Today I was supposed to go to the gym, but it might snow tomorrow and I'd rather drive into Reno in the snow than out to the boonies and ride in the snow, so I rode today. I was kind of in a blah mood when I got there, but I actually had a wonderful ride - just one of those zen days where Dixie and I tried really hard to understand each other and cooperate. We rambled around down in the mines. 5.44 miles in 1:14, 4.4 mph - I'm getting really close to my first baby goal of five miles in one hour with a not too tired horse! Here's the clever Garmin map.
An easy 5 mph average seems to me like it's the slowest you can reasonably go and do a limited distance endurance ride. I don't mind taking 6-7 hours to do an LD. Once we can chug on along at 5 mph, I'll start adding miles.
Her feet have changed again. They aren't snow-clean so I'm not sure if the white lines are tight everywhere, but the heel bulbs have opened up. YAY! I'm hoping her frogs keep getting wider - they still look a little narrow to me. There were a few patches of black ick, so I smeared some antifungalbiotic goo in there - that's the white stuff in a couple of pics. I trimmed after the pictures - the right foot still has a higher heel, but there's no free edge, so I just rolled the toe a bit. And the left still wears weird, so I evened up the medial toe. Anybody see anything I'm missing?
Left front:
Right front:
The set has the heel photos and her February condition shots.
That IS a clever little map doo-hickey! And it seems like you're using the winter months well, building Dixie's speed and stamina slowly, so you'll be ready when the season gets started.
ReplyDeleteThe feet both look really nice--round (more or less) and solid, with nice healthy, symmetrical frogs. How long have you been doing the barefoot thing? (I'm just getting started.)
The interesting little thing that I notice is that BOTH right and left seem to show slightly more growth towards the left side of the toe. Do you always travel with the same side downhill? (I used to joke that my first horse was lop-sided, because he always stood with his same two legs uphill in his very steep paddock!)
Hi EvenSong! I pulled her shoes as soon as I got her, so just over two years now. She had really really terrible feet, so I'm just tickled at how strong and pretty they are now. They look better than Champ's did! But he had shoes for 12 years and she only had shoes for 2-3 - I think it makes a lot of difference.
ReplyDeleteMost of our trails are loops, and I do try to alternate which way I go - clockwise or counterclockwise. It kind of looks to me like they're narrower on the insides and a little rounder on the outsides, and maybe the outsides wear more. I think she paddles a bit? I just never remember to have anyone video us walking/trotting toward a camera at ground level. One day...
Do you do your own trimming - I ask because it can be hard work! Those feet don't look bad at all. The only thing that jumped out at me was the heels looked slightly uneven in both pictures, but you said you trimmed after the pictures and you mentioned the heels so I'm thinking you're already on that!
ReplyDeleteThe wear on the left front (on the ride side of the toe) is really interesting. Can anyone get video of her walking/trotting in a straight line directly towards the camera on a flat surface? Might shed some light on why that is.
ReplyDeleteYay feets!
Melissa - I used to do my own trimming. When I lived in Memphis I couldn't find a barefoot trimmer, just good ole boy farriers who'd lop off all the free wall. It is really hard work, especially in the summer! I have a good trimmer out here in Nevada - I think he studied under Olivo? He trims a bit more frog than I would, but other than that I adore him. I just keep her walls rolled in between visits.
ReplyDeleteI found that getting a horse's feet from terrible to decent wasn't too hard. It's getting from decent to "as good as possible" that's hard! The heels are a bit uneven, but they're basically at live sole level. If I keep her moving and keep her toes rolled back, hopefully they'll even up.
Andrea - I will call in a favor from my husband and make him video us this weekend. I can boss him around and make him get just her feet as we trot toward him on level ground. :)
"I found that getting a horse's feet from terrible to decent wasn't too hard. It's getting from decent to "as good as possible" that's hard!"
ReplyDeleteVery wise words Funder, very wise!! The major corrections tend to be easy, but then chasing the best foot you can have, now that is darn hard. There are so many variables that you have to take into consideration, not just the trim itself, when you are at that point.