The Feeties

Look what arrived at my door yesterday!

ooh. ahh.

Finally equipped with a hoof stand again, I went out to the barn to tackle Bobby's feet for reals. And sweat like a dirty whore. This state is the worst. It's all, "Oh? You don't like inches and inches of rain every day? Fine. I'll just make it ten bajillion degrees out instead. Happy?"

No, New York. I'm not happy. You fucking suck.

But anyway, Bobby. I'd been out the previous days to scrape the layer of mud off of him and feed him cookies while he took his three day vaca. Getting his feet done was the last step to going back to work.

the cleanest day. also admire how he can make himself look like he's starving when he's not
being allowed to eat grass. those are fake ribs, you cow.

Without further ado....

The fronts:

The LF is fine. That's my good child. It doesn't ever give me any problems. If all of Bobby's hooves were as kind to me as the LF, I'd be one happy horse bitch. But then there's the RF which has always been a total cluster fuck. Not just for me, but for every farrier that's ever touched Bobby.

At this point, it almost actually looks like it wants to turn into a club foot. I just....don't even know. I don't know what to do with it. If the heel isn't contracted and low, then it looks contracted and too high. If the toe isn't a mile too long, splitting, and flared out, it's looks like this instead.

My last farrier said there's probably something fucked up going on inside structurally, and I'm inclined to agree. However, this is a sound on rocks and gravel horse. He jumps cross country without ever taking a mincing step. He trail rides over anything with a big, swinging stride. I'm loathe to fuck around too much with what his foot wants to naturally do when he isn't lame or even uncomfortable.

Now the bitches:

The most obvious thing that stands out is the big ass honking flares on the outside. Those stay. I've taken them off before and made Bobby very angry. They're ugly as shit, they make me cringe every time I lift his feet, but they're a part of the sound barefoot horse picture. Unfortunately.

Bobby's hind feet drive me as crazy as his entire hind end. It's only fitting that they look a hot mess. He's got loose stifles, mile long pasterns, and is embarrassingly cow hocked. Massive flares and a tendency to adopt the bull nose look fits right in.

I plan on taking off even more toe in the next couple of days. Thanks to said hind end, Bobby has a hard time getting comfortable while I trim these puppies, and I end up working twice as hard to keep him happy while maintaining a good grip and actually being able to take anything off.

I don't think I'll ever be happy with how my horse's feet look in pictures. They're better in person--probably because the flaws are less noticeable--but I just don't think he's ever going to have cookie cutter, picture perfect hooves.

But the hoss is sound. That's most important.

We did end up going back to work this morning. I flatted in my jump saddle for about twenty minutes, most of which was no stirrup work. I want to really focus on pulling my shoulders back and keeping my torso long, and what better way to do that than drop your irons and not have to worry about what your legs are doing? Besides burning and begging for mercy of course.

Tomorrow should be an easy jump school. Hopefully the outdoor is finally dry enough that we can use it for the first time in weeks.

A Few of my Favorite Things: Hoof Products

What better time to start up a series than when blog content is lacking? Unless you want to read about how my horse is ungodly fit and I am not. Like, not even remotely.

No, I don't want to read it either.

Instead I thought I'd share my three favorite hoof products that I use on my barefoot ponito.

i love you bitches.

First up is Hoof Heal dressing. I can get this at Tractor Supply for about $15, but it's pretty widely available. I use it a few times a week or more as needed for cracked hooves.

It. Is. Amazing.

I've never had a hoof dressing that works so effectively. Not only does it help immensely with hoof cracks, it also cleared up the start of some white line disease Bobby had going on within a few treatments.

The only downside is the smell. It's got both venice turpentine and linseed oil in it which might be two of the stinkiest hoof products on the planet. I'd almost suggest wearing gloves if you're a sloppy putter-onner like I am because the smell sticks to your hands. Well worth it though, and it's easily surpassed my love for Farrier Barrier.

I also worship Iodine spray. Obviously this shit is messy and it gets everywhere, so the spray nozzle is a must. I use it daily to coat the bottom of Bobby's hooves when he gets a little foot sore. It also clears up minor nastiness in the frog.

And finally, the number one killer of killer thrush, there's Tomorrow. It's a mastitis treatment for dry cows, but the thin tube applicator is perfect for sticking deep down into a thrush killer. Bobby had horrendous thrush that was actually making him lame and nothing I was treating him with would clear it up.

