I know that my philosophies on horse care make me part of the minority. This is why I keep my yap shut and just nod when people talk about what they're doing with their horses. Don't tell me what to do with my horse, I won't tell you what to do with yours, but if you ask me questions, I'll answer.
I happened to mention to another boarder (the one who kept telling me last winter how much my horse would love a blanket) today that the vet was coming out on Tuesday to look Peanut over. He came over and started telling me about the great things being done with the feet of the other TWH on the property. He awoke the beast.
The other TWH is an older chestnut, wearing a shaggy, unregulated Cushings coat, and with feet that make me wince. I know I've mentioned him before - his feet are super long, both toes and heels, and the angle that they come out of the coronary is horrid. I pointed him out to Dawn one day and we were talking about how it looks like there is absolutely no laminar attachement. She tried to rehab a horse like this before and completely failed because, she believes, the coffin bone had deteriorated to the point that it could no longer form an attachment. I would not be surprized if this was the case with this poor TWH.
He has stereotypical TWH feet, what can I say?
Apparently, as I was informed today by this boarder, he has these extra lifts on the back of his shoes that help him out, especially gaiting. Kegs, I asked. Does he think I don't know the name?
I completely lost it. I told him that my horse will never wear shoes, that I have yet to see any horse that actually benefitted from shoes, that the TWH has absolutely horrible feet, kegs are an artificial action device and any naturally gaited horse will gait just fine in natural feet, and that I prefer a functional hoof capsule, thank you very much.
I've never let my dirty hippy self out like that in that barn before. Well... at least in mixed, non-hippy company.
He... just turned around and left.
I was furious. I was just about to start trimming Peanut, and I had to stop after a while so that I could calm down. I was trimming angry and Peanut did not deserve that. I know that the people at this barn have NO idea of how much time I have devoted to studying the horse's hoof, but that was fine with me because I have nothing good to say about any of their horses' feet. As I have said, we have the only barefoot horses in the place.
I feel that I can have a perfectly rational discussion on horse feet if it is brought up, but when it is brought up in regards to what I should be doing with my horse I must go into protective mother mode and completely go batshit. Or maybe it was my low self esteem lashing against what I felt was a challenge to my decisions. I really couldn't control myself. I didn't yell and scream, but I was not a happy camper.
Sigh. This is why I can't be a Diplomat.
As I grazed Peanut afterwards, I went over in my mind my side of the argument. There were points that I hadn't thought about in a while, and spreading them all out in my mind like that just reinforced my conviction.
I wonder if I'll hear about this in the future.
Ah well.
In other news, Peanut's back is back to flat except for that one, same vertebra that feels the need to be head and shoulders above the rest. Wtf?
5 comments:
I count myself very lucky that my tack room is in the "Redwood Barn". This is where the eclectic riders hang out where I board. Half of us in the barn are barefooters. This is where I was inspired to pull Red's shoes and learn to trim. I am sorry that you do not have a group of like minded folk to share your ideas and passion with. Perhaps though, your commitment may actually influence someone around you - probably not the person who was raving about keg shoes. It was an inspired person "ranting" about shoes that first caught my attention and opened up a world of increased comfort and health for my horses. Your trimmer was a major inspiration for me when I was making the switch to a barefoot lifestyle.
Thank you very much. It's so hard being the only eclectic riders (I like that better than dirty hippy, but I doubt I can change at this point) at the barn. After seeing the kind of hooves we're surrounded by, Dawn suggested that we just keep quiet and show how our horses thrive. Even she didn't think that there was any point in saying anything to anyone.
You're so lucky!
The odd thing is, we might just influence that other boarder... or at least we would before I decided to go off on him. He has a navicular horse that he's noticed goes better when he's barefoot in the winter and, you know what, in Europe they actually treat navicular by keeping horses barefoot! I was biting my tongue. Who knows, maybe after my rant and my planned follow-up, he'll ask me my opinion?
As for Dawn, she's wonderful. She has saved my horses in so many ways besides in their feet, especially Gene. I don't know where he'd be if I never found her. Have you worked with Dawn? Or let her know? She'd love to hear that she was an inspiration. :)
In Memphis I saw cheap bad feet - neglect and crappy shoeing. Everybody thought I was nuts for not "protecting" my horses' feet. In Ohio I saw really expensive bad feet - years of the best farriery money could buy had left those poor show horses with disasters. I never clicked with anybody there, and I'm sure if I had questioned their horses they'd have pointed out how much MONEY they spent to FIX their SHOW HORSES. Sometimes you just can't win either way!
Hope the navicular owner opens up a bit and maybe tries out barefoot. :-/
Yeah, we're surrounded by the expensive bad feet here. They think that their horses can't be barefoot either because of their breed or because they ride on *gasp* rocks.
I just think that people are making everything a lot more complicated than it needs to be.
Thanks, btw. :)
I'm so lucky that ALL the horses where I board are barefoot. Even the OTTBs!
And you're right, Dawn is AWESOME! Thank you so much for introducing her to Daniel and me!
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