I have MORE pictures to show you. If you haven't seen any yet, scroll down to the first entry for June 1st. This is the second. No, I take that back...this is like the fourth. Scroll down to the one just before this one if you haven't seen any pictures yet and want to. Then read this one after the one before it.

I hope that makes sense.

I just fed lunch. I found two of the horses in the corral where they had been getting some water, but Doc  was in his OLD place below...well, not quite in four inches of pee and poop, but near it. Habits are hard to break and it IS shaded down there and he gets overheated easily.

So, I decided to feed a bit early. I wanted to spread the piles even farther down the hill. I would love for them to make use of the acre or so they have. I know Dodger, the mustang, scavenges down there and occasionally Doc has, but not recently.

First, a picture of the feeders that they have been using. During the winter, this was great. We had gravel trucked in, though you can't tell now. There was about 6 inches of gravel (over the course of a couple of months) that was put down so that they wouldn't sink to their hocks in mud. I didn't want to feed them in the corral with the sand because Harley has colicked twice now due to sand (though it was sand in the hay I was feeding him one of those times...).

So, this winter, this worked well. Now that the gravel has gotten mixed with dirt and poop and decaying uneaten hay, though, it has become a place where bacteria are just waiting to pounce on unsuspecting hooves trying to transition to a healthy barefoot life! I am paranoid, but with good reason!

Here are some pictures of where I had been feeding the horses until yesterday:

The water trough is where I had it full of water, but it is now empty as I explained in my previous entry. In the foreground here, you can see the stuff I have been concerned about. It is drying out now, but hasn't had a chance to with horses peeing in it. They like standing in it, too. Not ok.

Just in front of the feeder above, is Doc's favorite place to stand. Stand and eat. Stand and pee. Stand and just stand. He had about a 10 foot walk to get water and he would turn around and stand there the rest of the time. Because the area has leveled out some, it wouldn't drain as well as the rest of the hillside. Doc likes it a lot.

Today, I put hay piles throughout the forest. Doc immediately headed to his spot:

He looked at me like he was saying, "Aren't you going to put any of that hay in here?" I had already put it in about 12 piles throughout the forest. He stood at this spot watching me the entire time. He gave me a couple of minutes, but I turned the bucket over, upside down, and sat on it. That was when he did this:

Quick learner. LOL! Yesterday's lunch and dinner and this morning's breakfast convinced him that waiting wouldn't be prudent. He would miss out. The next series shows what happened next. In his own way, akin to a downhill skiing, he headed down the hill to the closest pile. None of the piles are too large, so he has to keep moving.

Needless to say, I was thrilled to see him waste little time making his way down the hill like this.

Dodger, the mustang, enjoys having the food on the ground (where he was always throwing it anyhow). He is the low man on the totem pole and I think having so many places for eating provides him with a lot less stress at meal time. Good for his head and good for his body. Here is a series of Dodger. I was standing in one place in the forest and he came from one pile, stopped at the pile by my feet and took a bite and continued on to another pile.

Dodger likes being near Harley. Harley is respected by the others and seems to favor Dodger. I like that Dodger has a choice now. It is definitely a good thing.

Here is another glimpse of this. While I haven't yet spread it around the perimeter of the fence, I hope to do that at some point. Breezy is all the way down by an old oak tree...it is a good distance down the hillside. He doesn't often go down there. I am excited that this will help all of them to feel better. Why didn't I think of this before? LOL!

The horses have turned an old poop dumping pile into a favorite rolling place. All sorts of decomposers turned the poop into almost a silt. This is what the horses have turned it into:

Below is a picture of Harley. I trimmed all four of his feet myself about 10 days ago. I didn't do much, but I am pleased with how both of us came through it. He wasn't haltered and stood so sweetly for me while I got to know the tools and everything. I think they look pretty nice. Of course, Richard Robbins, an AANHCP trimmer had done Harley's feet only 2 weeks earlier, so it wasn't like there was much to do, but they had chipped some and looked like they needed help. LOL!

Enough boasting and bragging. Pride goes before a fall and I can't afford any more falls! I have to keep on top of Doc and be sure he drinks plenty of water.

Thanks for visiting!

Heidi

 

I decided to take some pictures of the horses and the area where I have them. To get Doc out of the pee and poop he wanted to stand in (thrush was a big concern of mine) I have emptied the water trough and am now spreading food throughout the forest pasture...which is on a hillside. Yesterday, his response to this was a bucking fit. Today, he was a bit calmer, though he has "pissy ears" going on here.

I hung around with him and the others long enough to see that he changed his view on things a bit:

and another one:

It is tough to tell how hilly this is. And I took pictures of the others. You can kind of tell a bit. Here is Dodger, our mustang (he is the sorrel...Breezy, the white horse is in the background):

This one of Breezy gives a feel for the slope that the horses are on when they are down in the forest eating:

And here is Harley--another picture taken to show the slope a bit:

They don't have to stay on the hillside, but I will be spreading out their hay in about 10 piles across and down the forest. This way, they will make more use of the forest, explore it more, I hope...and also get more of a natural wear to their hooves...all of them are a bit arthritic (the youngest, Doc is VERY arthritic) so I hope that the movement will actually help him feel a bit better. When I take him to get a lameness exam, I know they will want to know what kind of exercise he gets. Hopefully, within a couple of weeks I will see some positive changes in his feet and in his body generally. Here is hoping!

I have a corral where the only water can be found. Up the hill past where Harley was eating you can see the gate to the corral left open at all times for them...

Flat land can be found there, too. They enjoy rolling up there and laying in the sun, though they have places in the forest they have created favorite rolling places as well...

There is gravel that is in front of the gate in the above picture...and some gravel near the water trough. Again, a varied terrain...I hope it will help strengthen their hooves so all four of them can be sound barefoot. I believe it is the way it is supposed to be...I really do. It makes no sense to me that horses should need horse shoes. It seems pretty bad for their feet and I wonder how much of Doc's physical problems might be attributable, at least in part, to him having been shod very early before his body had completely developed.

After they get through the gate, they have a large area they can play in:

See there? The water trough is over yonder. This isn't different. What IS different is it is the ONLY water trough now. Doc does sweat easily and a lot, so I hope he will be willing to move to drink and doesn't become dehydrated. I will be watching this carefully. Previously, I had a water trough down in the forest, too. I want to motivate him and the others to move more, however.

I hope the next time I post pictures of Doc and his feet, I have a better story to tell.

Heidi

 

Wow. I haven't written through all of May and here it is June 1st!!! I have written to various yahoo lists where I hang out...and maybe I will stick those posts in as entries here at some point.

The focus of my horse life lately has been my horses' feet. Harley and Doc's shoes were pulled in January and Doc fell apart by mid February. We have had challenges getting reliable trimmers who can make it this far to the middle of no where. I prefer someone who is certified with AANHCP, but the natural trimmer who wasn't certified did impress me a lot. She just can't make it up here without a truckload of financial incentive...not that I blame her.

Most recently, a field instructor from AANHCP agreed he would come every 6 weeks and teach me to do the horses myself. I have already done a bit of a trim on Harley...and I may attempt the same with Breezy--the two with easy to understand feet (well, relative to the other two).

Doc has been a mess. I will post to the blog what I wrote to a natural trimming list last night.

Heidi