A week of daily treatment with the Tomorrow and he was sound again. Three weeks later and the thrush was one hundred percent gone. You can buy it by the box, but I bought individual tubes for a few bucks a piece at our local feed store. One tubes lasts for about five generous treatments.

I would recommend Tomorrow for anyone dealing with serious thrush. I think it's the top thrush killer I've ever dealt with, and it's super easy to use.

Do you guys use any of my top three products on your own horses? If not, what do you use?

In other hoof news, I've barely been touching Bobby's feet with the rasp because he's the soundest he's probably ever been in his hooves his entire life. I figure I shouldn't mess with a good thing so even if they're not the prettiest right now, they're functionally awesome.

The fronts:

The hinds:

Hoofers and Tantrums

Let's start with tantrums because Bobby threw a whopper of one yesterday. It was an old school Mr Magee shit fit that had no rhyme or reason to it, and we ended up accomplishing almost nothing. Yay, I love my horse!

I brought my dressage tests and whip down, set them off to the side, and swung aboard to start walking. Bobby would not soften his jaw for a split second. He was having none of it. He was tense, braced, and locked up. I was already pouring sweat (Fuck you, ten thousand percent humidity.), so to stop myself from throwing my own shit fit out of frustration, I got off.

I stuck a pair of side reins on him, shortening the inside rein a hole shorter than the outside, and sent him off. Only he wouldn't go off. He was convinced that the inside rein was so much shorter than the outside that all I wanted him to do was spin around in a tiny circle. Never mind that the side reins were so loose I wasn't sure they were even going to work in the first place.

So we had a long discussion about going out to the end of the line and staying there. At the walk. He finally complied, and I asked for about three circles of trot before switching directions and repeating the whole process all over again.

Finally I got back on. The struggle on the ground worked because Bobby was feeling a lot more supple. We took to the diagonal and worked on free walk to medium walk. He was so good! My horse! His brain can retain information! So fancy!

And then he started flipping shit. Classic Bobby flying backwards, flying sideways, spinning around, flailing legs, bouncing off the wall, and so on and so on.

At this point we weren't even doing any transitions. We were just walking along the rail. He'd walk a lap and then find something offensive (I don't know what since I was literally just sitting there at the walk.) and blow the fuck up.

We finished after he was able to walk around the arena both directions several times without flipping shit. And that's how I spent an hour at the walk, sweating my lady balls off, and getting nothing done.

so sweaty. walking isn't hard, but being a tool is!

I treated him well after the ride. Bath, liniment rub down, hooves rasped, coated in Swat, and a little Bute to make sure he wasn't sore from where he bashed his hip into a jump standard. I wasn't even mad or frustrated. I'm so past that. I just write off his tantrums at this point. You cannot break me, Bobby Fuck Face.

I'd originally planned on giving him today off, but looking at the weather today was a million times cooler than tomorrow is supposed to be so I swapped it.

I started off switching his bit from the french link Happy Mouth dee that he's gone in the past...two-ish years to this Herm Sprenger. I haven't been pumped about the way he's gone in his HM lately, so I wanted to try something different. I tried him in this particular loose ring when I was on my epic bit hunt way back when and he threw such a fit about it that I took it off within five minutes.

give me your slobber, robert.

I grabbed S and N as they were finishing their lesson and went for a long walk along the pastures before going into the ring. Maybe it was being able to mouth it with no contact for half an hour first, but he seemed pretty happy with it this time around.

I did a lot of serpentines and transitions with him at the trot to lighten him up, then practiced picking up the canter at A and C and doing 15m circles at each end. It was a little rough at first, but now I know in warm up I have to get him super sharp off my leg at the canter because he wants to loaf a bit at the ends of the ring for some reason.

It was a quick workout that I gave him lots of praise for. We only have one more day to work before the show (tomorrow off, and I never ride the day before a show) so hopefully on Friday I can actually do some lateral work and lengthenings with him.

Now for his tootsies!

The fronts:

The RF is still a giant cluster fucking pain in my ass. At least the thrush is almost gone. Nothing else is good about it though.

The hinds:

The hinds are looking a million times better than when I last updated. I'm actually pretty happy with them.

Hoofers

It's that wonderful time of the month where I randomly think to bring my camera to the barn and take pictures of Bobby's hooves. Yay!

