Shoeless update

A few days on - nearly a week - and I can cautiously proclaim that things are looking good on the hoof front. 

I turned Rainbow out in the big field on Thursday afternoon and collected early on Friday. At the moment, I don't want to keep her grazing outings too long in case the hooves are still a bit tender and also for the high sugar content that daytime grass contains; causes footiness in horses. So they can become more sensitive in their soles, and while a shod horse doesn't show this a barefoot one does. I don't think Rainbow is very sensitive, but playing it safe at the mo... Anyway, she seemed to be fine and I walked her back in the stable. 

Walking back, she was coping fine in the grassy ground and all the way until we got to the gravelly car park bit. She took a few limpy steps there, but didn't seem worse than before, so we just took it easy. Once we got to the concrete bit, where she should have been back to normal, the limpiness continued. I was a bit worried but thought that maybe there was a stone lodged in her sole. After parking her by her stable and having picked the feet, I was confident the limp would go, but then I noticed the bits missing from her left-front hoof: 

I had been warned about this by the podiatrist, saying that for a couple of cycles the hooves will look a little rough, as the dead outer horn is filed away by being exposed to wear, having previously been protected by the shoe. With shoes the hoof loads peripherally whereas a normal, shoeless, hoof should load on the sole and the frog. So in a shod hoof the outer horn often grows proud of the sole, causing the hoof to load peripherally for a while until the hoof wears down to be level with the sole. 

The old nail holes are the weak point in the outer hoof, which often 'tear off' first – but it's like our nails chipping, so rarely painful. And that's what's happened here. They looked a little dramatic to me, so I quickly photographed them and emailed to the podiatrist, just to check – and he assured me there was nothing to worry about and that the hooves would look a little rough at first. The rip isn't deep really, only from the outer hoof.

Then I moved R back in her stable and she was still limping a bit! It seemed to be the right-front foot, not this gashed one, so I was a little puzzled. Rainbow also seemed quite tired, which I mainly put down to having been in the field all night, so I decided to let her rest in her stable for a bit and come back to exercise her by lunging later on. 

I also spoke to the podiatrist and he said to keep doing what I am doing and the limping is most likely just sensitivity, and if I can avoid the car park a bit, then do that but she should be fine to exercise in the sand school and arena as normal. And surely enough when I got back in the afternoon she wasn't limping anymore and was moving OK in the lunge. I did notice a bit of stiffness in the shoulders and stride but it wasn't awful. I didn't push R too much but did do a few rounds with the side reins on as well. I think she's improving in her movement too – not because of not having the shoes – but I think she's started to develop her back muscles and neck more too. I just need to get her to really engage her quarters next. But these next few weeks are just going to be dedicated for standard exercise, to build up hoof strength and to make sure R makes a smooth transition. Normal horse life that is.

First two days with no shoes

Yesterday was the first day of work for Rainbow without shoes. In order to take it easy, I decided that lunging would be a good way to assess her and get her moving without adding my weight onto her yet. 

In the stable and on concrete as well as in the sand school, where she gets turned out if she's not in the paddock or field, she seemed herself and was moving normally. So that's great! Fairly normal hooves, then. The first 'test' came when we had to walk across the front car park to get to the school. The ground is sandy and gravelly, and fairly hard at this time of year after a period of dry weather. Slowly we ambled across. I didn't want to pressure Rainbow to walk fast and wanted to watch her a little from the corner of my eye to gauge her reactions, simultaneously keeping an air of nonchalance as I think horses can read our worries. I wouldn't want to make her think something was wrong, for example. 

She walked slower and more tentatively than she had walked in shoes, but this was obviously to be expected. Day One, after all. It's the same as me taking my shoes off and walking across the same car park barefoot; I wouldn't be striding out boldly, taking a few leaps as I go...! Occasionally her leg would 'give in' a little when she felt a sharper object like a stone underfoot. But she didn't stop or seem to be in pain, just a little tentative. Our podiatrist and other barefoot sources say that this kind of initial sensitivity shouldn't be taken as a sign of pain or soreness, or lameness, but it's a natural reaction to something 'sharp' when not used to the feeling due to shoes having stopped such sensations. 

I tried to guide her through softer areas in order to not ask too much of her straight away and once we were on a softer, sandier track, she was walking normally. And once we reached the conformable surface in the arena, she looked exactly the same as in shoes. I lunged her about 20 minutes and she did all gaits without problems. The only problem was the extremely warm arena (it's still hot here – not complaining though!) and a sweaty horse!

