I put up a post last year about him which had exactly this effect and led to lots of people advising me to trim him - even though they had never watched him move or managed to identify why he had the deviation he does. The full post is here http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/my-take-on-this-less-than-perfect-hoof.html .
I can appreciate that it can be difficult for those who haven't met him to realise that this horse really is much happier with his odd feet than he would be with feet which were trimmed to make them look more conventional.
So now that Freya is here hunting him I decided that it would be a good idea to take my head cam and get some footage of them out and about. Its not easy to make out in this clip because of the speed but there is some quite nasty terrain and this is his 4th days' hunting over a 2 week period.
Aldermans Barrow from Nic Barker on Vimeo.The proof of the pudding...
6 comments:
Brilliant! And if that doesn't convince the sceptics then I don't know what will? Thanks for going to the trouble to make it available for us to see.
Am sooooo envious of your countryside for hacking and hunting! Wow, fabulous!!
Had to giggle at the fallen gate in the wall - She's not is she...? Yep she is...
LOVE videos like this.
Fantastic barefooting - you can see that the tracks are rocky - even as you speed over them ;) It was exciting just to watch! I was just wondering what you do diet wise for the hunting season, is it just hay/silage and minerals or do you add something else for the extra energy they expend? I'm aware diet has a huge impact on soundness of hooves.
oh bless him, he's loving it! far more fun than that poncy dressage m'larky I get up to!
He'll sulk when Freya leaves again!
They'll just say 'but how much better would he be with decently trimmed feet?'
Some people are just addicted to intervention.
C
Well said C - there's is no reasoning with some people :-) If I didn't have ethical objections it would be fascinating to trim him and watch his shoulder muscles on the LF just waste away... :-$
Fiona - they get a lot of feed - there is a post from last year which you can search for - called something like "Feeding at Rockley".
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