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By Carole Herder The rain paused briefly as the Hunt in Roberts Creek kicked off today. Careening through the countryside with 30 horses and riders at top speed is a pretty exciting pastime. Riders from 12 to 80 years old set off bounding along our trails, ponies and drafts, every colour combination imaginable and all…
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I though you all would be interested in a recent interview with a barefoot horse owner in the UK! Q1: Where are you from, what type of horse do you have and what do you use him for? I am from Essex in the UK and I have a 14.2 coloured gelding who is a…
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“In horse training, time is the least important factor” – this is the hardest lesson I have learnt. My children and my horses have taught me more patience over the years than I could have ever imagined! Yet I still find myself checking my watch before I go outside and subconsciously calculating how much time…
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Oh the horrors! My friend sent me this picture when she was visiting an old castle in Europe. You can see a display of some the horse shoes used over the last 1,000 years or so for horses, ponies, donkeys, and even oxen. The list on the left of the exhibit explains what each shoe…
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By Carole Herder Which piece of equipment would you like to see on your horse’s hoof?? Believe it or not, the first image is a homemade hoof bandage made of cotton wool, brown paper and duct tape! It was ‘designed’ to keep poultices and wound dressings in place but as you can imagine, had…
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“Nature will dictate the angle that is appropriate for the leg conformation that it compliments. The surface of the earth will do a better job of trimming than any trained farrier could ever do. The absence of shoes will tease and condition the foot to grow and produce the strongest possible tissues so as to…
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By Carole Herder Do you oil or condition?? Did you know that 90% of the moisture required for the hoof wall comes from within the blood and lymph vessels? Moisture balance is extremely important to healthy hooves. It is the moisture, made up of water and salts and electrolytes, which ensures that the tubules (hollow…
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