Having a Great Time on Their Barefoot Ponies!

 

Tawna and I and our girls are going great! I attached a photo from this weekend after a 1 hour ride on the road in our easy boots! Both horses did great and had no problems! We had a REALLY good time and thought of you when we were headed home!

Thanks again for all your help!

Rachel & Tawna
Cashmere, WA

Update on DVD:  Expected shipping date: 5-25-10.  I apologize for the delay.  Thanks for your patience!

Hoof trimming video trailer

Here is the youtube link to the DVD trailer!

Discovering Your Horse's Natural Hooves

How to Trim the Barefoot Horse. 

Give us another week or so and it will be shipped to those who have preordered.  And Thank you to everyone who has ordered their video.

To order a video, go to rainierhoofrehab.com

Thanks!
Pat

Hank's Back

Regarding Henry whose story is on our blog, healinghenry.blogspot.com

Update on Hank: As of 4-25-2010, pre and post-trim, there was no sign of lameness in the arena while at a trot, under a rider. We will continue to watch changes in Hank's hooves such as sloughing of retained sole and if he continues to improve, he will be moved from the rehab list to the list of horses in recovery! Go Hank!


For more information on Hank and all the other horses at the Rainier Equine Hoof Recovery Center, please go to rainierhoofrehab.com

BUSY! BUSY! BUSY!

Well, I'm finally almost finished with the new website for the Rainier Equine Hoof Recovery Center !  Yay!  Along with that I've been working on the DVD, "How To Trim Your Barefoot Horse".

With my hubby's help, I've been taking care of 20 head of equines, helping with my grandkids and working on customers horses!  Whew! I have been a busy gal!


I got to help out with a cute little rescue pony, Jake, who is at Wildwood Pony Rescue in Fall City. I will be seeing him again on the 10th when Pam hauls him to meet me at Dr. Dick and Kathy Vetter's new clinic in Buckley.  I sure hope we can get this little guy back to normal after a few trims.

The completed DVD is in the mail to me and I will be shipping it soon to the packaging company along with my artwork. And that should be about a 7 day turnaround. Then I will publish the page of my website so it can be purchased on there through Paypal. Currently I'm considering the cost of the DVD to be under $70. Proceeds from the DVD will benefit the horses we are caring for here at the REHRC, as well as cover some of the production costs.


Old horses that are wonderful with kids are worth their weight in gold.  I never thought I'd be calling my amazing trail horse an "old kid's horse" but she's 22 now so I guess I have to face facts.  She and I  have been together since she turned 8 years old and we'll be together until one of us kicks the bucket.

Thank you so much for your support. I’ll keep you posted.

Pat

Okay so coming to the farm isn't all about the horses for these guys!

Seriously, this needs to stop.

How to Perform Surgical Tail Docking in Draft
Horses

Draft horse tails are commonly docked. The need to dock the tail of an adult draft horse occasionally
occurs. Surgical amputation will produce a cosmetically docked tail.

1. Introduction
Custom dictates that tails are docked in many draft breeds. A high percentage of draft horses shown in halter and hitch competition have bobbed tails. Commonly, breeders will dock the tails of foals within 2 weeks of birth using elastrator bands, allowing the tails to necrose and fall off. Occasionally, a client will present an adult draft horse and
request cosmetic tail docking. In this case, surgical tail docking is performed on the standing horse as opposed to banding the tail. This procedure is also effective when surgical amputation of the tail is warranted because of trauma and/or infection.

2. Methods
Surgical tail docking is performed on a standing horse within restraint stocks. Heavy sedation is achieved throughout the procedure using detomidine 2.2 to 4.4 μg/kg IV. Anesthesia of the surgical site is achieved by an aseptic caudal epidural using a combination of xylazine 50 μg/kg and 2% lidocaine q s to 6 ml. A tourniquet placed high around the tailhead serves as the best means of controlling hemorrhage during the surgical process. Determining the desirable length of the tail can be the most challenging aspect of the surgery; however, the following technique has proven to be the simplest and most efficient method. The tail is firmly grasped at its most proximal portion. The intercoccygeal space approximately 15 cm from the tailhead is palpated, identified and marked. This landmark will become the last coccygeal vertebrae of the docked tail. If the determined length appears too short, the next intercoccygeal space is identified and will become the end of the docked tail. Tail hairs are clipped 3 to 4 cm cranial to the marked intercoccygeal space and as far caudally as needed, being certain to leave adequate tail hairs above the surgical site for cosmetic purposes. These hairs are wrapped up and kept out of the surgical field. After aseptic surgical preparation of the site, the favored intercoccygeal space is once again palpated. A surgical incision is made on the dorsal surface of the tail in a U shape beginning at the level of the intercoccygeal space and extending approximately 4 to 5 cm from each lateral side of the tail toward the center while still remaining on the dorsal surface. This procedure creates a flap of skin that can then be folded over the end of the tail toward the end of the
surgery. The soft tissue underlying the skin flap is bluntly dissected, permitting the flap to be displaced out of the way. The ventral surface of the tail is incised in a circular fashion extending from each lateral side toward the other.

A no. 10 surgical blade is then used to incise the intercoccygeal space on the dorsal surface; at the same time, bending pressure is placed at the point of the intercoccygeal space. With the intercoccygeal space exposed, the remaining soft tissue, including muscles, nerves and blood vessels, is sharply incised to permit complete removal of the caudal portion of the tail. Ligation of blood vessels is not necessary if skillful tourniquet placement and postoperative bandaging techniques are implemented. The skin flap created earlier is then folded over the end of the tail and sutured to the ventral skin surface using no. 2 nonabsorbable suture in a simple interrupted pattern. The skin edges generally come together neatly, and the surgical incision heals exceptionally quickly. Before removal of the tourniquet, the surgical site is bandaged with gauze 4 3 4s, vetrap, and 4-in stretch tape. The bandage should be changed at least once during the first 48 hours of postoperative care.

3. Results
The result of surgical tail docking is a clean incision that heals by first intention, resulting in a cosmetically docked tail.

4. Discussion
The draft horse community is a small but thriving part of the equine industry comprising multiplegeneration breeders, exhibitors (at both hitch and halter), pulling competitors and hobbyists. The draft horse functions primarily as a work horse but also serves as a companion animal in parades, weddings and exhibitions. The draft horse industry has seen steady growth in recent years, as indicated by increased sales and transfers of horses.

First-time horse owners and long-term equine enthusiasts alike are buying draft horses because of the breeds’ gentle nature, versatility and popularity. Not only is our practice composed of at least 50% draft horses, but all three veterinarians within the practice are actively involved in the draft horse industry through breeding, exhibiting and promoting. Therefore, we are familiar with common practices and norms. In our experience, draft horse clients, especially show horse people and breeders, tend to consent to commonly accepted procedures. More than likely, especially if you practice in the Midwest, you will have some clients who own draft horses, and you may be asked to dock a tail. As in many instances in equine medicine, your ability and willingness to perform particular procedures may gain you a long-term client. Surgical tail docking in draft horses by this method has provided our practice with quick, efficient and successful results. We certainly hope this insight will do the same for others’ practices.

This is something that has been bugging me for a long time. Docking draft horse tails is wrong. It is just another in a laundry list of unnecessary, cruel and inhumane procedures that is performed out of tradition and because somebody stands to make some money from doing it. Whether it's tail docking in young horses or old horses - it needs to stop!

JMO
Pat

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