Preparing for the winter

How do you know its fall? It is a definite sign when you realize your horse's coat is getting thicker. The temperatures haven't dropped drastically, but it looks like Little Love is preparing for the future. Which is a good thing, since last I heard they are predicting a really cold winter for us. I am looking forward to that with mixed feelings. It would be nice to have some snow (emphasis on the word some, not the same as tons), but when temperatures linger below -20 Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) for weeks on end... it gets a bit old. I'm starting to think ahead and have looked into getting metal "spikes" (well, they are really like these raised screws) for Little Love's boots, so we can get up and down those hills also when it gets slippery. From what I remember, the first times the temperature starts going into the freezing digits is at the end of October (next month! Yikes).

Thinking about the future has also brought me back to the question about the saddle. I know I was sort of on the fence about purchasing one, but have finally decided to go for it. I don't plan to start riding Little Love a lot, in fact, quite the contrary. I'm hoping to use the saddle for short trots and canters while we are on the trails and perhaps when the snow is too deep for me to tread. Although, if it is too deep for me, it may also be too deep for my horse! LOL. I definitely need to build up the muscles on her top line before I even consider sitting on her back. And ask her for permission. I have contacted a saddle fitter and am now hoping to hear back from her, so we can get the process moving forward.

In the meanwhile Melissa and I have been taking walks with Little Love to build up her stamina (and help burn some of that sugar :-). Yesterday I ventured quite far on my own. Little Love seems quite comfortable on our walks, she takes new thing in stride and looks for me when something is not quite right. I, too, have learned to stay in my body and be with her, even if I'm not actively seeking contact at all times. Yesterday when my husband called during our walk, I immediately noticed a change in Little Love's focus. She started scanning the surroundings with heightened interest. Someone has to keep an eye on the environment, after all, and if I'm on the phone, I'm obviously not doing it. When I heard it was not an emergency, I told my husband that I would call him back later. I have learned my lesson about cell phones and horses!

Tomorrow it is time for the trimmer to come again. It is about time. I trimmed Little Love myself about two and a half weeks ago, but her hooves seem to have kicked into a whole new pace when it comes to growing. Which is great, of course, but means she needs to be trimmed more often. Especially her bars are quite high at the moment and I can see it affecting her. I would have trimmed her myself, but the trimmer wanted to see for herself how and where the hooves had started to grow after her last trim (I only take the bars and heels down when I trim). Especially the right front is a bit tricky.

Then, on Saturday my friend Selma, the osteopath, is coming to work on Lilo, Kira and Metku. Hopefully she will be happy to see the progress we have made with undoing the tensions in Lilo's ribcage. I certainly have made my best attempt in completing all the stretches, but we'll hear the verdict tomorrow!

Leading the way

Tonight when I arrived to the barn, the barn owner and Metku's owner were getting ready to go for a trail ride.  They were both tacking up with saddles and bridles, but told me they would really only walk, since this was Metku's first time off the property so if I wanted to join in-hand, I could.  I asked Little Love what she thought and she was ready to go as well.  So, we put on the boots quickly and slipped on the halter and off we went. 

Because neither Kira nor Metku wanted to leave the yard first, Little Love and I took the lead.  Lilo walked in the front confidently, leading the way as if she had always done just that; lead the way.  From Metku's owner's request, we decided to stay on the wider roads instead of venturing onto the narrow paths in the forest.  This, of course, sounded good to me, since I know how much Little Love is afraid of the forest.  We walked down to the first intersection and turned right onto the dirt road.  Kira was significantly slower than the other two horses, so we waited for her every now and then. 

We were an impressive sight as we walked with three black horses all the way to the end of the road, which is about a mile and a half from the barn.  Many of the neighbors were out on walks as well and there were lots of "oohs" and "aahs" when we strode by with our black mare entourage.  The sun was setting in a mostly clear sky and the night was so very still; what a perfect evening for a long walk.  The barn owner told us about the lake nearby and suggested we explore the road leading to the lake.  This route is off limits for cars, but luckily horses can get past the metal gate set up in the middle of the road.  We made our way down the field, dove into the forest and hiked up a winding (but not narrow! :-) mossy path until we were near the lake.  Then we turned around  and came back down the same way we had gone up. 

