I plan to leave this page up as a tribute to Ghost, who sadly was put down on 12th August 2010 aged 25. His last blog entry is here: http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2010/08/end-of-era.html
This is Ghost, our 25 yr old Irish draught x TB - still a speed merchant despite his age.
He was diagnosed with navicular syndrome on the basis of nerve-blocks and x-rays aged 17 and was shod in bar shoes. He became steadily lamer, and aged 19 we took his shoes off and tried barefoot as a last resort (!).
Ghost is the classic horse who "couldn't go barefoot" because when he used to lose shoes he would be crippled. He had a weak digital cushion and frog when his shoes came off, but over a 4 month period he became sounder and his feet developed.
He has been in work for the last 6 years, and still refuses to act his age. In 2009 he and I did a long distance ride together, as part of "Ride Bare", and he covered 18-21 miles per day over very tough terrain. This year we competed XC again, for the first time in at least 3 years. We kept the jumps small, in deference to his age, but of course he went clear! http://www.vimeo.com/12344074
He is a fantastic, and very special horse :-)
