We have a swallows nest in our barn, it's on one of the beams above Remys stable. There are 4 youngsters in it. It seems like it's been no time at all, but today the first one left the nest and made it's maiden flight. It was wonderful to watch. It flew around the barn, unsure of itself, mum (or dad) hovering nearby and then flying in and out of the barn trying to guide it. It wanted to get back into the nest, but couldn't work out the logistics. It was flying and hovering, flying and hovering, trying to work out how to do it. Isn't nature amazing - within a few short weeks those wings will be powerful enough to fly for hundreds of miles. Eventually it flew out of the dark, dusty barn into bright, glorious sunshine and circled high above. I wonder what it was thinking at that moment, how it felt leaving the dark safety of the nest and going into the bright open space of a whole new world .
I rode Remy up to the school for a short session. He wasn't paying much attention today, wanting to look around. He's been very jumpy the last couple of days and although he was calmer today he was still quite distracted. I walked him on a long rein for a few minutes, letting him stretch and relax and then worked on some halt/walk/halt transitions. He was sticky giving me right flexion so finished by asking for flexion left then right at halt for a few minutes until he was offering from a light feel on the rein.
As it's been a while, I thought it would be nice to take him up the track so thats what we did. We were out for about 30 minutes, went as far as the road and he gave me a lovely, long, forward stride on the way home.
Gareth came to trim them yesterday so they're fine for another few weeks and he's happy with how they're coping with the very hard ground.
Also, our hay was baled yesterday. In the words of our farmer - 'catastrophe!'
Over the last few years we've had between 35and 45 large round bales of our two main fields and this year we got 10. Unfortunately for us we let the farmer have our other field for maize so we're missing the hay off there too.
Thanks to good friends who've offered us some hay I think we'll be ok, but I can understand how farmers are worrying with large herds of cows to feed.
This spring we've had extremely dry weather and having so little hay is unusual, but our fields need some attention and we plan to reseed at the end of this year, so they'll be in much better condition next year.
My Life, My Horses and My Attempts to Train the Classical Way
Showing posts with label Barefoot trimming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barefoot trimming. Show all posts
Monday, 4 July 2011
Tuesday, 1 March 2011
Trimming and trailers
It's been a busy couple of days. Yesterday we had a visit to the vet with Obi, another check-up and to assess a little growth on his foot, which the vet says is a tumour and has to be removed. Only a little operation, but still a general anaesthetic. He's booked in for thursday.
Gareth, our trimmer came this morning and they're all doing well, even Anky who has great feet ( still a puzzle considering how many problems she's having at the moment), good growth and good quality hoof.
This afternoon we went to pick up a kitchen unit and I had my first go at pulling the trailer (gets used for everything except transporting horses!!), even a little reversing, so was quite pleased with myself. It would be nice to have a horse to ride - and somewhere to go with it!
Gareth, our trimmer came this morning and they're all doing well, even Anky who has great feet ( still a puzzle considering how many problems she's having at the moment), good growth and good quality hoof.
This afternoon we went to pick up a kitchen unit and I had my first go at pulling the trailer (gets used for everything except transporting horses!!), even a little reversing, so was quite pleased with myself. It would be nice to have a horse to ride - and somewhere to go with it!
Monday, 22 November 2010
Tell me why.......
...... I don't like mondays.
That's not entirely true, what gets me really, is the announcement of a new week and the tic, tic ticking of the clock as another week is committed to memory. I'm not complaining, I'm a lucky girl and I don't have to get up and go spend all my day at work!! Instead I can dodge the rain and spend my time with my horses.
I don't think the weather was too bad on saturday, I'm not sure as I spent most of the day in bed with what seemed (at the time) like the worst headache in the world. I was a bit worried as our trimmer, Gareth was due first thing sunday morning and I like to be there to go over every last detail of my horses feet. LOL
I awoke, relieved, feeling pretty much ok and had a good morning discussing barefoot trimming, the KC La Pierre method and maintenance work between trimmings.
I wanted to do something with the horses in the afternoon, but the chasse were out, which rules out any hacking (if you value your life) and I couldn't use the school as they were in the wood at the far side of the school. I ended up doing some in-hand work on the land at the bottom of the garden, and, despite the distractions (moronic,mindless yelling, dogs barking and gunshots) Remy was a little star. He's so patient with me, I do love that horse!