He was last trimmed this Monday:

RF

RF

LF

LF

RH

RH

LH

LH

And yes, the WLD is being treated. Stupid hoofers.

Bobby had the last two days off and got back into work this morning with a light dressage school. Despite how much I'm still whining about the dressage show, I did manage to pull a couple of useful things out of our comments. Mostly that I need to stop letting Bobby dope along in his chosen gait--that being "How slow can I go without falling down?" So today's big focus was asking for more energy, more impulsion, and the ever elusive straightness.

one handsome hunk of horseflesh mugging for cookies.

Ugh, my horse can be so dreamy sometimes. He was all, "Ask and you shall receive...receive the fanciest mother fucking dressage moose you've ever seen!" I shortened up my reins, put my leg on, and he lifted himself right up and away we went for twenty minutes of badassery. We finished up with some lateral work at the sitting trot, including one ramrod straight leg yield right.

Let me just say, I love my new saddle. I'd never sat in one before or even seen one in person, and had only read reviews online,  but it is literally perfect. It fits comfortably over Bobby's giant Thoroughbred withers; the twist isn't super narrow, but it isn't the awful wide twist like a Wintec; the shorter flap makes it easier to feel his sides, and while I thought I might not like this because of how long my leg is, I actually love it; and the biggish knee blocks aren't obnoxious at all. It puts me in an awesome position, and I'm sooo comfortable in it.

I'm quickly becoming a lover of all things dressage, but I sent in my entry to Burgundy Hollow this morning so back into the jump tack we go tomorrow.

Also, the bald eagle's eggs down the road from us hatched! Cutest little alien birds ever:

Hooves and a Week of Riding

Okay, so it hasn't technically been a full week, but I'm planning on doing a jump school tomorrow so hopefully that will warrant its own post.

I have been riding my lady balls off all week, but I just haven't had the motivation to write about it. Mostly because I've been busy with other things in life--which happens so very rarely--but also because I haven't really been that busy riding my lady balls off.

Bobby had Monday off, and on Tuesday we had a dressage school where the one and only focus was getting him off my left rein. He takes advantage of the fact that my left shoulder is one of the most useless parts of my body and has zero strength in it by pulling....and pulling, and pulling, and I just keep letting my reins slip through my fingers because it hurts too bad to give him any sort of connection when he gets heavy.

Then I notice that my reins are six inches longer than when I started, so I shorten them back up and he throws a fit because I shortened my reins. Rinse and repeat.

and here is a random picture from the weekend that has nothing to do with anything,
just to break up a wall of text.

I finally decided I'd try some dreaded counter bend to see if I could lighten him up that way since any sort of lateral work currently causes mass hysteria and therefore cannot be utilized. Counter bend? Bobby decided that on Tuesday it was acceptable, and he lightened up right away. We were able to run through Novice B and Training B, had a saunter up the hill, and called it quits.

Yesterday we went up to the cross country field for the first time in for-ev-er. I didn't plan on doing much since it was our first time up there in so long, but I had to get both of us out and back over real terrain again. We've been riding all winter long, but no amount of arena work compares to cantering up and down hills.

Bobby was a complete monster the entire time showing off his extended trot, extended canter, and extended "I'm half a second from running off with you" gallop. Who knew being back out in the field could be so very exciting? We jumped the little line of logs a couple of times, but the ground is still so slick up there that I didn't feel comfortable doing anything else.

But here's some crappy helmet cam footage of the last line we did:

I need to adjust the mount on it again. The stupid lock button does not want to stay in place so it's not at a great angle.

Today, to give my pathetically sore calves a break, I decked out Bobby in his driving outfit.

i was waving my arm around trying to get him to pose as bm stood there laughing.
she was like, "you don't need to get him to pose. he looks just like an amish horse right now!"

We both got to stretch our muscles after a hard workout the day before, enjoy the sunshine and warm weather, and do something that Bobby is really good at. I ground drove him all over the place for about thirty minutes and he was a superstar. He remembered his "gee" and "haw", and he stood patiently each time I asked him for a whoa. Maybe the cart will come out this weekend? He hasn't been hitched since last August, so I might just wait for a day when BM can help me.

all terrain driving horse.

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for....updated hoof pictures!

time for more thrust treatment in the RF!

these actually don't look as bad in person, though they look pretty miserable here.

