[jen judkins]

Rod, I’ve tried all the easyboots and the epics are the best as far as fit and keeping them on. They won’t stay on reliably at a canter or gallop, but I assume that won’t be necessary pulling a sled.

You can buy studs from easycare, but you still need to drill holes in the shoe to fit them. They might pre-stud them for you now, but I always just bought the studs (glorified screw and nut) and drilled the holes myself. Jennifer.

[jen judkins]

A topic near and dear to my heart, Rod.

I’ll bet I’ve triied every boot on the market with my saddle/skijoring horse, Manny. He either hates them and won’t move in them or they are impossible to keep on. We are in love with the Renegade Ice Boots however after a long time looking. http://www.renegadehoofboots.com/ In fact you will see Manny’s flying legs on the home page in his bright orange pair of ice boots…quite the fashion statement. 😎

The only drawback I see is that the Renegades are sort of new and have limited sizes. I doubt they have a standard size that would fit a draft yet. The people who make them are really nice though and I’ll bet would be up to a custom order if you asked.

Otherwise you might need to stay with easyboot epics and put studs in them, which is pretty simple to do.

What size feet are we talking here? Jennifer.

[jen judkins]

Missy, I trim my own horses, all 6 of them. I don’t have a great back to begin with, so I sympathize whole-heartedly with your husband. I was lucky to get Peanut when he was 3 months old, so while it has been rough at times, in general he is very good now. I can’t imagine retraining a 15 yo draft with ‘issues’. Makes my back hurt just thinking about it.:eek:

I do however have a saddle horse that is much like your draft. Manny is more nervous than most and can get really wound up if you don’t pay attention. He has been a terror to trim and was getting worse and worse, when I finally took over his trimming. When I did my trimming course with KC Lapierre, I brought him along for practice. KC spent alot of time with me triing to figure out what the trouble was. The best we can figure is that at some point along the way, Manny started to associate discomfort with the farrior and being as skeptical as he is in other ways, this made for more and more anxiety, and therefore more bad behavior.

We still have a long way to go before I would call him easy, but he is showing improvement and I haven’t given up on his trimming yet. These are the things that worked for me and him.

1. Before a trim I always work him lightly. This might be a relaxing trail ride or some ground work. Nothing exhausting, just enough work so that he gets the message that I control where his feet go. Ever see the ‘Man from Snowy River”? When he drives the wild herd all the way around to the right, then all the way around to the left…then they just follow him home. That’s leadership. Oops I’m digressing…

2. I try to be considerate of how I am handling his feet and his balance. I try to warn him which foot I am going to ask for by running my hand across his rump or shoulder and then wait for him to arrange himself to his best advantage. This might mean widening his stance, or turning around to face the barn door or his buddies….whatever. I try to let him be in control of as much as I can. I don’t use a stock and I don’t cross tie. I tie him to the hitching post with a single lead and sometimes if he is really anxious I will simply drop the line on the ground, so he can move around. I close the barn door though;).

3. If he wants to put his foot down, I let him. I try to anticipate this and do it before he tries on his own as much as possible. This has made a huge difference to him. Some horses are just convinced they are dinner and do not like being restrained in any way. I try to avoid grabbing and holding. I use a hoof stand and while his foot is in the cradle, I am barely touching him. Its his responsibility to keep the foot there. Grabbing and restraining only add to his anxiety. The trust has to go both ways. If you are assuming you are gonna have a fight, you likely will.

4. I try to be quick. I rarely do more than two feet at a time and I try to limit my trim time to 20 minutes. The less time he has to get worked up the better. In the beginning I was sacrificing a good trim for a good’ experience, if you get my drift;).

5. I try to work ‘with’ him whenever possible. In the back, for instance, he will get tired of having one foot up and will offer the other. I say ‘thank you very much’ and move to the other foot for awhile. Again it is a small way to give them some control over the situation.

6. I try very, very hard not to lose my temper or composure. When I do, I always lose rapport and have to start from scratch. Anger and frustration just do not help and will go a long ways to confirm to your horse that you are not friendly and should be avoided at all costs.

You notice I am not offering to come over and help (ack, my back just went into spasm:D)!! Seriously, try to think about the trim from your horse’s perspective. See where you can modify your approach or make him more confident or comfortable. Maybe having his teammate nearby would make him less anxious..or changing the location of where you trim would help. It will be a slow process, so by all means look for any little thing that he offers that is better and be quick to reward that little try. Good Luck! Jennifer.

[jen judkins]

Rod, I suspect this is a ‘position’ issue. Some horses are comfortable in the lead (alpha mares) and others trailing behind (stallions or stallion-like geldings). If you put a stallion (or a gelding who thinks he is) in the lead, they may comply but they will worry about it. Worry equals more sweat. Jennifer.

