A Northern Journal

Untrimmed hoof

Spring must be [nearly] here; the birds are twittering (on their own original ’social network’) and the shoes have been put back on Thorfinn ready for the fittening work required to further help and manage his Equine Metabolic Syndrome. One can only do so much bare hoof work on hard chipped / tarred roads as you risk making them sore or cracking pieces of the hoof.

 There are advocates of ‘bare foot trimming’ out there who don’t put shoes on their horses as it is “kinder” or “more natural” and I understand their sentiments but personally, I don’t believe my pony would cope, especially with the carriage driving which involves a lot of trotting on hard roads. Now, one could argue that wild horses will never see the farrier for a trim, but they have the benefits of being plains animals and are wandering wide and far in search of grass over mixed sometimes hard [rocky] terrain and this naturally keeps the feet short. Our domestic horses live in soft grassy fields and well bedded stables, and often work on soft surfaces as well as roads, with the extra weight of riders on top, so feet don’t wear. It is important to have a qualified farrier look at the feet regularly - usually every 6-8 weeks to stop the hooves getting over long.

Peedie foot trim

So Thorfinn got his shoes back on and the Hobbit ponies had their feet trimmed: that was the first stage of the pony pampering day. As the weather was so nice, dry and calm, I decided to give them all a good grooming, especially Thorfinn as his coat is starting to fall out in readiness for Spring (a bit premature, if you ask me). Long fluffy coats brushed and brushed and manes and tails were combed out. All three appeared to enjoy the attention and it was a good way to get myself back into the routine of grooming.

 Next stage, was to clip out Thorfinn’s gullet (bottom of neck) and chest. This is so that when he is exercised he is less likely to get really sweaty under a thick coat and thus prone to a chill. It may be as his exercise is increased, I will clip more of his coat off.

Once all the pampering was done, ponies were returned to their paddocks and I went in for a late lunch. Forty minutes later, thinking about going and doing the poo pick and haynet fill, the sun came out and I decided to go for a short hack on the Thorf. We just did a couple of miles at walk by the time we went down the road and back. There will be a lot of this before we consider prolonged trotting or even a canter. Thorf has not done much for 6 mnths and as a [nearly] 19 year old the fittening process will be a little slower. It was lovely getting out for a ‘plod’ and also a chatter with neighbours down the road.

After the hack, gave Thorf a quick brush to get rid of saddle marks and put him back on sand school with a haynet. I set to sorting water troughs and cleaning up t he droppings and finally prepping the stable for later and filling a couple of haynets.

 One wonders how the muscles will feell tomorrow after a really busy day!

Hoof trimmings

Fluffy butts

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