Hoof boots worn for longer than a few hours create the PERFECT environment for thrush to proliferate in the grooves, frog and white line of hooves. They can get warm, damp and are lacking in oxygen and fresh air in general.
But some horses really need the support of hoof boots longer term when they are transitioning….so how do we combat that?
When we know a horse will be wearing boots for their transition we employ a preventative approach because the last thing we want to add to the equation is thrush. Of course, many horses enter transition with a thrush problem already and this really simple but intensive protocol works really well for us.
The following pictures show a hoof only a couple of weeks into transitioning to track living (so, yes we totally understand these are not beautiful hooves!) We noted fast wear initially so we moved to boots straight away.
This horse has already been wearing these wraps in boots and you can see there is no overt evidence of thrush.
1. Clean the hoof off, use a wire brush to get all loose bits away from the sole, bars and white line.
2 & 3. Then I use my patented ‘back of spoon’ technique 😅 to push the hoof clay into all the grooves and cover the sole (not because I don’t like it but it keeps my hands clean for the rest of the process too).
4. Cover the hoof with a layer of cotton wool dressing, allowing a flap to come up and cover the heels. Provides extra cushioning and stop heels rubbing. It also keeps the clay in place on the sole of the hoof.
5. A small amount of vet wrap NOT going above the coronary band to keep the cotton wool dressing in place. (It doesn’t need to be perfect, it’s being covered and less is more here).
6. Boot is put back over the top and will be fine like this for 2-3 days (unless they get the boot wet).
Worth noting that it’s always a good idea to have two pairs of boots so you can use one pair while the other is cleaned and dries. If it’s winter or the ground is wet then we check and change every day, if it’s dry out then they are good for a few days (obviously check for rubbing daily).
If you use boots longer term without doing this you will always be fighting a battle against thrush. This makes it so much simpler to take it out of the equation and takes a few minutes per hoof.
This may sound like the most obvious thing I’ve ever said but I feel like it needs to be said, perhaps even shouted from the rooftops….
It’s ok for your horse to act like a horse
In fact, let’s be honest we should WANT our horses to act like a horse. To feel like a horse. To play and eat and bond like a horse.
The vast majority of horses spend at least some of their time in service to us. Whether that be an occasional hack, schooling several times a week, competitions, clinics or even in ‘working’ roles such as police or carriage horses.
It’s US who decides what horses get to do and how often they are to do it so can we please, for the sake of horses everywhere LET THEM BE HORSES when they have their down time??
You have permission to turn them out, let them play with herd mates, let them have access to forage, let them shelter from the rain behind a hedge, let them groom each other and sleep watching over one another. Give them enrichment and environmental challenges. Give them friends, forage and freedom.
And while I’m here, if you’re feeling pressure or guilt that you should be ‘doing’ something with your horse….that they have to have a JOB to somehow fulfil their life then stop.
Being a horse is quite perfectly enough for your horse to be getting on with.
How have horses thrived for millennia without human help? And conversely why are so many horses today suffering from chronic health problems even with the best care lavished upon them? Experts in equine health have been studying wild horses and ponies who pretty much take care of themselves to determine which elements of a more natural lifestyle contribute to their health, and it appears that of paramount importance is access to a wide variety of plants.
In the wild, all animals practice what has been termed zoopharmacognosy (instinctive self-selection of plant material to maintain health). In a world without the human interventions of pasture management, captivity, prescriptive feeding andveterinary care, ALL animals practice this natural survival instinct of seeking out materials in their environment to maintain health and fitness. From nibbling tree barks to drinking in the clay in solution in a muddy pool; horses know what they need and how much of it and the fact that the wild mustangs of the US and the brumbies in Australia are regularly culled does seem to indicate that they know what they are doing.
Sadly it is far harder for our domesticated animals to care for themselves. For horses being stabled or turned out in paddocks where they are grazing on mostly grass (and high-sugar rye grass at that) their only opportunity to forage may be to grab a desperate mouthful of “weeds” from the hedgerow on a hack.