Little Love was amazing.  She walked on my side, slowing down if she noticed I was falling behind.  She stopped from voice cues only.  She waited for her friends politely.  The only time she became anxious was when we turned around in the forest and started heading home.  At first I thought it was because we were going home and because there were some knats buzzing under her stomach, but once we passed the last tall fir tree and came into the clearing, she immediately calmed down.  Obviously it was a bit too many trees for her :-)  But despite her anxiety, she never took a trot step nor did I have the feeling of totally losing control.  She merely walked fast, at times scrambling over tree roots without exactly looking where she was placing her feet.  I had to pull on her face a few times to ask her to stop, as I could not keep up with her (not to mention waiting for Metku and Kira...).  But after that part of the walk was over, she was back to her considerate self.  Her brave self.  Her confident self.  Now I know why we had to struggle so many times on trail rides years ago: so that we could both appreciate this life we now have. 

Happy trails, not so happy feet

Yesterday morning Kristiina, who owns Kira and manages the barn, took us (Lilo, Melissa, my two dogs and me) on an introductory tour of the forest.  There are lots of trails and although she has made a map of them all, it was good to have a guide when we ventured out for the first time.  Also, Little Love was definitely calmer with Kira leading the way. 

The trail was literally a small path in the forest.  Little Love is not a big fan of narrow paths, as she gets uncomfortable when branches and other vegetation touch her behind.  Maybe it's some form of claustrophobia or perhaps it reminds her of something that happened long time ago.  It was also fairly warm and the bugs were out.   But, considering all that, Little Love did extremely well in the forest.  Given, she wanted to be as close as possible to Kira, which made it a tad challenging for me, since I was walking, too.  We managed some sort of balance, although there were moments when I was taking the "off road" route next to the path...

Twenty minutes later we popped out of the forest onto a narrow dirt road.  Little Love was pleased and since she has such a long stride, she took the lead confidently, leaving Kira to trail behind.  The dirt road definitely worked better for me, too, since now we could walk side by side without a problem.  I will need to practice walking together on the path, so that I can walk ahead safely, instead of having to scramble on the side.  I was very proud of Lilo, though, as she crossed two small bridges without even blinking an eye!  She also figured out how to walk with her boots on around rocks and roots, although a she stumbled a few times with her front feet; the boots are sort of bulky and probably don't give her the feeling she needs to have the precision needed in the forest.

We walked back to the barn in 20 minutes, every now and then stopping for some grass.  As we passed several Ys in the road, Kristiina told us where they all lead to, so that we could go explore on our own as well.  She also said Melissa and I could take Kira with us any time.  This is great news, since I know how much more comfortable Lilo will be in the beginning if another horse goes with us.  I'm really looking forwards to exploring the trails; it looks like you can go on for hours!

Little Love was definitely tired when we got back to the barn.  She hasn't walked that long in one go since I walked her in Germany two and a half weeks ago (seems like a lifetime ago!).  She still looks fairly skinny and I talked to Kristiina about maybe giving her some more hay as well as the "müsli" (grain).  The bugs are so relentless this time of the year that the horses tend to be moving all the time, which means Little Love isn't prone to gain much weight.  I have been putting on her fly mask for the past few days and despite all the trees she rubs herself on, it has stayed on her head.  The mask helps her so much, since she gets really upset when the horse flies go at her head.  I'm happy a friend of mine gave us some fly spray that actually works, looks like Lilo has the least amount of bugs on her out of the three horses!

Tonight when I went to the barn, it was still really hot and muggy.  All horses were in the pasture, which is great, since that means Little Love is eating grass as well.  When I took her out of the paddock, though, I was sort of shocked to see her feet.  Her hooves have not been in the greatest shape, but now they were absolutely thrashed as if she had run a marathon on them in the past 24 hours.  Even the back hooves that looked semi-decent were torn on the edges.  Kristiina's daughter showed up to feed and she told me that the horses were running around last night because of the bugs.  The ground is really hard and dry, so it looks like Lilo's hooves took a beating.  Yikes.  I think I need to start keeping boots on her all the time for the time being if I want her to have any hooves left to stand on.  She didn't seem too bothered by the state of her feet.  I put her in her stall and once she settled down a bit, managed to soak her left front for exactly 13 minutes.  It's a start, but obviously not enough.  Soaking is going to be a challenge, as she needs to stand still.  Because of the bugs, the only place where this is possible is in the stable, but she still doesn't feel so comfortable in there, even when the horses are inside.  

