My Barefoot Haflinger

Well, my grand ambitions for the perfect barefoot environment didnt exactly come to fruition!

A hard standing has been a plan for some time now, and with the incredibly wet summer, the time came where it could no longer be avoided as the poor horses were almost wading

Being so wet, we had no access available to the field, and so began the epic adventure of moving 13 tonnes of aggregate (40mm scalpings) down to the field, by hand, by wheelbarrow

when the load arrived it was utterly intimidating, but 5 days later, and with some serious help, we were done, and an 80ft square area was done, plate compacted, and looking pretty nice

Next up, pea gravel, or not as it turned out! It seems that in Cornwall, pea gravel means something different to everywhere else in the world. I think over the past week or so, I have seen every type of stone known to man. Small 5 - 10mm, smooth, round pebbley stuff however just doesnt exist here. Apparently until about 4 years ago, you could buy tiny pebbles from a beach off the Lizard, and indeed, we have some in the garden, but they are no longer allowed to take this.

As it is, pea gravel here means small, horrible, gritty crushed granite, or I found one place with 10-15mm closish stuff (red), but certainly not that smooth round stuff for massaging barefoot hooves with that I dreamed off

Anyway, my trimmer came to advise, and he was absolutely happy they could go straight onto the scalpings, and that in fact it's just perfect; I was intially dubious, as there are some pretty big rough bits, even though we compacted it

But they are absolutely fine on it, a tad ginger on the odd occasion, but already I can see that Giddys hooves are rounding off really nicely on the edges ;0))

So, next step, another full load of scalpings, and am going to run a track down the side of the field so that we can now get some more movement over rough surfaces; it's not exactly going to be a paddock paradise, but as close as i can get with the space and budget i have

Going to go with 20mm scalpings this time having been to the quarry to have a look, and these look like they will be easier to shift too

Now the "crisis management" of getting them out of the mud is over, can do this 10 barrows a day or so, and it'll be done in a few weeeks

A section of this, am going to move the nice round pebbles in the garden onto a section of this, and replace this with something locally, as long as quite attractive, it doesnt really matter too much

Should have taken some pics of giddys feet before all this began really :0((

We had a very tiny brush with laminitis, but it was very fleeting, pulse was up, and a tiny bit footy, pulled them both off the grass, had some bute, so as an emergency measure, used this and upped the magnesium, next day she looked completely fine, but pulse was going up and down for a few days, until, bingo, cant believe have never tried it before, but gave her some Zeolite after coming across this on the web from an american company; thankfully it's available here from Seventh Wave. Makes total sense really as it removes toxins, and within 12 hours her pulse was gone ;0))

so that was some time ago, since then, she is now on 100% soaked hay, and I am going the full hog and soaking for 12 - 24 hours; she seems more than happy to eat it thankfully, no suprise being a haffie i suppose; and for three days, we have been back into work, and they are going out for a few hours late at night. So far so good, both looking good, and Giddy has lost a massive 20 kilos (3 stone), well, thats according to the weigh tape anyway! She certainly looks really good, beautiful shiny coat and very happy in herself, so all being well, that'll be the end of the brushes with laminitis for this year

feet still looking good ;0)

Giddy was trimmed two weeks ago, at the very same time, i injured my back, have lost 2 weeks of my life and done no roadwork as i had intended

anyway, her feet are looking really good, a few days before she was due for a trim, a massive chunk came off the front right, I was pretty worried, but once tidied up, it seems as if she has lost the last section of weak outer wall, as there is now a far better connection

still not enough concavity, but a year in, looking pretty good

As per normal, life is far too hectic, and no updates for quite some time

The weather here in cornwall is literally dreadful it feels like it has been raining forever

The horses are in at the moment overnight, and out during the day, not ideal, but the land is so wet, and I have so little of it there are no other options. Mind you, it is so bad, that most days they are more than happy to come back inside

Giddy's feet are not too bad, although not as good as they were, however, it is better the horses being in the dry for part of the time to dry out their hooves, i think if they were out in this mud all the time, their feet would be in a much worse state

On her last trim, her soles had softened, BUT she is still walking happily over the gravel in the yard, cant even remember the last time i saw her flinching on any little stones

Got to get her back on on the roads to build up the conditioning again, but 9 months in, I am so glad that her feet are looking so lovely

The good news, giddy's feet are fantastic

the bad news, I am absolutely gutted to say that Giddy has been diagnosed with Arthritis in her left hock. She has not been right since September, the vet saw her a couple of times and eventually suggested taking her over for nerve blocks as she looked lame in two feet.

On the day, it was clearly the hock and we went straight to x-ray which showed the clear signs of joint degeneration. I cried on and off for 2 days

While I realise it can be managed, just so sad for a 10 year old, and being a very short, left brain horse, she doesnt need any excuses not to use her body properly

So, she has had a series of catrophen injections, is on glucosamine, chondroitin and msm and we will see how she goes. am now building her up from 10mins a day of riding

She has also had a physio treatment today, and she was also very sore and tight in her back, right (opposite) hock and left shoulder. So she has clearly been compensating for being uncomfortable in her hock

So, just a case of plodding on really, but I am sure being barefoot is going to help as she will have less concussion through her feet

My work schedule has been punishing and not up to date with this blog!

Suffice to say that we are still going really well. Sadly all the rain and mud put us back a bit... her soles had got really quite tough but softened up again as it has been so wet

So she is a tiny bit sensitive on the roads, but still happy to go, but am taking her our for short periods to build her feet up again

Her feet look lovely, and I am 100% convinced that she is moving better

Am looking into getting a hard standing in the field and some pea gravel to help things along a bit

Soles seem to be getting stronger already, very pleased

second trim today, and all looking really good, there is a split on the bottom edge of the front right, but this should grow out, but other than that, they are all looking lovely

feet still looking really nice, she had a bit of a chip on the back which frank tidied up, and now has a tiny one on the front, but is due for her four week trim this saturday

still walking out happily on the road, and even had a little trot

beginning to feel confident that we are going to be OK which is a relief!

Frank came yesterday and rasped the little chip that appeared on the left hind, other than that one, her feet are still looking perfect.. so very different to the pasture trim where by this point her feet had numerous cracks on them!

Took her up the road in hand and she was more than happy to go, still looking very comfortable