I can't wait for the event lines to finish growing out so I can stop telling people "Those were caused by my previous farrier! He hasn't foundered, and he's no longer getting done in a way that's going to cause those. Look at the pretty new growth. Look at it."

Also, I just really wish he'd grow some heel. But at least he's sound on them!

Hooves and Jumps

It's time again for the latest round of Bobby hoof pictures! I've been doing his feet once a week, and he last got Sunday, so these are at about the halfway point.

LF

LF

RF

RF.
that stupid flare in his toe is wanting to creep back. how much do i have to hack off??

LH

LH

RH

RH

They actually look pretty good in person. They'd probably look better in pictures if they weren't so dirty. Regardless, I only see two or three things to work on this weekend instead of ten or twelve. That is tootsie progress, bitches. Plus, I've taken to trotting him up the driveway back to the barn when we're done riding and he is super, super sound on the hard gravel. What. I'm still aiming for my personal year end trophy of getting Bobby Magee through an entire show season sound on his toes. Or maybe I'll get myself a neck ribbon. Or cooler. Or all of the above.

as if adorable pony wasn't adorable enough just existing,
he went an took a nap. awwwwwww.

For today's jumping, I decided to not set up any course work, but instead add some height to the jumps and keep the exercises themselves simple. For warm up, I started off with an oxer on the far side set at 2'6", a 2'6" vertical on the diagonal, and a one stride line with big cross rails.

He was fine the first time through everything, but almost immediately starting jumping flatly and with complete disregard to the height. Look, Bobby, I still think 2'6" is a perfectly respectable height. Just because you don't doesn't mean you get to play a personal game of "How fast can I go? How little do I have to pick my feet up and still not touch the rails? Can I actually make this in just an exaggerated canter stride?"

So rude.

I decided to just say "fuck it" and put the oxer up to 3'3" and one of the Xs in the one stride line up to 3'. And then I had an anxiety attack about how massive the jumps looked. Nevermind that I've been cantering into 3'6" like it's no big deal. Nevermind that we've jumped these heights before. Nevermind that Bobby has actually been quite reasonable to jump lately, and I've got myself figured out enough that things are starting to become easy.

HOLY SHIT GIANT JUMPS WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE.

I had to force myself to pick up the canter and turn in to the first jump. And I had to force myself to keep going around and around or I was going to lose my one shriveled testicle and never jump another jump again. I hate this stupid anxiety when it comes to jumping. I don't even know what it stems from, but it gets so bad that my chest tightens to the point where I'm gasping for breath. If you listen to some of my horse show helmet cams, you can hear me breathing like I just ran ten miles. It's because overwhelming fear of something is trying to eat me alive.

Fuck you, fear. I hate your stupid face.

The moral of the story is: no one died, though my brain thought we were going to.

Another moral is that my lower leg has decided to just abandon ship and not even pretend to hang out with Bobby and I anymore. Talk about rude.

Hoof Pictures

It's been too long since the last post filled with pictures of my horse's hooves. I am so, so sorry. I know how stimulating all of you find them.

Fuck you. I know you don't find them interesting at all, but it's a good record for me so here they are.

LF

LF

RF

RF

LH

LH

RH

RH

Like all Bobby things, his feet look better in person than they do in pictures. They're still not great though. His toes need to keep creeping back and his heels need to keep creeping up. I've only been doing him every three weeks, but after BM looked at them she told I needed to be doing them once a week--mostly because I'm not aggressive enough when I trim.

He is sound walking on the gravel driveway right now despite a winter spent walking only on snow, but a large part of me is really dissatisfied with how slowly he's coming along. He's been barefoot for seven months, and it just seems like they should have a better shape. I want pretty hooves! However, I know he's come a long way from where he was so I should be grateful for what we're working with.

But still. I want the pretty.

In riding news, Bobby was a complete tool on the longe line, but an absolute gem under saddle. So light and fluffy and cooperative. He's a little heavier tracking right, but according to the chiro that's his bad side. He made up for it by being a total boss to the left and trying really hard to the right. Yay, fluffy marshmallow pony with the ugly feet! I'll make a real dressage horse out of you yet.

The Barefoot Transition, pt.2

See Part One here!

Part Two will cover the month of October, where things started to look really good, and then things tried going downhill before I drop kicked that nonsense and got us back on track.

