Great clinic day

On Wednesday, October 22, 2008, we held a clinic with author and trainer, Mark Russell. We had five riders as well as a few auditors in attendance. It was a fun day. Weather was perfect!

Mark's book is titled "Lessons in Lightness, The Art of Educating the Horse". I like Mark's approach a lot and have included his book on my list of recommended books and videos.

Mark's background is dressage but the principles, of relaxation, lightness and balance, that he subscribes to applies to all horses in any discipline. Just ask Gwen who brought her Paso Fino, Tsoro. He also has a great eye for balance and identifying 'tight spots' in the horse. His goal is to help the horse let go of those tight places so that he can move more fluidly. Another aspect of Mark's approach that I really appreciate is how he takes the time to provide the horse with a step by step understanding what is expected. No one, horse or rider, is ever rushed.

If you have a chance to participate in a clinic with Mark I would encourage you to do so. I'm sure we'll be seeing Mark back here at the Nexus Center as well. Want to see more photos from the clinic? Look here.

Our newest little project

And I do mean little! Siggie (aka Zachary Farms Signature Moon) is an American Miniature Horse stallion who sustained a shoulder injury in 2006 which was incorrectly diagnosed by Siggie's vet who believed he needed treatment for slipping stifles. Since Siggie was unable to move properly due to the shoulder injury he was never fully rehabbed for either the stifle surgery he received OR the shoulder injury. Ugh! Now instead of strutting his stuff he's waddling.

Lauren has been trimming Judy Zachary's entire herd of about 25 stallions, mares and offspring for several months now. Recently on a visit when I happened to accompany Lauren on her rounds there I worked with Siggie a bit to see if we could get him more comfortable with his trimming. A little clicking and scritching ;-) seemed to do wonders for him. So we decided to see if some time spent at the Nexus Center would help poor little Siggie get his groove back.

Well waddling or not he's too darn cute! Here's a short video I made today of Siggie getting a little exercise:

Change is slow

Tulsa, my 19 year old Anglo-Trakehner mare, came to me as a 4 year old with a 'slightly clubby' right front foot. According to the vet, who examined her during her pre-purchase exam, it didn't appear that it would be a problem for her. So I went ahead and bought her.

Over the years I would ask the farrier, what if anything could be done about the club foot. The answer was generally not that much. About 5 years ago I got the bug to remove Tulsa's shoes. I admit that I did have visions of a miraculous cure for that foot and that one day it would be just like a 'regular' foot. Ha!

Five years later it still doesn't look like a regular foot. Although she is the most sound she's ever been. So that part is good. There have been changes though. To look at the foot today you still see what seems like very high heels. To appreciate that there have been changes though you need to compare a photo of the foot today with a photo from 5 years ago. Lucky for me I have such photos!

The top photo is from the day her shoes were removed. The next photo shows the same foot now (Oct 2008).










The road is long and slow but side by side it is possible to see that her frog is much more substantial and her heels are much wider than when we started. Yay!!

Trimming from the top

We've had some requests to create a movie demonstrating Lauren's trimming technique. The technique emphasizes a strong mustang roll created mainly via rasping from the top with the hoof on the stand. People typically call this technique 'trimming from the top'. For Lauren it is trimming (mostly) from the top.

There are some folks 'out there' who claim to trim EXCLUSIVELY from the top. Do they really mean to say that they don't even LOOK at the bottom? Truth be told we DO look and we'll tweak the bars and heels while we're there. ;-) But the bulk of the trimming does occur with the hoof on the stand, in other words, "from the top".

Enjoy the video!

Lens luxation

Bet most have never even heard of this condition. Me neither. But this is the diagnosis Dr. Seth Sellers, from Eastside Veterinary Services, made when we called him in to take a look at Fogel's eye. Lauren had noticed some tearing and swelling. She treated it with some antibiotic ointment and after a couple of days when it still looked... odd... she decided the vet needed to look at it.

Fogel is Lauren's 30 year old gelding whom she acquired as a 17 year old Grand Prix school master. It was Fogel who put her on the path to barefoot hoof care when he was 22 years old and $300 farrier visits with special shoes and pads were no longer keeping him sound. Figuring he was already lame why not just take off the shoes--and save the 300 bucks! The rest, as they say, is history.

So back to the lens luxation. It means that the lens of his eye is out of place. Here's an illustration showing a normal eye. What appears to have happened is some of the ligaments that hold the lens in place in Fogel's left eye have ruptured. As a result the top of the lens has dropped forward and pushed through the pupil. Kind of freaky really.

According to the ophthalmologist at UT this is a very rare condition with the doctor there having seen only one other case. The whys are not certain in Fogel's case. Apparently one usually sees this as the result of a severe blow to the head. That's not very likely in this case. They do believe age may have been a factor. Perhaps he got stung by a bee and bumped his head? If the ligaments holding his lens in place were brittle with age they may have ruptured from just such a minor bump. We'll never know.

What happens now is uncertain. The lens could stabilize in its luxated position. Or it could slip back into the back of the eye. It seems to be preferable that it stabilize in its current position rather than 'float around' the back of his eye. At the moment he is comfortable (no indications of pain) and while he probably doesn't see well out of that eye it appears he is getting along fine. Lauren has been riding him this week. For Nexus Center pupils who have enjoyed the privilege of a lesson with Fogel, he isn't out of the game yet!