4Hooves

 

McKelvey is our baby in the herd, with a big and friendly personality. He turned 4 in April 2011 and was sensitively backed over the summer of 2010. We purchased him from Alex Middler at Craigmancie Stud at Insch. Alex was great to buy from, knowledgeable, keen for him to go to the right home, and very keen to make sure we knew what we were taking on and providing all the support we could have needed.

 

McKelvey certainly seems to be a fast learner and anxious to please. We do know he was bought from dealers as a 9 month old, and according to Alex he had been "knocked around a bit" before she bought him so he has a few trust and confidence issues that we have been working through.

 

His feet are pretty good - solid, cob, rasp blunting feet! There are some hoof pictures further down this page.

 

We were surprised to see him throw a big event line when he moved on to the barefoot friendly diet, and quite surprised to see another one after he had been backed.

 

For the first few months his hooves grew like wildfire - but after the first full hoof grew down they have slowed down and are more or less self maintaining now.

 

 

We have had to do quite a lot of work to get him comfortable with having his feet handled and having a paw up on the stand. He is happy with it now, but needs his little pal Bramble there to keep him feeling brave.

  

Becky and McKelvey have a wonderful relationship - he is her horse and he knows it. They work very well with each other, and it's great to see that partnership growing.

 

 

 

 

McKelvey has been broken to saddle during summer of 2010 and is doing very well - out in the woods as often as the weather allows, and loving it!

 

  

It was a very easy and stress free breaking and he very much looks forward to getting his saddle on - he is one of these rare horses that just seemed to want to be saddled. There were a couple of bumps along the way and he can still be till quite reactive and prone to shoot off, but he is getting better all the time as his confidence grows.

 

We prepared for backing by walking him out alongside the other horses as they were ridden, leaning over him and scratching his back from them - just getting him used to having people and activity above him.

 

We then asked him to accept a saddle - which he did willingly becuase he had come to understand that putting saddles on meant we were going out and doing interesting things. So we spent another couple of weeks walking him out with the saddle, and then a backpack strapped to it. The backpack contained some snacks, which we all shared, so there was a purpose to it and he had a job to do.

 

When we came to putting a rider on board it took only about 15 minutes. Because the ground had been so well prepared he accepted the rider easily. We had been leaning over him from the mounting block, spending time just leaning on his back chatting, getting up on other horses on the other side of the block. There was of course the inevitable shoot forward as he felt the weight of the rider for the first time but he quickly took it in his stride.

 

Within a week of being backed, Kelvey was hacking out in the woods just as he is in the picture above. We're happy that it has been a stress free and pleasant experience for him to be backed. We also had some very useful help and guidance from Gill Mackenzie, our landlady, who has backed many horses in her time.

 

We have not used a bit and bridle - we have simply used the hackamore. He is sensitive and listens well, and we want to see if we can avoid going down the bitting route., we'd rather not use it if we can avoid it.

 

Kelvey has a lovely canter and he he matures he has been better able to keep up with Linkwood. He is still a bit croup high and we expect that over the next 2 years that will completely even itself out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diet 

 

When Kelvey arrived, he had been fed a basic cool mix, some chaff and a scoop of the Norvite Equine Specialist supplement and was faring quite well on it. We changed his diet to the same as our other boys were getting and with the linseed he started to get a lovely shine on his coat as you can see from the picture on the left.

 

He is quite an easy do-er - so we need to be careful not to let him get overweight. The combination of regular exercise, 24 hour turnout and the barefoot friendly diet is working well for him.

 

 

 

McKelvey is learning all the stretches and exercises that will help him to be supple and flexible. Here he is learning to bow!  He's a quick learner - and he learns the naughty things like biting Link's bottom to get him to go faster, letting himself out of the stables, rolling in puddles just as quickly as the things we want him to learn!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is Kelvey in "wooly bear" coat. He was out unrugged all winter, and sufferered no ill effects from it. He just grew a massive thick teddy bear coat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are a few weeks after he arrived. Needing a trim, but very functional feet. Never been shod and never will need shod.