I have connected with a trimmer I trust, now we just have to figure out when she can come as she has quite a drive to get to where we are at (but she is willing to do it, which makes me happy!).  I'll be gone a few days in Switzerland next week (tying off some loose ends, so to say), but perhaps the week after that.  If I can keep the boots on her feet for a week, maybe there will be something to trim?  Wishful thinking.  Perhaps I could find something feed her that would make her feet grow faster...

Day 107 Back home

I'm finally back in Switzerland.  I was gone for ten days, but it felt like three months; so much happened and I learned a ton about hooves and trimming.  Now it was time to put some of the stuff I learned into practice...

Seeing Little Love was sort of a shock; her skin condition is back with a vengeance (on top of her back) and her hooves look absolutely hideous!  Yikes!  Little Love, true to her nature, was slightly frantic.  She never does well the first day I'm back from a trip (or maybe it's me who doesn't do well?).  It didn't help that Becky was off riding with Col and Little Love felt like she had been abandoned.  I took her out into the arena where she showed me that despite the horrible angles on her feet (were they really this bad two weeks ago?), she was sound at the trot.  And this was without boots.  This was a relief, because like I said, her feet don't look so great.  Also, the day before I left for Finland, she had a bad fall on the road and I was worried this would come back to hanut her, but apparently not (I haven't told you all about what happened, because I never had time to write, but I'll post something soon on my other blog that recounts the whole experience - it was horrible). 

After letting her run around for a while, I soaked her hooves and took pictures of her fronts, deciding to focus on two hooves at a time.  Her fronts are quite crooked, the medial wall being more upright and tall than the lateral, which is breaking off in chunks.  This pattern was already manifesting itself in Little Love's legs when she had shoes, but somehow over the course of the past two weeks had gotten a lot worse.  Or did I just know to look for it?  After seeing so many horses in Finland with relatively good feet, I was appalled to see how little toe height Lilo has.  Not to mention to fact that she is probably slightly rotated (and perhaps party separated?) in her right front.  There are so many things wrong with her hooves that trimming them with my pathetic experience will be a challenge to say the least.  But, I have to try. 

I decided to go back in the evening, after analysing the hoof pictures on the computer and giving everything a bit thought.  This I did.  I soaked her again and then went at the trimming like a mad woman.  At first Little Love didn't think this was a good idea.  Perhaps she felt my anxiety, which didn't make trimming very easy.  But, after a while we both got a hang of it.  I took her heels down and worked on the bars that were really high.  The bars are also really crooked and laying over the sole when you get close to the frog.  My knives were not the sharpest, so I have to get back to the bars once I have bought a sharpener.  I also did a bit of rasping of the wall where it was too thick.  All in all I think I did an ok (and very careful) job and left Little Love in a better state than before I started.  Which is the general idea.   Phew.  I was sweating, though, perhaps more from the idea of trimming my own horse than the actual trimming!

Today was a new day and when I got to the barn, my horse was still standing on all four feet and was not dead lame.  I guess my trim had not ruined her for life!  I'm not sure if I was imagining it, but it looked like she was walking straighter... I had also washed her with the medical shampoo and her skin looked a lot better. 

Becky suggested a long walk and we went together, she rode and I walked, as usual.  We did a new loop that took us well over an hour; we were all hot and sweaty when we got back (except the dogs that were wet from swimming in the stream).  Afterwards Becky and I walked the fence line of the pasture next door.  We just recently discovered that it was part of the property.  It's conveniently located right next to the current pasture.  After a few small repairs we were able to let the horses in for some grass.  I think they both thought they had died and gone to heaven!  Col, true to his nature, walked the fence line first thing, just to check that there weren't any openings where he could wiggle out.  Little Love, on the other hand, just wanted the grass! :-)
 
Here is a picture of Little Love investigating the new pasture:

Day 40 It's a rollercoaster ride

It seems like this process of heeling Little Love's feet has it's ups and downs.  One day I look at her and can't believe how much progress she has made in terms of being able to move more and then the next day it looks like she has taken at least three steps back.  This process is definitely not for the impatient. 