[jen judkins]

Sign me up, Carl…weekends work for me! Jen

[jen judkins]

Erika, I have not triied this (nor even thought about it:rolleyes:), but sure sounds like it would work. Problem for me is that Barley is so hard to find in our area without it being in a pre-made mix. It makes alot of sense for flax and the like as this is impossible to digest by horses otherwise. I like the the sprouted oat idea for chickens! I will definately try that this winter for our girls. Thanks. Jennifer.

[jen judkins]

@TBigLug 3408 wrote:

if you ride your horse in an open bridle and drive him in a blinded bridle it may help him get his mind ready for what he is expected to do. Just like with some high dollar studs have special halters they wear when they are going to breed and differant ones when they are going to ride or work, it may be a good way to help them dicern what they are about to do.

That’s a very interesting observation, John! I had initially thought I would start Peanut in an open bridle, but Ted decided against that and started him with blinders, so I have continued with that practice. I agree with Carl, that the blinders do little to prevent the horse from being aware of things behind them. We had a very quiet dog stalking us yesterday…Peanut totally knew he was there, even though he couldn’t see him (or hear him as far as I could tell). The blinders do tend to create focus, I think and perhaps as you say, makes the job at hand more clear. I have not had any problems getting Peanut to go forward, even driving down a distracting road…which surprised me as I would have expected more opposition from my experience with green horses under saddle. Jennifer.

[jen judkins]

John, I taylor feed to the horse. Since I have all sorts of breeds (minis, TB, QH, warmblood, belgian) I have to sort through what they need. I base my feed around free choice forage, pasture in the summer and timothy hay in the off season. I’ll add soaked alfalfa cubes before adding any grain. That said most everyone (except the minis) gets a cup or so of grain and a vit/mineral supplement once a day. Dinner is sort of a ritual for me. Its the time I get to check everyone over for injuries and make sure everyone is accounted for, lol. My TB gets 2 quarts of an organic mix of oats and corn and my warmblood who is carb intolerant gets a whole extruded soybean pellet when needed. I put out bins of loose free choice minerals (4 varieties), which mostly go untouched, but I noticed that when Peanut got home, he went to town on them…catching up I guess. Horses eat for minerals, so I really believe having the free choice minerals available cuts down the feed bill considerably.

I also like to give them probiotics from time to time, with heavy work or travel or with rapid changes in the weather. I use a pricey formula, but Jason (I believe) feeds his horses yogurt. Haven’t tried it yet but it sounds way cheaper.

I sometimes will add soaked beet pulp when dehydration might be an issue. For instance, right now I have put the water heaters on and the horses will sometimes refuse to drink from the trough for a few days (must taste different), so I am feeding some at night with dinner. Once they figure out the heater won’t kill them (which they always do), I’ll take the beet pulp out. I’m not a fan of beet pulp to add weight. It mainly adds water weight and is helpful for endurance and hydration mainly.

Anyhoo, that’s my take on feed. Always looking for ways to stay sustainable, I’d love to figure out how to grow my own horse feed. I like your ‘ears of corn’ stradegy…I could do that, I think…though I would have a hard time parting with the corn when it came time. I grow carrots for the horses…a whole patch of them, but I manage to put several quarts on the dinner table as well. I harvest wild apples as well, and they enjoy those well into the winter. I make a few pies with the nicest apples and the rest go in the barn. They are much to look at, but according to my horses they are delicious!

Jennifer

[jen judkins]

John, I taylor feed to the horse. Since I have all sorts of breeds (minis, TB, QH, warmblood, belgian) I have to sort through what they need. I base my feed around free choice forage, pasture in the summer and timothy hay in the off season. I’ll add soaked alfalfa cubes before adding any grain. That said most everyone (except the minis) gets a cup or so of grain and a vit/mineral supplement once a day. Dinner is sort of a ritual for me. Its the time I get to check everyone over for injuries and make sure everyone is accounted for, lol. My TB gets 2 quarts of an organic mix of oats and corn and my warmblood who is carb intolerant gets a whole extruded soybean pellet when needed. I put out bins of loose free choice minerals (4 varieties), which mostly go untouched, but I noticed that when Peanut got home, he went to town on them…catching up I guess. Horses eat for minerals, so I really believe having the free choice minerals available cuts down the feed bill considerably.

I also like to give them probiotics from time to time, with heavy work or travel or with rapid changes in the weather. I use a pricey formula, but Jason (I believe) feeds his horses yogurt. Haven’t tried it yet but it sounds way cheaper.

I sometimes will add soaked beet pulp when dehydration might be an issue. For instance, right now I have put the water heaters on and the horses will sometimes refuse to drink from the trough for a few days (must taste different), so I am feeding some at night with dinner. Once they figure out the heater won’t kill them (which they always do), I’ll take the beet pulp out. I’m not a fan of beet pulp to add weight. It mainly adds water weight and is helpful for endurance and hydration mainly.