Today we had a schooling session and I took her in the arena via the sand school, so we didn't need to tackle the car park gravel too many times. I got on Rainbow in the school and I think she felt a little different to how she felt with shoes. I think her front felt a little bit lower than when she had shoes... Could this be? Could I feel forward 'slopey-ness' in her stance when the feet were only some millimetres (a thickness of a shoe) shorter? I don't know. I am putting it down to wanting to possibly feel something different. As we began to walk, Rainbow was moving normally and felt quite planted to the ground. Perhaps almost more solid?! Again, I don't know and time will tell... 

The news of me having removed R's shoes have travelled fast: before I managed to announce it to my instructor, she already exclaimed, in her greeting to Rainbow, "I hear you don't have shoes anymore!" I asked her where she had heard, apparently the yard owner had told her. I was interested to hear if the news had been delivered with an air of scornfulness or matter-of-factly. Apparently they had been delivered with an air of surprise... To which my instructor hastily added, "...but Rainbow's got quite good feet, so she's probably OK...!" So I can only imagine what these hardy horsewomen at the yard with decades of experience are now thinking of me. People talk and I know that if you don't fit the norm or decide to do something a bit different, tongues are set to wag! I am aware that I might be soon compared to one lady who comes for a very occasional riding lesson there, never actually listens to the instructions and claims to have 'horse whispering' powers... She has been known to get off the horse mid-lesson and sitting down in front of it 'to connect with it'. 

When I tried to go on to say that the equine podiatrist thinks riding in the arena is fine straight away, only hacking has to be taken slowly at first, my instructor interrupted me before I got to the hacking part of the sentence and told to be very careful about what these 'trimmers' say as at least farriers have to train for years whereas trimmers don't and anyone can be a 'trimmer'. I was speechless, as I am fully aware of this (and I hope I am using a person who knows his stuff and is not a mere 'trimmer'! At least he seems to know his stuff), but I am also aware that farriery study books still claim that nailing something metallic onto a living hoof is somehow in the best interest of the horse. Hang on, have you seen a footsore foal? What about those horses in poor countries that aren't shod and probably do much harder work, on tough surfaces, than the average riding/competition horse in the western world? 

I fear I am becoming evangelical about this now, so, I need to rein this in (for my sake mainly!), hence I will do the following. I practised it with my instructor and yard friends today already, and I have a feeling I will have to practise it a lot more in the future: "Silence is golden: don't get defensive, just get on with it, quietly, reverently, always look after Rainbow and her best interests, arm yourself with knowledge, dare to question and dare to learn." Conversely, I won't tell others what to do but I won't also let others to scare me with their conventions and horror stories about not doing something everyone else is doing. 

Our lesson went well and Rainbow stayed soft for longer periods of time – in fact most of the time, as I now knew how to ask for it in a slightly new way – so I think the two-week break from riding has really done good for both of us. I am thinking my 'muscle-memory' has been faded a little in the past two weeks, so I wasn't falling back into the old habits quite so easily; I just took the instructions I had received, applied it and hey presto! results. I didn't have to nag at Rainbow. I just shook the inside rein gently when I felt her head come up and her going harder, riding her forward, and she would go soft again. I also kept my hands closed better, not a death-grip but solid, quiet hand. When Rainbow was soft, I kept my hands quiet as a reward. And when my hands slipped, unwittingly giving rein to Rainbow, which is one of my problems, this time I noticed it! Must be progress as, before, I have just somehow ended up with more rein, not quite sure how it happened... Noticing the slippage must mean that I am onto it – not perfect – but onto it.

Canter transitions went well too. Rainbow has had a habit of running into the transitions but, again, me knowing how to ask for it, I just half-halted a little and gave the Go-cue to Rainbow and she moved to canter straight away. She raised the canter 'uphill', which was great, and we went slow, collected canter around a fairly small circle (instead of tearing around the whole school, as we've done in the past). 

I turned Rainbow out to the field at the same time with Denise taking Zara out. Both mares happily trotted up towards their friends when released. Rainbow looked the same in her trot as Zara and wasn't tripping over/being overly careful in her gait. Hopefully will find a happy horse in the field tomorrow AM. Early start as want to beat the heatwave – meeting up Denise at 7am to bring the girls in.

Shoes no more

It was lovely to see a happy and healthy horse in her stable after a fortnight's separation.  ...I think Rainbow was happy to see me too :)

Today, Tim the equine podiatrist came to take the front shoes off. Rainbow is now a shoeless horse! 