Tuesday we had rain, which made the pasture much more bearable for Little Love's feet.  I went to the barn in the morning (usually I go in the afternoon/evening) and perhaps that is what made the difference, but she walked with me in the arena with a lot of energy.  Little Love was actually so animated that I naturally felt hopeful, making plans of progressively increasing the hand walking time each day.  Or not.  Wednesday, after being in the pasture for six hours, she was tired and sore.   Walking was a struggle even with the boots on.  Her front legs had also swelled up again on the inside, especially the left, which now seems to be obviously caused by the bad alignment of her hooves and joints.  She had this same alignment when she had shoes, but taking the shoes off seems to have made the strain even greater.  Unfortunately I'll have to wait until she grows back some hoof before these angles can be even remotely fixed (which will take time).  I'm learning patience, slowly. 

Today Little Love was really tired and really sore (but swelling on legs was gone, hhmmm), so I decided to skip the walking altogether and instead focus on soaking her feet (which I do every day before I walk).  She didn't want to stay in the buckets, so it was a bit of struggle, but we managed to do a little over 20 minutes with the fronts.  I felt pretty disheartened by her state, it almost seems like we are back to the pain she was in last week.  What the heck?  I'm hoping to get those pastern guards in the mail tomorrow so I can keep the boots on her 24/7.  Even if I don't get the wraps, I might just leave the boots on and see what happens.  Becky is coming back from her trip tonight, which will help as she can keep an eye any sores Little Love is developing and pull the boots off when needed, if I'm not there.   When she's gone her non-horse-savvy husband does the evening chores, and asking him to deal with hoof boots might a bit too much, I think he has enough to do with changing Col's blankets LOL.

I'm hoping we have just hit the downward slope on this rollercoaster ride called "going barefoot".  Maybe it will be all uphill from here?  Trying to stay positive and hopeful. 

Day 34 From worse to better :-)

Winston Churchill said "If you are going through hell... keep going."  Great advice, as you don't want to stop in the middle of hell.  So move we have, slowly.  And now finally hope is restored.  There is light at the end of the tunnel and this time it is possibly not a train coming at me (and Little Love) .

The boots with gel pads arrived with Becky this afternoon from England (after a bit of drama; she called me last night telling me the mail didn't bring them, but eventually they were found at the doorman's residence - the address was partly wrong, how they found their way to the right place is still a mystery - or a miracle).  I can't tell you how hopeful I felt when I looked at them.  Would this work?

Getting Little Love to come out of her stall to the concrete was slow, but the banana worked again.  Once she was on flat and solid ground, it was easier to fit the boots on. The right one fits perfectly.  The left foot has really been giving her grief and is sort of an odd shape, so I wasn't surprised to see that the boot sat on it a bit crooked.  It also seems like the boot is a bit big for her on that foot. But, luckily I was able to secure it, nevertheless. Tomorrow we'll work on fitting it better.

Little Love sniffed the boots thoroughly when I was adjusting them to her feet.  I told her the boots were a little strange, but that they would help her.  Once she had them on, she stood still like a statue, afraid to even blink.  I had the halter on her and tried to coax her to move, but she had literally grown roots.  She gave me this look that seemed to say "you seriously think I can walk with these things on?"  I ran to get a second banana :-)

The first step was very short and very tentative.  The second one was hesitant, but by the third one, Little Love became more confident.  And low and behold, after about five steps, she was actually walking.  She was WALKING!!  Not hobbling or gimping or falling over, but walking.  I opened the gate towards the parking lot and she needed no more encouragement; she marched towards the arena and away from the barn like she had been waiting to do that for the past two week.

"Oh my god Becky, you have to see this!"  I hollered at Becky who was inside the barn.  She came running out to see me laughing and crying as my horse walked WALKED WALKED around the cement parking lot.  Little Love started neighing and whinnying, she was so loud, it was like she was singing her joy out to Col who responded from the barn.  We made a few laps around the parking lot and down to the arena, and it was literally like a switch inside Little Love had gone off; she was her alert and hyper self!  Wish I had the whole ordeal on video, it was amazing.  I could not stop smiling, this was like Christmas ten times over, just to see her so ALIVE.  Wow.  I have my horse back.

