NATURAL HORSE NEWS NO. 53 – May/June. 2005

Cynthia’s Say

At risk of boring everyone with talk about barefoot trimming, I must say, its exciting to see the improvement in my horse’s feet as my trim technique and understanding of the hoof improves and most of all, the results other more active riders like Jen and Lee who are doing endurance barefoot, are getting.

There are also some amazing stories from overseas of endurance riders competing in the World Equestrian Games barefoot and inspiring vets and farriers to really see that it can be done without metal shoes on – check out this USA story and website www.horseridingfun.com\barefootin.html

After the Pete Ramey course, I had another good look at Finn’s feet who I’ve been trimming every 3-4 weeks since birth and really saw what he was talking about when he said young horses who have had their feet kept right from the start, will have the closest to wild horse hooves and will probably not have a ‘transition’ period to be sound on all terrain.

He has the most wonderful concavity, no flared hoof wall at all and strong frogs and soles. Now all he needs is some more exercise to strengthen the inside of the hoof in preparation for riding in a couple of years.

Poor Finn, he had another encounter with the vet just recently when he showed mild colicky symptoms which didn’t relieve overnight and was then diagnosed with peritonitis which can be life threatening if not treated promptly.

In all my years of breeding and owning horses I’ve never had this problem but it seems it was my time to learn about it.

Finn was the perfect patient – at 14 months old he handled the IV needles and penicillin shots twice daily like a pro and is very happy to have his temperature taken. 

He contracted these symptoms the day before all the horses were going to be wormed and it seems the peritonitis can be caused by migrating worm larvae penetrating the gut wall and taking bacteria with them.

This incident has heightened my awareness that young horses are more susceptible to worm infestation and probably need chemical wormers on a more regular basis, even if they have been herbally wormed frequently.

It's on this Saturday- Le Trec April 30^th.

With 26 entries this weekend, the 2^nd Le Trec event ever held in Tasmania will be a lot of fun for the riders and the culmination of a lot of dedicated work for the organisers – Helen, Deb, Kristine, Markus and family. The next newsletter will carry a full report and results. If you’re keen to attend as a spectator and are not sure of how to get there, Ph.  Kristine on 0402 265890.

Top prizes and entertainment at Agfest

May 5^th, 6^th & 7^th at Carrick

This year’s Challenge Tournament has so far attracted 15 entries who will be rewarded for their efforts by prizes down to 6^th place with the 1^st  & 2^nd place prizes valued at $250 from Old Macs and Hoofworks, 3^rd & 4^th valued at $100 from Natural Equine and Williams Saltmarsh Accountants, 5^th valued at $75 from Cynthia Cooper and 6^th valued at $55 from Nola Cooke ETRT.

This year’s Challenge theme is “Things my best horse should be able to do”.  The 29 tasks in the Challenge were formulated from suggestions by people on my email list. Some suggestions had to be adapted (like being able to carry your dog on the horse) to the Agfest situation and arena, but most were catered for so the overall winner should be a versatile horse indeed.

Once again we will demonstrate some of those tasks in the Central Arena display which is on each day at 2.45pm Thursday, 2.55pm Friday and 2.40pm Saturday. As large crowds tend to gather for the central arena, it’s a good idea to look for seating at least 15 minutes beforehand.

This year, Manny has been in training with new tricks to add to his performance, also starring Tigga the wonder dog  (it will be a wonder if he can cope with the sights and sounds of Agfest!).

Our site is in the same West Demo area as last year – just turn left down first avenue once inside the main gates and we’re at the corner of First Avenue and North Street.

Peter Laidley from Hoofworks will be there giving hoof trimming demos as will Nola Cooke with Equine Muscle Release Therapy.

The Tasmanian Saddlery School and Mobile saddlery are also sharing our site so come and check out their Tasmanian made horse gear and courses on offer and there will be Natural Equine Quality Rope equipment on sale at Agfest Special prices.

HOOF FORM & FUNCTION WORKSHOP

Once again, Peter Laidley has offered to share his knowledge whilst in Tasmania for Agfest so on Sunday the 8^th May, right after Agfest, a one day workshop will take participants to new levels of understanding hoof form and function.

Cadaver legs will enable participants to see what really is inside the hoof capsule and leg, and be able to practice trimming a hoof without fear of harming the horse.

This workshop will be held at ‘Mountainside’, Golden Valley, starting at 9am and all food and drinks are provided in the cost of $99. This is an opportunity to have all your hoof trim questions answered, experiment with trimming technique and learn so much more than pictures can show you.

Please book with Cynthia by phoning or emailing ASAP.

Pete Ramey course was Amazing

You know you are getting good value for money when a week long course is squeezed into a weekend, and Pete says he will not let anyone leave with questions unanswered.

Two 12 hour days gave us mind blowing amounts of information on the hoof, how it works, why it works and how to fix what doesn’t work. Although the lecture sessions overloaded our brains, the visuals of seeing Pete trim a dozen horses gave us a clear picture of a good natural trim and how it can help so many horses with deformed feet (most domestic horses).

It was frightening to face the reality that all our horses are actually heading down the founder and navicular road unless we change the way we feed and care for them, particularly the feet.

Undoubtedly,  traditional horsemanship has clouded our view of how we look after something nature designed to work so well so we have complicated something that should be so simple.

All horses really need is basic food like free choice hay, clean water and a mineral lick, movement from herd life and riding, and frequent (1-4 weekly) trims when the riding doesn’t wear enough hoof down. 

