This is just for fun - a selection of pictures of my horses and friends horses
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| Barefoot horses on the Bear Claw First Nation Reserve near Kananaskis in the foothils of the Rockies. They may be semi ferral, but they still knew what a jacket pocket was for! Some of the best bare feet I have ever seen, on hardy ponies and horses in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains around Kannanaskis where the ground is hard and dry and the grass is tough and sparse. It is semi-arid and the temperature hits -50C in the wintertime. I met an elderly First Nation gentleman on the Bear Claw Nation reserve who owned these horses. I was sitting on a rock watching them when he appeared out of nowhere, sat down with me and he wanted to know why I was watching his horses. We chatted for an hour about our horses, the way horse lovers do. He laughed out loud when I told him I trimmed my horse's feet - he pointed to the ground and said "that's what the ground is for" - I then explained that the UK is very different to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and we have to simulate the wear that nature provides for his horses! When I told him that our UK ground is green 12 months of the year, he raised an eyebrow at me disbelievingly. | Wish we had never taught him that paw trick thing! If you point ot the other paw, he'll lift that one instead. Problem is, no one can resist feeding him! | |
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| Alexander and Erol as "Batman and Dobbin" | I know, it's not BHS Approved riding! Becky, Ben and Apollo at the Archaeolink Celtic Festival. Honest, the Celts did have welly boots! | |
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| Ben practicing his quarter turns! | "Psst Kelvey... if you want a carrot then beg like this, they can't resist it" |
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| PONY SLEDGING !!!!!! | All withers and deep chest! But fine condition for going into winter. |
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Left: Here is a fun video from Nic Barker's site. Here you can watch two barefoot hunt hirelings Foxy and Conto out with the Exmoor Foxhounds - proving that barefoot horses can perform spectacularly well over all surfaces in some of the most demanding terrain.
Nic Barker is based at Rockley farm in Devon and rehabilitates horses with lower leg problems - impossibly soft crumbling hooves, navicular syndrome, DDFT lesions, laminitis and other such "hopeless" cases. Her track system is one of the key tools in rehabilitating these horses. It shows how otherwise marginal ground can be brought into use providing a variety of surface from comforting to challenging to create an environment where hooves can be regrown and horses rehabilitated.
Foxy and Conto are two such horses. Visit http://www.rockleyfarm.co.uk/ to read more about Nic's rehabilitation work.