So yes, the boots work.  Unfortunately the neoprene guards that came with them are way too small, but I talked to my friend Kristiina in Finland and she has an extra pair that fits her horse (who also has thick bones like Little Love); she is sending them over first thing on Monday.  Until then we'll just have to make do without and hope the boots don't rub too bad.  I plan to start handwalking tomorrow, but with short walks so Lilo doesn't get rubs from the boots.  Also, knowing what she has gone through, I don't want to rock the very, very sensitive hoof balance/pain management scenario any more than I have to. 

Here is a picture of us in the parking lot, I think we both look positively relieved.  Little Love couldn't stop looking at the horizon, as if she was just dreaming about going out for walks over the fields and forests.  No kidding.  It was starting to get a little old hanging out in the pasture and in the barn! 

Ps. Also the swelling on her left front had gone down last night, so another piece of good news!

Day 25 Hell

Winston Churchill once said that "If you're going through hell, keep going".  I'm trying to keep that in mind and I wish I could somehow share that knowledge with Little Love.  Not that it would help her in her current hell.  She is beyond sore.  I don't have words to describe this, as I have never seen anything like it in my life.  I took pictures of her trimmed hooves, or what's left of them and sent them to my friend and specialist Claudia Garner in South Carolina.  Claudia studied with Strasser ten years ago, but has since expanded her knowledge.  She continues to educate herself as she runs a hoof school and educates others.  When she saw the pictures she said "OH MY GOD!!!! No wonder the poor thing is sore. What an absolutely disgusting trim. Do not let this guy touch this horse again."  


Yes, it is a Strasser trim, but not exactly the "field trim" voiceofthehorses mentioned ealier... according to Claudia this is the clinic one, but... we aren't at a clinic.  It will take about 4 weeks for her to grow back to anything that can be considered "normal".


Anyways.  Little Love was really sore yesterday morning and we could barely get her to come out of her stall, but once Col went out, she followed slowly.  Luck has it, the ground was frozen, but when she got to the grass part, it got a little easier to move.  In the evening getting her in was hard, as she didn't want to walk on the cement, but after about 15 minutes of coaxing, she came in.  She was sore, but it was still within the realm of "normal" soreness after a trim. 


And I was hoping yesterday was the worst of it.  But no.  This morning I went to the barn and Little Love was hurting, swaying back and forth on her feet, trying to releave pressure. Her muscles all over her body were cramping from sheer fatigue and there were moments when it looked like she would actually fall over.  Trying to pick up her front feet was nearly impossible and she could only hold a foot up for a few seconds until her other front knee started buckling from underneath her. 


She didn't want to go into the field at all, but since I know movement will help her, we decided to do what we can to help her get there.  My husband and I took some squishy foam and taped it to her fronts with duct tape so she could walk on the cement without collapsing.  This worked and we managed to get her to the pasture.  It took her 20 minutes to walk the 40 feet it takes to get to the gate.  Of course, the beginning of the field was still frozen so getting to the grass part was agony, but she made it and it was a little better (although still extremely slow going) walking on the grass.  The sun is out now, so I hope it melts the hard ground a bit, and she will have some relief. 


I ended up calling the vet, as this is just not alright anymore.  I have seen sore horses after trims, but this is beyond sore.  She needs some kind of relief, as her muscles are starting to spasm from being so tense.  And this in itself will bring on another set of problems.  I'm not a big advocate of painkillers for horses, but at the moment I think we need to give her a few days of relief. 


And how am I doing in all this?  I am sick to my stomach and can't sleep knowing I caused this to my horse by making one of the worst decisions of my life by calling this trimmer.  Live and learn, but unfortunately it is Little Love who has to suffer the most for my mistake.  It will be hard to forgive myself for this one.

Day 23

 First thing I noticed this morning was Little Love's swollen front left leg.  It wasn't excessively swollen, but just a bit on the inside and below the fetlock join.  Great.  All I need is an injury on the day of the first trim.  I took her out and she had a slight limp in the beginning, but sort of worked it out after moving around a bit.  The leg was a bit warm, but it was very local, so I just ran a bit of cold water over it before the trimmer showed up.  Will have to keep an eye on that one...