The latest research is showing us just why it is so important for a horse’s health to be able to forage a very wide selection of plant material. The current buzzword “microbiome” (referring actually to the “microbiota” ie the communities of bacteria, archaea, protists, fungi and viruses found in and on all multicellular organisms) is rapidly being established as one we all need to know of and understand as it appears that the nature of the gut microbiome and the variety and diversity of the microbiota within it are absolutely vital to an animal’s physical and even mental health. It has been discovered that all the microbes, even the one’s that can cause serious disease when allowed to proliferate, perform important roles when in the right numbers. Some create antibiotics, others repair the gut wall, or are involved with hormone production, vitamin absorption, the breakdown of food, emotional wellbeing and energy metabolism.
Scientists are now able to compare in great detail the gut microbiome of healthy versus sick horses and the findings show clearly that the sick horses have a far more limited variety of microbes, the space instead being taken up by the unhealthy proliferation of a few microbes that have run amok, leading to diseases of every sort. This reduction in variety could have been caused by poor diet of the horse (and/or it’s mother); interference from antibiotics (which literally wipe out much of the flora), chemical wormers, NSAIDs, toxicity from agro-chemicals such as fertilisers and equine gut microbiome chart glyphosate, and stressors including moving and lack of herd time.
So what is the key to a thriving community of microbiota in the gut and a healthier, happier horse? Firstly, access to as diverse a range of plant materials as possible that can be consumed as and when needed depending upon the time of year, weather and any other external factors and a diet that does not major on rye grass. Research has shown that feeding the microbes in the gut with a wide range of plant materials is the best way to encourage the beneficialmicrobes and maintain a healthy balance. Secondly, an environment that delivers as natural an experience as possible, providing space for movement and company.
Here in the UK, our equivalent of a wild mustang is a moorland, Welsh Mountain or New Forest pony, roving large areas of uncultivated land in natural groups. Just think of the huge number of plants they forage upon! They thrive with very little assistance from humans. The number of beneficial plants is very large, from what have been considered weeds by farmers and gardeners: nettles, docks, cow parsley, dandelions, chickweed, hog weed to name a handful; to hedgerow hawthorns and guelder rose and trees such as beech and oak. Even in winter, they find enough to eat; they may lose weight but the enzyme levels in the gut change, reducing their ability to digest high protein foods (so well- intentioned hard feed to supplement the diet may in fact cause problems) but increasing their digestion of bulky, rougher foods. It seems that the plants themselves adapt to help, trees push higher levels of essential minerals like calcium and nitrogen into their bark, ready to supply the deer and horses nibbling them.
As a practitioner of Applied Zoopharmacognosy, my aim is to provide domesticated animals with a similar experience to their non-captive brethren and give them an opportunity to self-select what they need to regain or maintain their health. The kit I use to try as far as I can to replicate the selection that may be found in the wild, consists of dried herbs (leaf, self-selecting dried rose-hips bark and roots), seeds, seaweed and berries; powdered clay and -chalk; nutrients such as dried algae (spirulina) and brewers yeast, and a wide range of essential oils and hydrosols. Regular offering of the selected items can be of great benefit, and their choice can indicate an emotional or physical issue that the owner was not aware of. Such as regularly seeking pain relieving herbs when the owner thought they just had a behavioural problem.
In the few years that I have been practising, nearly all the horses I have been asked to work with have been kept on either standard farmland (consisting of mostly rye grass) or stabled, or a mixture of both. In most cases, an Applied Zoopharmacognosy session has been an eye-opening experience for the owners. Seeing their horses select the botanicals with such enthusiasm usually makes them embrace the idea of regular foraging walks with their horse to allow them to select from the hedgerows and verges nearby, or do what they can to plant what’s missing, or at the very least, cut and carry to their horse whatever helpful plants – thistles, nettles, yarrow, willow – that they can.
However nothing beats the constant access to a wide range of fresh, indigenous plants that is provided by roaming natural landscapes or the best equivalent; a track. Horses kept in a more natural environment with access to a wide range of native plants, appear to be stronger, happier and more resistant to disease. A track system, which reduces grass intake; allows widespread foraging on a large number of fresh, seasonal plants and promotes the constant movement that is the natural activity of a herd is surely the very best way to create as natural an environment as possible on limited acreage and therefore, happier, healthier horses and ponies.
Do contact me at victoria4711@zoho.com or on 07939666145 if you would like to know more on plant foraging, Applied Zoopharmacognosy, gut microbiome analysis or for further reading suggestions.
