260. Going to battle...

Yesterday i rode out with my friend and on the way back to the yard we were met by a tractor. Spice began her ritual of trying to spin, rear and run backwards and i immediately imagined that i was going to battle not against Spice but against the tractor and sent her charging forwards. Within seconds the battle was over, the tractor had run away and the victory was ours :)

259. Spice gets a new set of front shoes...

Yesterday i made the hard decision to put shoes back on Spices front hooves. Having watched her become more and more uncomfortable over the past two weeks even when in the field due to the ground being so hard (we have had no rain in weeks) i felt it was unfair to keep her barefoot. I am still intending to keep her hinds unshod as she doesn't seem to be in anyway sore on them i.e can walk over any surface easily even with a rider on her back so i see no reason to put shoes on them. But if they too become sore i would not hesitate to do the same. Do i feel like i've failed? In one way yes but in another way no. I do think that with the right diet, exercise plan and environment Spice may have been able to stay barefoot but i don't think i'd have been able to ride her across anything other than roads. I definitely would have had to avoid riding across stoney tracks, going down steep hills and also limit the number of times i hacked Spice out each week to avoid wearing them down too much. I know shoes are not ideal but then neither is leaving a horse in a field that you can't ride because they are too sore to get fat. Hoof boots are a great idea but i would be reluctant to canter or gallop in them having seen them come lose and twist around even in trot.

As always horsemanship is a balancing act. You can't just think about a horses hooves you have to consider the whole horse and having seen the difference front shoes have made to Spices movement i am 100% certain that i made the right decision. I would love to keep her hinds unshod but as always i will see how it goes...for now our barefoot journey has half come to an end....

258. Riding past our first motorbike!

Today i took Spice out for a hack on her own and we managed to pass our first motorbike! Spice has always been a bit wary of motorbikes but today she trotted past as though it was nothing. So pleased with how things are going hacking wise. The only thing i'd say is that she's feeling a lot like a racehorse i.e trots as fast as a slow canter and feels as though she has heaps of energy - probably because she does. However, i quite like the fast pace as have never liked being on a plod along.

If the ground isn't too hard tomorrow i want to try loose jumping her again as i really want to start jumping her. :)

257. Riding Confidently...

Yesterday i hacked Spice out by myself and as usual she was great - no big dramas to report except for a short attempt to spin backwards just as we were passing a lorry but as soon as i told her to go forwards she did. The biggest difference i have noticed in Spice is her fight/flight disposition...unlike before where she would put up the biggest fight to avoid going past something she now backs down as soon as i tell her to. It seems that because she now trusts me and has confidence in my authority she actually prefers to listen to me rather than carry on fighting with me. Seeing Spice change so dramatically has given me the belief that no matter how bad a behavioural problem is it can almost always be rectified. My friend at the yard said that having seen how bad Spice could be whilst out hacking she never thought she'd be able to hack out on her own and that's someone who has dealt with horses with behavioural problems their whole life but it just goes to show that where there's a will there's a way. Now that the whole napping thing has been resolved I'm really looking forward to doing some jumping with Spice. :)

256. Riding past our first tractor!

Today i took Spice out for a hack and not long into our hack we were confronted with a tractor. Tractors aren't one of Spices favourite road friends so as we approached the tractor she decided it was far too scary to go past and attempted to spin, run backwards and rear. Unlike the olden days where i'd have become nervous i actually relished in the opportunity to take control of the situation and demonstrate my authority. Sitting deep in my seat i kicked her on when she was running backwards, sat to her rear and pulled back on my right rein with not just my arm but the whole of my body preventing her from turning around. As soon as she realised that all three attempts to avoid the vehicle had failed she started listening to me and walked forwards to where i made her stand quietly whilst the tractor went past. It was a brilliant victory and made all the better without having to use a whip or any other kind of pain inducing device!

255. Spice gets thumbs up from Farrier

This week i had the farrier come out to see Spice because i was concerned that due to increasing her work load to 3 hacks a week she may need to have shoes on her front hooves. However, the farrier said that her hooves were in good shape and that unless i intended on riding her on the roads everyday she should be able to cope just fine. It was reassuring to hear these words come from a farriers mouth as normally one might assume that a farrier would be biased but this particular farrier was very neutral on his stand point which was refreshing. When i asked him how many horses he saw that he thought could go barefoot but didn't he said 30-40% - quite a shocking amount in my view. I am not against the usage of shoes but it would be nice to think that owners were only using them because they were necessary...

254. Spice...