The trimmer was both good and not so good.  The good thing about him was that he did what I expected him to do, and talked about all the things I have learned about in the past year.  Little Love has sole contraction, heel contraction and frog contraction (to mention a few...) - but over all he was positive about how her feet looked after being in shoes for over ten years.  In other words, he's seen worse.  And I agree.  It could be worse.  The heel was also underslung and high, but it seems to me that that is to be expected in a shod hoof.  I felt that he truly trimmed with the contractions in mind, as he wants to help the hoof expand and grow properly.  Also, the way it has been shaped so far, has put quite excessive pressure on the inside of both front hooves and this really has made the sole compromised. 

The not so good part was the fact that I felt he trimmed her hooves a tad aggressively and now she is quite sore.  I'm not sure if we could have avoided the soreness with everything that was going on, but in any case, I believe you should always try to leave the horse as sound as possible, because this encourages movement.  And movement is what a barefoot horse needs, especially one with all these contractions.  Not to mention that everything heels faster in the absence of pain.  I did talk to the trimmer at length beforehand, telling him that I would prefer him to trim every two weeks a little rather than once every six weeks a lot, but he didn't feel like that was a good plan.  So, I let him do his thing.  Of course, what do I really know about trimming?  Lots of theory, but no so much the practice.  So in hindsight, would I have asked this trimmer to come, had I known he was this aggressive?  I don't know.  There are not lots of options for me at the moment. So, I'm trying not to think of what I should or could have done.  The trim is done and now we have to deal with the aftermath and look into the future.

So, after the trim, poor Little Love was not walking very well at all on the hard concrete that unfortunately surrounds the barn.  However, when I opened her stall door, she was very motivated to go outside into the pasture, actually coming out before Col.  Slowly (and painfully) she made her way to the edge of the pasture, over the frozen (and semi-hard) mud.  My heart sunk, literally, until I saw her finally walk onto the grass, where she actually moved normally.  Thank goodness for our fantastic grass pasture!  Even when it's below freezing, it's soft enough for my sore horse.  This gave me hope that perhaps everything isn't as bad as it looked on the cement.  I know there is a lot going on in her legs at the moment with the blood flow coming back 100% and restoring nerve funtion (i.e. feeling) so I just have to brace myself for the next days (and hope she can do the same).  I will try to help her in every (natural) way possible.  I went to the store to buy some stuff for setting up a "soaking station" for her, tomorrow I'll try that with the clicker, hopefully I could at least get her fronts to soak for a while.

Day 22

Yesterday, when Becky went for a ride with Col, Little Love became fairly agitated in her stall.  She called after Col, something she hasn't done for a long time.  I was busy working around the barn and outside, but wandered in after hearing her third distress call.  She was spinning around in her stall, eyes on sticks. 
"Hey girl, no worries," I said and opened her stall door.  Then I sat down on a stool in front of her.  She took one look at me and stopped running in circles.  Then she stared out of the barn window, as if trying to see all the way down to the forest in case her boyfriend was down that way. 

I had planned to take her outside for a bit of grooming and feet checking, but wondered how that would work out, her being suddenly so worried about Col's absence.  I put the halter on and walked her outside.  But there was nothing to worry about, as she was suddenly calm and quiet, like a switch had gone off in her head.  She no longer cared if Col was there or not and I realized it was because I was there with her instead.  I don't think I'll ever be the same to her as another horse, and I don't even want to be. 

She is still so in love with her gelding friend that I'm thinking she is exhausted from just the amount of peeing she feels inclined to do in his company (as I said, she is in heat...) Tonight, when I took them in, I releaved Col from his blanket so the two horses could perform their nightly ritual of nibbling at each other.  Instead of allogrooming, they spent a good ten minutes touching each other gently over the wall.  It was like watching the horse version of tender kissing.  I already know not to go in and interrupt this, so I do some barn chores instead to give Col and Little Love the time they need.  Once they are done, it is obvious; they separate and start eating hay.  That's when I know I can go in and put on Col's barn blanket etc.  

