Setting goals with our horses

As we look back upon the year and look forward to the new, thoughts of goals and more riding are swimming through our heads. Did you accomplish your goals with your horses this past year? Give up after a few months? Thought you rode quite a bit but its not reflected in your riding? How about your horses behavior on the ground and in the saddle, see any improvement?

One way to keep better track of how often we work with our horses, and what we work on, is to make a simple Excel spreadsheet. Here is what I do. For each month I have a new sheet, across the top are the names of the horses, down the left column are the dates .  I use a simple legend, R=Ride, TR= trail ride, GW= ground work, GD= ground driving,  TW= trailer work, W= worming, S= shots, T= trim, etc. Each day that something is done with a particular horse, I put the appropriate letter under their name on that date. If I did something noteworthy, or reached a certain goal, I will write a little note over in a column to the right called 'Notes'.

I also have a separate packet of papers that has a list of the tasks I would like to complete with each horse that comes in for training. With most horses I have three months to complete these tasks, and all might not be complete because it depends on the horse, but small goals lead to the bigger goal of turning out a nice, safe riding horse.

Having a record of our training program makes it really easy to look at the facts of how often we are working with our horse. It can be a reality check of how little we work with our horse and why we are not achieving our goals.  At the end of the year we can look back over our spreadsheets and see if we reached those goals and if not, what becomes part of the future goals, what needs to be broken down into smaller goals, maybe add a new goal.

Keeping a written schedule helps to see the reality of how much we work with our horse, and helps to develop and keep track of a well schooled training program. I hope this idea, and a new year, helps you start your own horsemanship program so you can improve your horsemanship and the relationship you have with your horse.

Happy New Year and God Bless!

Amy Allen

Transitioning from shoes to barefoot- The second trim

Left front solar view before trim

Left front side view before trim

Its been 6 weeks since I pulled the shoes off this horse and trimmed her hooves.

Right hind solar view before trim

Right hind side view before trim

In the solar view of her left front (after trim), you can see her toe is starting to shorten and hoof widen. This horse is also building a toe callus. Currently the area where the toe callus is building is very smooth and pretty wide, from the apex of the frog all the way to the toe, however as her hoof starts to change its shape from long and narrow, to shorter and  wider, the toe callus will be located closer to the hoof wall at the toe and she will start to gain some concavity. The concavity will allow the coffin bone to be suspended higher up in the hoof, which will lead to less sensitivity to rocks and other uneven surfaces.  

Left front solar view after trim

Left front side view after trim

After 2nd Trim

Also, as she continues in her transition her sole will gain thickness, which will also add protection and less sensitive hooves.
What are some key elements to transition and healthy bare hooves? The trim, diet, exercise to promote circulation which promotes healing, hoof protection and time. 
Can I ride my horse during barefoot transition? Absolutely, but be aware of stride and movement. If your horse is showing signs of pain, put on some boots and most likely your horse will move right out, this will increase circulation and healing.
The owner of this horse reports she has some sensitivity to rocks, which would be expected, but under saddle in the arena there is noticed improvement in her movement and she is now doing roll backs comfortably.

Merry Christmas!