Unfortunately, the human need in many of us to nurture, means we will slowly ‘Kill our horses with kindness’.  Instead, lets become kind enough to find out how horses are truly designed to live and try to replicate that as closely as possible.

If you want to understand more about hooves and natural horse keeping, read Pete Ramey’s book – Making Natural Hoof Care Work for You and/or check out Pete’s web site www.hoofrehab.com .

A printer friendly version of updates Pete has written since his book, is available from Cynthia by email. It’s a 20 page word document and well worth the ink to print it.

Email me if you’d like a copy – it’s a typeface condensed copy of the articles on his website which normally take 50pages to print and covers many of the topics discussed at the workshop.

If Pete ever comes to a place near you definitely make the most of the opportunity to learn from the huge amount of experience he has to share.

BEGINNERS 2 DAY WORKSHOP MAY 28/29^th

Come and join us at ‘Mountainside’ a beautiful bush retreat in Golden Valley for 2 days with your horse and like minded people. Starting at 9am each day you will get the best introduction to Natural Horsemanship for just $110. Topics to be covered include:

Overnight accommodation is available from $25 per person and you must supply your own lunches and evening meals.

Horses can be accommodated overnight too – just BYO electric tape fence, water bucket and hay.

Registration forms available now or at Agfest by contacting your instructor, Cynthia Cooper.

'Ask Cynthia' – Aggressive Feeding Behaviour

"I’ve had my new mare at home now for just over a week and she is terribly aggressive at feeding times. I have been walking into the paddock with either a lead rope or carrot stick/string and swinging it at her as she approaches so that she doesn’t rush forward at you. In response to this, she rears, bucks, snakes her neck and double barrels at me, which is getting to be quite aggressive and scary.
She then runs in again to try and get the feed and I will send her out again. I have to do this 3-4 times and then she will stand, drop her head and start licking. She then walks in calmly and I give her a pat and let her eat her tea.
I’ve been told I’m doing the right thing by sending her out and waiting for the dropping of the head, licking etc, but do you have any other ideas? She has been like this every night for over a week and is actually getting worse. Last night she was particularly aggressive and I thought she was going to try and jump the fence to attack my dogs who were sitting outside it.
I don’t want to get into the situation where I’m starting to get scared of her and I want to nip this in the butt before it gets any worse.

Do you think it has become a game with her, or is she still the Alpha mare and testing me each time I go in? I have been  standing my ground and being quite forceful with her, but it doesn’t seem to have made a difference with her at all.
She was quite thin when we got her, as she came from Melbourne as a bag of bones. I don’t know whether the fact she was possibly quite hungry and is now she being fed and has put on weight has made her so excited over her feed. She
starts pacing the fence line as soon as she knows its tea time and then its ears back and very aggressive the minute I walk in the gate.
Any advice you can give me to try and stop this behaviour
would be greatly appreciated."

I think you are basically doing the right thing but maybe with too much energy which is why she is reacting with energy!
Perhaps you can try a slightly softer (but no less firmer) approach by keeping the feed out of the paddock - even out of sight if you have to. In fact the first time you do this, feed at a different time to her regular feed time.
Go in and catch her - teach her to back up using rhythmic pressure until she is nice and responsive to this, then get her to come to you.
Once she does this reliably, lead her towards the feed which you could leave outside the gate.
Keeping hold of the lead, go out the gate and close it so you have a solid barrier between you then pick up the feed bucket. Back her up and don't invite her forward to the feed until she has her ears up.
It may take a few minutes - don't let her move forward - just keep her backed up away from the gate using rhythmic pressure with a stick tapping on the rope if necessary.
When she puts her ears up, go through the gate and put her feed down. If she comes forward, back her up again - have your stick handy in case she doesn't listen to the rhythm in the rope.
Then, invite her forward to eat and go on the other side of the gate while she is eating, still holding the rope, and rub the stick all over her while she eats.
Ignore her if she gets aggressive, keep rubbing and then stop when she is happy.
I reckon she's become fearful of not getting enough food so being pushy then showing aggression has been how she's learned to respond to that.
If you go a step further and give her lots of small feeds during the day while you are re-training her it will happen faster.
Another thing you can do to alleviate her need to feel hungry is give her free choice hay all day - it will help her not be so focused on feed time too.
It will also help her put on weight without having lots of energy food to burn so you could even reduce her grain.

Let me know how this goes - if you don't have a lot of time to spend a day working on this, then just give her free choice hay and cut out the grain feed until you have an opportunity to reintroduce it when she is responding better to you.

Thanks for your question, Cynthia.

Intro To Eventing Day in July                 

The "Introduction to Eventing" day will be hosted on 2nd July at Joylene and Patrick Dargan’s place in Bridgenorth. This will be very low key and flexible, run at only 1 grade which will be the lowest  Eventing offers. The aim is to have fun and to get an idea of how an ODE works for those who might be considering having a go - or not!  There will be no pressure and no 'strict' eventing rules, but the usual rules will be explained. 

Just a couple of tips - DON'T  practice the whole dressage test on the horse that is to be riding it - they very quickly learn the test and anticipate (not desirable), instead practice pieces of it  in no particular order. In eventing dressage to have a test 'called' for you (ie - someone reading it out for you as you ride) is instant elimination, as is carrying any sort of whip, but I think for our purposes we will allow tests to be called, as long as people are aware that it is usually unacceptable.

For a copy of the dressage tests call Joylene on 63 302538.