Again, a disclaimer: This is not meant to be some, "Look what I did! You do it, too!" post. I am not a farrier. It's a condensed documentation for myself, and for anyone googling, "I pissed off my shit farrier and now I have to take of my horse's newly bare feet practically by myself. Where do I start?" Did I google that myself? Has anyone read this blog before? Answer that for yourself. I'm not at all against horses with shoes, and I'm probably not going to go around expounding on the joys of going barefoot. It is not a joy. It's a complete fucking bitch. But I'm still glad I did it.

October

Here's how Bobby's feet started the month, 9/30/13:

LF, five weeks after getting shoes pulled.

RF, five weeks after getting shoes pulled.

LH, five weeks after getting shoes pulled.

RH, five weeks after getting shoes pulled.

At this point, Bobby was back in almost full work. He was jumping in the outdoor booted on the fronts, and doing both flat and over fences work in the indoor completely barefoot. He was able to work in the cross country fiel barefoot (where there are no rocks), and he was finally back in his original 12 acre paddock for seventeen hours a day.

A week into the month, he started getting let out to his paddock with no boots on at all, which meant he was walking up a steep, very gravelly hill barefoot. While not one hundred percent on the gravel, he seemed to be coping well, and once in the paddock, he was comfortable.

I started laying off the Farrier Barrier a bit, knocking down application to every other day at the most. His soles had really toughened up by this point, and the only thing that was still looking suspect was the thrush in his RF where he had had a pour in pad for three months prior to me pulling his shoes.

His feet on 10/8/13, directly after a trim:

LF, six weeks after pulling his shoes.

RF, six weeks after pulling his shoes.

RH, six weeks after pulling his shoes.

LH, six weeks after pulling his shoes.

The RF hoof was also showing a large flare that caused his toe to dish out and split. Having zero farrier experience myself, I did a lot of reading from the websites you guys posted, and I talked to BM about it. We decided, since it actually did seem to be growing out by itself, to keep doing what I was doing and slowly knock it back each week instead of going commando on it and knocking it off in one fell swoop.

RF. yuck.

Mid-month, Bobby turned up footsore under saddle again. The suspected culprit was the reappearance of thrush in the RF, though he was also walking out sore on the LF. I ordered Oxine AH to combat the thrush since the Thrush Buster wasn't doing a good enough job any longer. He got turned out with his front feet in Boa boots again.

RF with thrush.

Today was his sixth soak with the Oxine, and the thrush is definitely clearing up already. I mix 1/2c of the Oxine with 1/8c of white vinegar and add just enough water to cover his hooves. He soaks for twenty minutes once a day. I thoroughly dry his feet afterwards, then alternate between pouring in Thrush Buster or painting on Farrier Barrier.  I relied heavily on this article on how to use the Oxine.

He's one hundred percent sound riding in the indoor (haven't tried the outdoor yet) and he's back to walking over gravel without boots with only minimal discomfort. I would probably still be turning him out in boots right now, but he broke the laces on them and the company I was going to send them out to get repaired by has yet to get back to me. (Two thumbs down, by the way.) However, I think it might be helping keep his feet dryer by not being in boots most of the day, and that's certainly not going to hurt him.

Today is exactly nine weeks since his shoes were pulled. I last touched up his feet on Friday, 10/25. Here's how they look today, 10/29/13:

The LF:

sorry it's blurry.

The RF, trouble foot:

the cracks on the side are superficial--they don't go any deeper than just
the surface where they split.

the upward curve on the outside is where a massive chunk of his hoof came off
with the clip on his shoe. it's obviously still growing out.
however, note no more dish at the toe!

you can see where i dug out the crack in his toe thanks to blogger recommendation!
there was a little funk going on in there, but i'm assuming the oxine is keeping that clean, too.
also note the thrush. it might not look much better here, but the crack isn't nearly as deep.

The LH:

i need to take the flare off on the outside. for some reason doing his back feet
worries me more than his fronts. i need to be more aggressive on them.

The RH:

meh.

just ugh. i think i'm going to ask BM for help with the hinds.

I don't know that he'll ever be one hundred percent on gravel, but if you had asked me nine weeks ago whether he'd be sound at this point period, I would have probably said no. I'm really impressed with how his feet have turned out.

And finally? Holy cow. Thank you guys for all the advice, reading material, and product recommendations over the past two months. I'd never even heard of Farrier Barrier or Oxine before, and they've both been like hoof crack for Bobby. Keep it coming! I'm learning so much from the blogging community! You bitches are the best.