Hello! I’m Stephanie Pittam, a Registered Osteopath for humans and animals based in Kent, UK. The majority of my work is with equine patients – over the past decade I have treated horses from all disciplines and with a huge variety of conditions, from the straightforward to the obscure. I am dedicated to getting to the root cause of a horses problem, and often work with other professionals such as trainers, vets, nutritionists and hoof care practitioners to help the horse function optimally.
As an Osteopath, I am concerned with how the body moves, and helping it to function to the best of its ability. Barriers to optimal health and wellness that I often see in human and equine patients include both physical and emotional stress, as well as injury, inappropriate diet, lack of movement and poor mental stimulation. My professions founding principle of ‘The Body is a Unit’ has never been more apt: True health cannot exist without complete harmony of mind, body and spirit.
Forage, Freedom and Friends.
The horse’s basic needs are more than just needing food and water. The ideal state for a horse is the freedom to roam and socialise, and to graze a range of forages within the safety of a herd environment. The need to move, graze and socialise is hard wired into their very being through millions of years of evolution. But how does a traditional yard set up accommodate those needs? And why are those needs important for all owners to consider? Because they will be stressed, physiologically and psychologically, to some degree, if they are not met.
In the midst of an extremely wet and miserable winter, one of the biggest challenges to equine health that I see is stable confinement and reduced or no turnout. For some horses, this is a year round lifestyle. In addition, turnout on ground that is poached, with no shelter or grazing, where the horse stands for hours at the gate is equally a problem. This is in direct conflict with the needs of the horse as described above.Conditions such as ulcers, colic, subcutaneous oedema (puffy legs), respiratory disease, obesity, thrush and stereotypical behaviours are rife and tend to increase with less movement. There are a million supplements, lotions and potions on the market to treat these conditions – but surely it would be better to prevent them happening in the first place by addressing the basic needs and environment of the horse? I feel we are becoming too used to seeing horses at a sub-optimal level of health, whether that is with poor hoof balance and health, incorrect weight, or displaying stress related behaviours. Unfortunately I see these issues very commonly in my patients.
‘Let your horse be a horse.’
It can be difficult for many owners to achieve a more ‘natural’lifestyle for their equine friend due to, for example, yard rules,or lack of grazing. I would urge owners to be creative in approaching this: remember that your horse is a living, sentient being. Enriching your horse’s environment will have a hugely beneficial impact on his mental state and overall health. If your horse’s needs are not being met, his system will be under stress and more prone to illness and injury. A study by Logan et al (2019) found that stabling negatively impacts bone formation in horses regardless of age. This is a very important aspect to consider when devising a management plan for your horse!
Remember, allowing a natural lifestyle does not necessarily mean turning your expensive competition horse out naked, in an acre of swamp with no grass. It is exploring ways in which you can meet the needs as described above. I understand not all owners have access to a naturally orientated livery set up such as at Graveney. However, there are still things you can do! On a competition yard I visit, if the weather does not permit turnout, the horses are hand walked and grazed in a safe environment twice a day, turned out to roll in a sandpit, allowed to groom and contact the horses in adjoining stables as well as being hacked or schooled. This is better than being shut in for 23 hours and only brought out to be ridden, but still some way off the ideal for the horse.
Osteopathically, the issues I see from restricting horse’s innate needs are multiple. For example:• Repetitive strain and soft tissue injuries from for example, weaving, box walking, door banging• Thrush causing low grade lameness• Back pain as a result of ulcers• Joint stiffness and swelling from a lack of movement• Stress causing generalised inflammation and tissue irritation
From my own personal experience treating horses, I see stress manifest itself in the body through numerous psycho-somatic mechanisms. I see thoracic (under the saddle) tension, ribcage rigidity, hypersensitivity to pressure, lack of body awareness, upper neck irritability, poor cranio-sacral rhythm – to name but a few! Symptoms and findings will be different for each horse. We need to start addressing the cause of these problems and not just the symptoms, however hard that might be. Anthromorphism happens commonly in the equine world, but please don’t assume that your horse sees his environment as you do! A ‘duvet day’ standing in a box eating might sound quite nice to a person on a cold wet day, but remember that your horse would more likely want to have a mooch around, good leg stretch, a roll in some mud and a groom with a buddy.
