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Hooves, Saddles, Feeding...
Milly has always had poor feet and by that I mean slow growing crumbly hoof. I have tried many preparations and suppliments to cure the problem.
Some horses will indeed suffer with finding enough nutrients so adding suppliments to their food such as Biotin or Farriers Formula will improve the hoof quality. But as explained by a friend of mine, poor hoof does not always indicate biotin definciency, only a blood test will confirm a problem. Good rich summer grass has always helped Milly with her feet through the winter.
In the soil there are millions of bacteria, all perfectly natural and doing no harm to anyone. Unless of course your horse has cracked damp feet or skin which they can colonise. You can use a wide range of preparations which are essentially disinfectants for hooves with various properties that include being sticky or more readily absorbed into the hoof etc. I have had moderate success myself with these and they are certainly the cheapest first step whilst looking for a solution.
By far and away the biggest problem for horse's hooves is the wet/dry cycle. Because we stable our horses in the dry and then turn them out into the wet field, with dew or rain, we cause considerable expansion and contraction of the hoof wall. This allows bacteria in and by loosing moisture faster than the horse can replace, makes the hoof brittle and inelastic. There are various remedies, replace the water in the hoof with products such as NAF Hoof Moist or create a barrier with a grease such as Vaseline or Effol. These all have their place in certain situations but stable management can help here. If you are on clay soil then try to use straw bedding as it is less absorbant so will not dry your horses feet out so quickly. If you are on a sandy soil then wood shavings will help. The idea being, stop the cycle and either be wet or dry in both field and stable. For those who still struggle then the last option is Formalin. This is a 7-10% formaldehyde solution available from farming retailers (disinfects sheep feet) or as Keratex Hoof Hardener. Application every 7-10days in dry conditions or 5-7days during periods of rainy conditions will actually kill bacteria, replace the water and harden the sole and hoof wall. Some issues with this product are that it must be applied to dry clean(ish)feet in a very well ventilated area as it reacts with water and not to the living tissue such as the frog or corronet band. The hoof condition must be monitored and application should be altered to suit. Overuse (which may actually be the doseage required!) on the sole can cause a false sole, which can help support and protect the hoof wall preventing the loss of shoes and cracking. However, you might want to tell your farrier that this might be a problem before your horse's feet mysteriously get longer as your farrier trims to the false sole without realising!
Saddles - A minefield!
Finding a suitable and cost effective saddle solution can be the biggest headache any new horse owner can find. Worse still trying to find a saddle for a horse you have been riding happily for years because as they age or through injury, horses backs change shape. This is the situation I find myself in with my horse Milly.
I have owned Milly for 8 years, I have had my GP saddle for 6 years without any problems. I moved county and found a new saddler who unfortunatly did not stuff my saddle effectively and has created a problem. My priority is to get Milly fixed and up and running again. She seems happy in herself and is behaving quite normally. Except when I go to tack up. She sticks her head in the corner of the stable and won't come out. Her back is sore and she has identified the saddle as the source of her discomfort. Physio and new saddle fitter are now trying to get the saddles to fit and I am trying to get her back to recover.
Things have changed over the years, when my mother started riding they had only just introduced the riding hat harness. When I started riding cross country, body protectors were not compulsory and you often wore hacking jackets not colours. Saddles have been updated dramatically and are a potential source of great confusion and inadvertant injury.
But there is an answer to suit everyone and their pockets! Synthetic saddles have come a long way from the foam filled donkey pads I remember in my youth! You should be able to find a synthetic saddle to suit your horse and if you are really a slave to leather, then they do them in leather also. My saddler has recommended the new Kent and Masters leather saddles. In my research I have discovered they are built on exactly the same lines as the thorowgood synthetic saddles, so same tree, adjustable width and at a more affordable price.
For the thoroughbred in particular there are several potential pitfalls.
Narrow width saddles may or may not be suitable, just because their wither is so high, boney and narrow does not mean that their back is also. Because you fit a saddle to sit on the muscle not the wither all you really want it to do is clear that mount everest of bone!
Clearance is another misleading area. Many times have I heard quoted to me that there should be 4 fingers between the saddle and the wither by a variety of people, some professionals. In my view and that of career saddle fitters, if the saddle fits in all other aspects then 2-3cm of clearance with a rider on is quite enough.
Sensitive backs often need lots of padding which obviously depends on the horse but more importantly it depends on the saddle. If you do a lots of showing for example then your saddle is likely to have been fitted without a numnah or saddlecloth. If you then put a large thick pad underneath, the fit of your saddle will be dramatically altered, the gullet filled, the balance altered and could easily cause you more problems. You must discuss this with the saddle fitter, he can then fit a wider saddle to accomadate your sofa cushions!
A few saddles specifically desoigned for the thoroughbred back have drop/thoroughbred panels. An altered panel to fill in that gap behind the wither and prevent the saddle dropping on to the mountainous wither. My GP does not have drop panels and has fitted fine for years. The other point worth making is that the space behind the wither is where the shoulder blade goes when the horse is moving, if you fill it up, you run the risk of impeding the horses motion. However some horses do need this adaption but don't be fooled by the name, it is by no means essential on a saddle destined for a thoroughbred.
So my dilema continues, do I borrow a saddle and make it fit for the time being with a plethoria of pads or lunge to encourage the stretching of the back or just leave her to cut up the field in frustration?? Next week hopefully, my dressage saddle comes back ready to go....