hat keeps my hair away from the horse's body. Most horses are not the cleanest things to get so close to.)


Kirsten is working on her own long time friend, 28 year old, Gypsy.











Our next victim! I mean volunteer...a visiting pony, Lilo, teaches us about addressing flare.

Before and after!

Sophie sleeps through all our hard work!







It was a great three 3 days together and we topped it off with a nice long Mexican meal in downtown Yelm. I try to keep in touch with my long distance students, as well as help my local students when they need assistance.

Of course, 3 days isn't enough time to learn everything there is to know about trimming hooves, (Heck! three years isn't long enough, we will always have more to learn.) and students are strongly encouraged to begin their journey into learning how to trim by first going to Pete Ramey's website, hoofrehab.com and reading his articles as well as ordering his book and watching his DVD series, Under the Hoof, before coming to class.

Pete and Ivy's research as well as that of other important hoof anatomy experts like Dr. Robert Bowker, will provide a good background.

Then in class, we go to work on the hands-on part of the trim. By the end of our 3 days together, students are fairly skillful at reading different types of hooves, recognizing different hoof issues, and handling the tools well enough to sculpt a properly trimmed hoof.

Good job everyone!

Clinic information is on the right of this screen.