Tomorrow morning the trimmer is coming and taking off the remaining shoe.  He's also going to possibly trim her hooves, or at least clean them up a bit.  With curiousity I look forward to the barefoot journey.  So far Little Love has not taken one lame step with her three bare feet, but I'm hoping it isn't because this one shod hoof is somehow holding most of her weight (is that even possible?)  With interested (and slight apprehension) I look forward to the next few days that will determine how sore she will actually be, once all her shoes are off.  I'm prepared for the worst, but am hoping for the best! :-) 

Day 19 Oops! She did it again.

Today, when I got to the barn, Becky and I took the horses in.  In other words, we walked out into the pasture, said hello to the two horses standing tightly side by side.  Then, I invited Little Love to follow me, which she did and so with me in the lead, all four of us (plus three dogs) walked to the barn. 

For some reason I was thinking about horse shoes the minute I started grooming Little Love.  I should have known.  When I have random thoughts like that while around her, it's usually her trying to tell me something.  It wasn't until I picked up her left front that I realized the message; she had lost her shoe.  And not just lost it, it had pulled off part of her hoof. This is a horse that loses a shoe ONCE during the 8½ years her previous owner had her and now she has done it twice in the past 2½ weeks... Okay, I get it Little Love, you want to have your shoes off.

I looked at the hoof and realized that my initial plan of having Little Love shod in the front for another 3 weeks was going out of the window.  No sense in trying to put a shoe back on the ragged looking hoof, it would probably just come off again and take even more hoof wall with it.  And since I was going to take those suckers off anyways, why risk losing more good hoof.  So, I called the trimmer. 

Finding a good trimmer is not the easiest thing in the world.  I have some hopes for this guy as I have selected him carefully.  There are a few trimmers in this area that I could have called, but I have not been impressed with most of their work, as it seems that if the horse has any problems at all, the trimmers are not able to address them accordingly.  They seem to sort of just stick to whatever the horse's hooves look like in the first place and not make too many changes. 

But, the thing is that I want to make changes to Little Love's hooves.  I want her legs to be straighter and her hooves to be balanced (something they are not now).  I want her joints to be lined up.  I want her to have a chance at being healthy and sound for a long, long time.  This trimmer I have selected has studied with the German vet called Strasser.  For those of you not familiar to the barefoot circles, the name Strasser seems to be like a swear word to some people, as the woman is mostly known for her very aggressive approach to horse hooves (she has, however, cured horses that were "doomed", but they went through hell to get healthy).  However, her hoof school does have it's bonuses, as she does teach her students not just the basics, but way beyond.  I have come to know the work of a few people who have gone through her trimming school and it seems like many quickly adapt their own style of trimming which may losely be based on the Strasser method, but is not as evasive. 
So, I have decided to go with this guy, and we'll see what comes of it.  I can always change if it doesn't work out, right?   In any case, I will have a loooong talk with him before he touches Little Love's feet :-)

And just for the record, Little Love is in full blown heat.  Her and Col are inseparable, and won't stop nibbling at each other even when they are in the barn.  Here are two pictures of the two of them "going at it" after coming inside.  She is in such euforia about this new friendship that she barely gives me the time of day.  Which I'm starting to get used to, as I have been back in that square one so many times in the past weeks I've lost count :-) 

Day 15

Well, my journey into barefoot horses has officially begun; I had the shoer (who came for Col) take off Little Love's back shoes this morning.  My plan is to take off the hind shoes first, see how it goes and then take off the fronts a bit later.  I don't have a definite schedule, but hoping to have all this happen in the near future, depending a bit on the weather.  Of course luck has it that at the moment the weather is not on my side, it was really really cold this morning and the ground is frozen (read: rock hard).  It's also really dry, which is not helpful.  I have to figure out a soaking method for the feet which won't be an easy task as Lilo hates water on her back legs to begin with.  It will take some training to have her stay in water/have on soaking boots (or any boots for that matter).  But, I have faith in the clicker... 

I went back in the late afternoon to take the horses in.  Luckily the sun had warmed up half of the outdoor arena and it was soft enough to walk in.  I hand walked Little Love for almost 30 minutes, just to give her hooves some extra blood circulation.  Tomorrow I'll be walking her more as well as trying to do some soaking.  I also have to bring the camera and take pictures of the hooves so I can send them to my friend Claudia in the US (she's the specialist :-).  Then the next step is to find a decent trimmer, which is not going to be easy.  I'll keep you posted!