Recently, I read a post on a local Facebook group from a person asking for ideas to stop her horse banging the stable door. Door banging damages property, is annoying and can injure the horse’s limbs. The answers gave a really interesting insight into peoples’ perceptions of appropriate horse care: popular responses were to use various aversive techniques such as electric shocks or water sprays. The one person who suggested looking at why he was doing it in the first place was quickly shouted down, accused of being a ‘pony-patter’ and had their knowledge and skills belittled. Who was right from a behavioural science, ethical and welfare point of view? This is where traditionalism meets modern science, and sadly not all have the ability to change their ways of thinking.
Research has shown that horse owners commonly “fail to recognise, and consequently neglect to resolve, equine behavioural signs of distress, worsening the welfare of the horse” (Bell et al, 2019). I feel like this is a wake-up call; as owners we all want to have happy, healthy horses but we may be missing the mark in assessing our own horse’s mental state!
Natural horse keeping is a topic close to my heart. I have 2 horses; one of which is a retired dressage horse who lives free to roam with a herd in 1200 acres of organic ancient pasture. Living the dream! The complaints that dogged us in his ridden career are no longer a problem – weaving, box walking, separation anxiety, ulcers, forelimb lameness are a thing of the past all down to the drastic change in environment. He is a happier and healthier horse at 23 than he was as a 6 year old due to his needs of Forage, Friends and Freedom being met.
Of course, we don’t all have access to this kind of facility BUT I am seeing a growing trend in horse owners wanting to keep their horse in a more natural state. This is great news! A one-size-fits-all approach does not work, each horse and owner need to take into account their individual needs. As an industry I feel as though the equine world has one hoof still firmly planted in traditional methods, some of which have their place, but progress is being made into gaining a better understanding of our horses’ psychological and physiological needs. It will mean the difference between your horse surviving or thriving. In the words of David Mellor (2016),give your horse ‘A Life Worth Living’.
Bell, C., Rogers, S., Taylor, T., Busby, D. (2019) Improving the Recognition of Equine Affective States Animals 2019, 9(12), 1124; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9121124
To understand this theory, envision you have a bucket in front of you and the capacity of this bucket is your horse’s capacity to cope with the stresses of life.
Every horse’s bucket may be a slightly different size depending on its previous life experiences and genetics.
Each stressful event your horse experiences will fill that bucket (a little or a lot!) until eventually the bucket will overflow. Your horse will reach its threshold for coping and will then display stress behaviours. These may be things such as bolting out on a hack, it could be stereotypical behaviours, aggression or displacement behaviours, vocalisations or it could be much more subtle such as tooth grinding, yawning and excessive blinking.
If your horse REGULARLY reaches and then overflows its ability to cope you may see more overt signs. Weight loss, ulcers, colic and general bad behaviour/poor trainability. I wonder how many horses are seen as badly behaved but just have a full stress bucket that they don’t get the chance to empty? How many horse trainers enquire as to the living situation of a horse before they commence a training program?
So, what does this have to do with how your horse is kept? Or indeed more specifically with natural horse keeping? Everything we do as horse guardians has the ability to either increase or decrease the amount and type of stress our horses are exposed to daily. So to me it makes sense that the things we can control, such as their living situation, we should do everything we can to make as stress free as possible.
So what do horses want? They want: ➖Forage, fibre and appropriate nutrients. ➖Friends, herd mates and safety in numbers. ➖Free choice, autonomy and enrichment.
These aren’t just my ideals, these are the things horses evolved to need so it makes sense these are the things that help to keep the stress bucket empty.
If we do these things we are much more likely to have calm, well balanced, healthier and easier to work with companions, it’s a no brainier.
The diagrams show how unnatural (common, but unnatural) husbandry or stressful living conditions may cause your horse’s stress bucket to overflow.
Horses are domesticated right? So keeping them naturally is surely a moot point. We have moulded them into animals who wouldn’t last five minutes left to their own devices. Animals who wait at the gate desperate to come in. Animals who shiver at the mere suggestion of rain…..
𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩, 𝙬𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙩.
