January 27, 2010

Cave Country Canter has been added to Indiana's ride schedule.

They are having it in September! So camping should be much more comfortable. The temps may be very warm though in mid-September. In Indiana predicting the weather is a crap-shoot. But September vs. November??? September is good :)

~E.G.

6 comments:

  1. I am surprised with the WEG being in Septmember. And it's only one week after Big South Fork. September will be a busy month!

    Michelle

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  2. I hope I can go! I put my name to volunteer for the WEG. Not sure if I'll get selected or not. But I would like to go watch a couple of events.

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  3. Wow, I just have to ask about your "barefoot miles" because I thought it would be a bad idea to take my horse out on one trail where it is very rocky. He has been barefoot for about 3 years, and it's great. So how do you manage rocky terrain in your sport if your horse is barefoot? Thanks!

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  4. Train their feet tough I guess. Though it would depend on the topography of the trails where you ride. Training for me is mostly long slow distance, and the trails here in Indiana (southeastern) are mostly packed dirt, some rock, some gravel service roads. If I'm training we slow down over the rocky areas. She does fine.
    I did a thousand miles of that with my previous mare, and a thousand miles so far with this one. If I do an LD and I know I'm going to be going a little faster, if there is gravel for long stretches I'll boot her "just in case." Probably only on front hooves unless conditions were very extreme. The horses develop a really tough callous if properly maintained and nobody carves into the live sole of the hoof during trims . If riding on blacktop for long stretches I'll boot as well, because of the abrasive and concussive risk of blacktop. But at least 99 % of our riding at all speeds is completely bare and it has worked great. My mare has nice hoof concavity and I'm fortunate to have a husband who is interested and does our trimming on the horses. I have competed a couple of rides bare with my previous mare as well. More and more folks are doing the natural barefoot thing. ~E.G.

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  5. I think one key element you mentioned is the trimming--or not trimming--of the live sole of the hoof. I'm assuming this is the frog. My farrier does shave a bit off when he trims. I will ask him about this. And having boots "just in case" makes alot of sense...thanks for this info!!

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  6. H.P.

    It is alright to trim of snags and tears, diseased or damaged frog. But just trimming it back for the sake of trimming, no. You want big, fat, healthy frogs. Areas of the sole that will come loose easily with a hoof pick when you scratch around is dead sole which isn't important. But the toe callous and the live sole should be left to do what it does, which is protect the tip of the coffin bone, and to protect from bruising and such.

    I'm wanting to create a HOOF PARADISE out here eventually. I do not like my horse's down time habitat. They need some nice pea gravel in their loafing shed, watering, and feeding areas, as well as the path they have to use when called up to the barn. We are doing okay with our bare hooves, but we could be doing better I think.

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