I've just seen this post from a blogger friend at Barefoot Horse Blog about hind gut acidosis, I'm amazed that more isn't known about this problem, given the fragility of a horse's digestive system. I'm now treating Anky for this and (touch wood) she seems to be doing better.
That's not entirely true, what gets me really, is the announcement of a new week and the tic, tic ticking of the clock as another week is committed to memory. I'm not complaining, I'm a lucky girl and I don't have to get up and go spend all my day at work!! Instead I can dodge the rain and spend my time with my horses.
I don't think the weather was too bad on saturday, I'm not sure as I spent most of the day in bed with what seemed (at the time) like the worst headache in the world. I was a bit worried as our trimmer, Gareth was due first thing sunday morning and I like to be there to go over every last detail of my horses feet. LOL
I awoke, relieved, feeling pretty much ok and had a good morning discussing barefoot trimming, the KC La Pierre method and maintenance work between trimmings.
I wanted to do something with the horses in the afternoon, but the chasse were out, which rules out any hacking (if you value your life) and I couldn't use the school as they were in the wood at the far side of the school. I ended up doing some in-hand work on the land at the bottom of the garden, and, despite the distractions (moronic,mindless yelling, dogs barking and gunshots) Remy was a little star. He's so patient with me, I do love that horse!
I've just seen this post from a blogger friend at Barefoot Horse Blog about hind gut acidosis, I'm amazed that more isn't known about this problem, given the fragility of a horse's digestive system. I'm now treating Anky for this and (touch wood) she seems to be doing better.
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Feet!!
The barefoot trimmer arrived at 8.30 this morning and left at 1.30pm.
He was very thorough, took the shoes off Corky and Anky very carefully and trimmed and measured them so that I can order boots and pads to protect their feet during the transition phase.
Corky has always had flat feet, we got her when she was eleven and her feet have never really changed. Every farrier has said the same, her heels are very low and her soles are very flat. And as the trimmer pointed out, years of shoeing hasn't helped. So we are optimistic that slowly the angle of her feet will improve and her heels will grow.
Anky has very good feet and has only been shod for a couple of years, but the trimmer noted how her toe had been left too long and the heels were becoming underrun(sp), he's quite confident though that in the long term she will have great feet and will be able to be ridden without boots.
Remy and Bonbon have good feet and should be fine to go without shoes in the future, although Bonbon has a couple of cracks on one hoof which I've queried with the farrier the last three trimmings, he told me not to worry about it, but neglected to tell me that she had a fungal infection inside the cracks. Although not serious this does need to be treated. This is going to be a slow process for Anky and Corky, but I'm sure it's a step in the right direction.
We also chatted about making their environment a better place for conditioning the feet, for example putting in an area of concrete which helps with wear, perhaps where they come up for water and an area of pea gravel which , in effect smoothes and polishes their feet. Of course there is only so much we can do to try and emulate their natural environment but I think we will give it a go.
He was very thorough, took the shoes off Corky and Anky very carefully and trimmed and measured them so that I can order boots and pads to protect their feet during the transition phase.
Corky has always had flat feet, we got her when she was eleven and her feet have never really changed. Every farrier has said the same, her heels are very low and her soles are very flat. And as the trimmer pointed out, years of shoeing hasn't helped. So we are optimistic that slowly the angle of her feet will improve and her heels will grow.
Anky has very good feet and has only been shod for a couple of years, but the trimmer noted how her toe had been left too long and the heels were becoming underrun(sp), he's quite confident though that in the long term she will have great feet and will be able to be ridden without boots.
Remy and Bonbon have good feet and should be fine to go without shoes in the future, although Bonbon has a couple of cracks on one hoof which I've queried with the farrier the last three trimmings, he told me not to worry about it, but neglected to tell me that she had a fungal infection inside the cracks. Although not serious this does need to be treated. This is going to be a slow process for Anky and Corky, but I'm sure it's a step in the right direction.
We also chatted about making their environment a better place for conditioning the feet, for example putting in an area of concrete which helps with wear, perhaps where they come up for water and an area of pea gravel which , in effect smoothes and polishes their feet. Of course there is only so much we can do to try and emulate their natural environment but I think we will give it a go.
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