We had purposefully been growing Rainbow's hooves prior to the transition, in order for her to have the best start as well as for the podiatrist to have a decent amount of hoof horn to work with in the first trimming. 

I must say I was quite shocked at seeing R's hooves this morning, prior to the trimming, as the hooves had really overgrown the shoe in the time I had been away. But Tim assured me that this is just cosmetic and the fact that she had this set of shoes on since late April, almost 3 months and didn't loose them, means her hooves are strong and in great condition. (Horses with brittle and weak hooves are more prone to losing shoes.)

I've also been optimising Rainbow's diet to support healthy hooves for over a month now, and will intend on keeping it up. My previous post on the topic: Going shoeless... more thoughts on nutrition will explain more for those who wish to bore themselves! 

But I suppose pictures can tell so much more than words. Below a little set of pics from today. I haven't got much to comment on how R took to the new shoeless lifestyle because I didn't ride her today and she seemed quite happy. I will only lunge tomorrow which should show me more, especially when we have to walk over some different surfaces on our way to the arena. 

Basically everything will feel new to her underfoot, so we are taking this week calmly. The podiatrist recommend doing some in-hand exploration and walking around to begin to ascertain how R's feeling. Riding in a school on soft surfaces is also fine, so we will be doing our weekly schooling lesson already on Thursday. Hacking might have to be limited to roadwork within the village this week, but if she seems herself next week and isn't showing signs of soreness, I might take her out further afield, but keep to roads and grass as much as possible.

Tim also recommended to get an osteopath/chiropractor to come and have a look at Rainbow sometime, as he spotted a little bit of specific wear on one of her hind hooves which might be a sign of stiffness, etc. in another area of the body. I will try and arrange this sooner rather than later, especially as I have a bit more time to dedicate for horsiness this week :)

Front hooves two weeks ago. When I saw R's feet today they were even more overgrown, but this gives an idea.

Tim the equine podiatrist taking the shoes off

Hinds were already shoeless.

One done, one left to do...

The shoes are off! Pictured before trimming.

Rainbow's front left trimmed (that's the right-hand one in this pic), front right to do. What's impressive about this pic is that the toe clip mark wasn't even visible once the front left had been trimmed. This isn't the norm when horses go shoeless – feet can often look quite holey and frazzled at first.

Filing the dead, flaky horn off.

Bit of trimming and tidying up.

Application of Field Paste to kill off the thrush (most shod horses have thrush lurking in their hooves). Will need to apply it around once a week for about a month.

After the podiatrist had been, I decided to wash Rainbow – ideal weather for it: 30 celsius and sunshine. Shame I didn't take any pics, but I think my phone would have got a bit soaked, as did I, trying to reach high up over R's neck and head with the hosepipe...

After the shower, I stood outside R's stable and was moving the minty treats bag around in the box and was greeted by this face:

Mmmm-mum's got some mmm-minty treats!!!

Yet another hack - pics

Mainly pictures from today's hack with friends Julia and Olly. 

Had a lovely time out although Rainbow was in a bit of donkey mode. Only once we were leading would she start walking with a bit of pace.

We had a nice short canter too, although Olly started broncoing a bit when we went ahead cantering. We weren't going very fast at all, so they could have easily caught us up, but Olly decided to "waste time in the air" as my friend put it :). 

We mainly walked around but went a new lovely route with grassy paths meandering through the fields... It wasn't as sunny as it has been but perfect hacking weather nevertheless. 

This, I think, will be our last hack before my holiday, so it was definitely ending on a good note. Can't wait to get back!

Our friends Julia and Olly

Part of our route

Summer hols looming

The plan is to enjoy each other's company this week and then Rainbow will have a little break while I am off on holiday for a week or so. 

Today we jumped little crosspoles on a group lesson. I am really starting to enjoy it and Rainbow is definitely a keen jumper. I just decided to fix my gaze to an object that was beyond the jump and just 'drive' R over the jump. So no looking at the jump when you get there but to a point beyond. This ensured that she was feeling my intentions and was no under illusions of what was being asked. R didn't hesitate at all, every jump was good – once took a bigger leap as I didn't prepare her for the jump properly, so she couldn't fit in another step, so she had to leap. My fault!

Tomorrow the plans is to hack out and then Wednesday I think I will school her a little and Thursday final 'dressage' lesson before the well-earned hols starts on Fri.

Girls practising being on holiday in their paddock.