Anyhoo, that’s my take on feed. Always looking for ways to stay sustainable, I’d love to figure out how to grow my own horse feed. I like your ears of corn stradegy…I could do that, I think…though I would have a hard time parting with the corn when it came time. I grow carrots for the horses…a whole patch of them, but I manage to put several quarts on the dinner table as well. I harvest wild apples as well, and they enjoy those well into the winter. I make a few pies with the nicest apples and the rest go in the barn. They are much to look at, but according to my horses they are delicious!

Jennifer

[jen judkins]

@TaylorJohnson 3405 wrote:

Let me know if you are looking for a job down the line 🙂

Aww shucks, Taylor….Thanks. I doubt I will see a career in logging, but I’ve got a bit of a wood lot, I’d like to clean up, so its nice to know it can be done. I really could use a chain saw safety course, though. Maybe I can talk Carl into bringing back his weekend course?!?

[jen judkins]

Thanks for bringing that thread up to the top, tbiglug. I had missed it, having become a member later in the year. What a very moving tribute to the horse-human relationship. A beautiful read, really…

[jen judkins]

Nice Photos!!

[jen judkins]

Thanks for the support, Kristan. I honestly can’t imagine where we would be and what kind of trouble we would have found, if it weren’t for the support and guidance I have recieved in this DAP community. It pleases me no end, to finally be doing something constructive with Peanut.

Keep an eye out for the next GMDHA newsletter….I just finished an article about our experience with Ted. Jennifer.

[jen judkins]

There was a nice article in the current Yankee Horse Peddlar I read this am about horse powered farming in New England. They featured Don Hewes Farm in NY and said that he harvested ice last year…said it was ‘fun and easy’. He’s here on the forum, so perhaps he will report on the experience, but you could email him Andrew…I’m sure he would be happy to share what he knows. Have a good day.

[jen judkins]

@LStone 3270 wrote:

Hello all,

I have a question for the group. I have a 2yo Belgian filly in April. I’ve had her for 9 months now. She came “halter broke” and since she has been at my place including an episode in the trailer on the way home, she’s had a hard time proving it to me. I try to be conscious of her fear and demonstrate patience when she is tied by taking my time, using a lot of contact etc. but she overreacts by violently Jerking her head up and jumping backward, in a reaction to motion and shadows etc. She is breaking halter hardware, lead ropes, crossties etc. I started her in harness and she is the same way in the blinders as well.

I am afraid I am going to have more problems as she gets bigger and stronger. She hasn’t pulled down the barn yet but I believe it’s only a matter of time. Other than that she’s a real keeper.

Larry, I think you are right to be concerned. In my experience this can be a tough problem to fix, once it is well established. If she pretty reliably does it whenever tied, you probably have a better chance of fixing it, especially if you put the time in. If she does in very sporadically, it will be tougher, IMO.

I have recieved all sorts of advice on this topic. Some say they wouldn’t own a horse that can’t stand tied and would say to tie her to something sturdy in a halter that won’t break and hope she doesn’t kill her self learning to give to the pressure. I don’t particularly like this approach, having witnessed a Polo pony actually end his life in this manner tied to a trailer. I guess I just like horses too much to stomach that particular outcome.

If she pulls back pretty reliably, you can teach her to give to pressure by simulating tying. You need a post or something to wrap the lead rope around a few times, enough so she feels like she is tied, but with enough give, that it slides. You hold the other end where you can regulate the amount of pressure she feels. I would do this with a rope halter that won’t break. Apply pressure as she pulls, release when she puts her head down (or tries to at first). This will simulate the ‘cowboy’ method above, but will allow you to let her go if she really gets to fighting you and you think she is in trouble. It also allows you to relieve pressure in increments, so you can reward her slightest try at first. I would start this in a quiet setting so you can get your point across without anything really scaring her and then as you see she is responding to pressure more reliably, you can add some distractions and such that she would normally respond to….but escalate slowly…if you get to the point where you have to let her go, you’ll have to start from scratch.

Needless to say, this training starts with leading her around the barnyard. If she is pushy on the lead…pulls or pushes you around….I would fix that first, as this is generally the root of the problem. I spend alot of time having my youngsters give to all sorts of pressure and this pays off when they find themselves in trouble with the fence or step on their lead by accident and so forth. The earlier you work on this the easier it will be later, as you can imagine.

If she only sporadically pulls back, you might be better off just tying her in such a way that she can free herself in an emergency…just to save on tack and her neck. I use the ‘blocker ring’ with my TB who I have given up triing to cure of this vice. He does it so infrequently now that I just live with the fact that he will occasionally pull back. I don’t want him to get hurt and I don’t want to constantly replace halters, so this works for us both. The blocker ring is a device that you clip the lead rope into and it allows the rope to drag through. Its enough drag to make the horse feel like they are tied but it gives if they really pull hard on it.

There are alot of other techniques, but I think the key is to make sure she gives to lead rope pressure in the more routine things like leading and handling in general. Maybe someone who has cured a draft of this problem can weigh in. Good Luck. Jennifer.

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