Thanksgiving day ride

The wind was whipping as I wondered if it was smart to be going out today. I decided to go anyway and we had a lovely walk down to the reservoir. It is incredibly sad that Maui Land and Pine has gone out of business. The Pineapple fields will be a thing of the past. No more delicious "Maui Gold" Pineapple. I have been buying as may pineapples as possible to enjoy it while it lasts.

Winter has arrived

Windy, blustery days with frequent passing squalls precluded any riding. After 3 days of weather induced (cant go outside) house cleaning there was a slight break in the weather so I ran down and turned everyone out. Kalae and Divine exploded in the main arena. Running flat out for more than 5 minutes. Yikes I could not slow them down. I let Rupert and Pueo out with the 2 girls who were now standing around. Fortunately they were much more low keyed. Freederic, Darleen and Freesia were happily grazing on the grass as large double rainbow arched overhead. Wondermann who is recovering from a hoof abscess meandered the house pasture talking to everyone in the main arena. I had my camera in hand. Kalae let me photo her eye before she got bored and wandered away. Wait I want one more shot with the lighting. I love taking pictures of horses eyes!

Study your horses feet!!

Each one of Wondermann's feet is different. These photos are taken 5 weeks after shoeing. We are removing the shoes and transitioning him to barefoot.

The top picture shows his feet before we pull the shoes. The front feet heels are too high. The Left front has much more under slung heels than the right front. Both heels are contracted making the area in the back of the hoof narrow, expanding out to a large toe in the front. The frogs are narrow and underdeveloped. The middle picture is of the hind feet. Very steep angle, high heel with the toes dubbed off.

The bottom photo shows the front left trimmed (before the mustang roll). If you look at the right front you can see the front profile of the foot does not have a straight line from the coronary band to the toe. There is a bulge as it approaches the toe.

We will follow his case over the next few months.( I forgot to take a picture of finished fronts and hinds for comparison and will do that in the next few days)

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Barefoot Success: Most riders are afraid to transition to barefoot. Their farrier tells them they wont be able to ride let alone go on the trail. The problem is if your regular farrier just does a "pasture" trim, his prophecies may well be true. You need a beveled "Mustang roll" around the entire hoof. You also should use hoof boots to help in the transition.

I had people tell me my horses gaits would never be as good as they are with shoes on. They have been better!

1) All my horses have transitioned very well in just 8 weeks. I have ridden in a big 3 day clinic just 6 weeks after transitioning.

2) A friend just transitioned her draft cross. He had his shoes removed on Monday and on Saturday he won the green hunter over fences and he is a big draft cross. No boots! He is moving much better and much more forward. I had to say "Slow him down, he is going too fast".

Great Sunday Trail Ride

Kalae and I with Julie and Freederic headed out at noon. There was a light "warm" wind and a slightly overcast sky making the temperature just perfect. Lots of trotting and quite calmly which was nice for Kalae. They both wore their easy boots (Kalae wears easy boot gloves # 2.5 and Freederic easy boot epics #4) on the front feet for their transitioning phase to barefoot. They are able to work barefoot in the arena with out any problems.

On the way back home Freederic went to the lead to bolster his confidence and away we went! Kind of tricky posting the trot and videoing at the same time especially in the steering department.

God has 2 new Horse Angels

Kimo was my first foal and has been with me more than half my life. He was 33.5 years old, when he galloped into heaven. A week later Sweetheart his once long time companion followed him. She was 31. Our childhood horses which we did everything imaginable on. Western shows, dressage, hunter, gymkhana, swimming in reservoirs, blasting around in the cane fields. walking along the beach. Trail rides to Palehua, Kaena Point, Ulupalakua, La Peruse and in the cane and pineapple fields. I miss Kimo's daily rattling the door knob for carrots and apples or his resting on the patio looking in the door. Just a week prior he galloped up the slope to the house right at me, I had to run to get out of the way. He used to do the same thing when he was young. My running flat out with his warm breath on my neck and his toes clipping the back of my shoes. Rascal!
He is a photo gallery of their lives.