Quickly, a lesson in the domestication of our horses. It may surprise you to know that the DNA of our modern day Equine’s remains largely unchanged. What I’m saying is that we have not created an entirely different animal by keeping them domesticated. What has happened is selective breeding which has actually narrowed the gene pool but also utilised some mutations. These tend towards colour, height and locomotion rather than behavioural evolution which has stayed focused on finding safety in numbers, being on the alert for predators and developing a strong group bond.
There are several things which are incredibly unnatural for a horse and should be given the thought and planning they deserve when you are considering how you will keep them.
𝙆𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚. This can range from a horse who is totally isolated from other horses to one who lives in a field with horses next door. Unless your horse can see, touch, interact, play, move around, groom, smell and eat WITH other horses, they are suffering certain types of isolation. This will impact on stress levels on the short and long term and health in the long term.
𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. Horses are athletes, they are designed to not only be able to run at speed but move constantly to look for food. That movement is not only enriching for them but contributes towards keeping their bones, muscles and gut functioning and healthy. Stabling horses takes away their ability to move and has been proven in several studies to have a negative impact on physiology such as reducing bone density.
𝙇𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙚𝙣𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. When you are designed to move around 20miles a day, your world is full of sights, smells, other animals and potential threats. All of these things build up an enrichment profile for the day. They keep the mind occupied and busy. Horses with no enrichment will soon become bored and show ‘attention seeking’ or stereotypical behaviours. Instead of providing for this basic need, we then look to gadgets to stop the unwanted behaviours.
𝙁𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙨. A horse should not only be eating for a large proportion of the day, but they should be eating a huge variety of sparse, high fibre, low nutrient feeds. Their gut is fine tuned to get every bit of nutrition out of what is essentially poor quality feed. The more concentrates we add into their diet, the more gut and hormone dysfunction we will see which in turn will effect overall health and behaviour.
So are there really any horses this doesn’t apply to? Of course, but they are the very small percentage who are perhaps ill, infirm or requiring behavioural reintegration into a group. Not the large percentage of fit and healthy horses that are kept traditionally around the UK and the world as we speak.
I understand how much people love their horses and want to do their version of the best for them.
BUT is your horse less physiologically or psychologically damaged by something just because you love him?
Never shut the door on a new idea. Never look at an unfamiliar concept and pooh-pooh it before you’ve understood it. Choose to widen your knowledge and make improvements based on that.
Questions I see a lot on the various track pages are often based around the type of livery offered by track systems and whether they’re ‘just’ for retired (or rehabilitating) horses.
This observation, I believe, has been born of the way the psychological shift towards this type of horse care has come around for individual owners.
It’s the same reason that a lot of people come to me looking for my barefoot trimming skills.
This is their last chance.
I understand WHY there is a perception that track liveries only cater for the older or retired horses and that is because it is most often the older and retired horses who are on their last chance saloon and end up finding their way to us.
We are the thing that the owner finds on the internet at 2am in a desperate search for one final thing to try to help their horse. Before now, they’ve perhaps not even heard of a track system (or a barefoot trimmer for that matter).
We are the thing that seems too strange and new to consider until we are staring at the grim reality that our horse has run out of options.
By this point, it is often the case that the owner is happy to ‘retire’ their horse if it means they are sound and not in pain, so track liveries fill with retired horses.
BUT what we are starting to see is a shift in awareness. In knowledge. In the type of life we want for our horses. Owners who have horses very much still in work are becoming aware of track systems and more natural living in general. They are asking if we take non-retired horses. At first, in the years gone by, there was just a trickle, people dipping their toes in the water of a whole new world.
Now though, there are more and more people coming away from the inadequacies of traditional horse keeping. More and more enquires for track livery all around the UK (and the world).
A lot of the original track liveries have been set up on farm land with no previous infrastructure. This is because it’s silly to invest in stables and perfectly fenced paddocks when the things we really want the least are stables, rye grass and lots of fences to tear down. But we are listening and we are creating some of those facilities that are important to riders. Arenas probably being at the top of the list, I know of a few tracks that have installed one in the past couple of years. We now also have some more traditional yards starting to convert to tracks so they already have many desirable facilities available.
We have a mixture of healthy, in-work horses, retired and rehab horses here.
So what I’m saying is this.
NO, tracks are not just for retired horses.
YES, all horses can (and do) benefit.
NO, this is not a compromise for your ridden horse, this is the gold standard (platinum being truly wild living!) in horse boarding.
Want to find out more?
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