My poor Rachaels feet!

This past weekend I got invited to go for a horseback ride with my riding club (Easy Riders Saddle Club).  It's been a bit since I went horseback riding, and so I thought it would be a great idea.  Of course, my trusty steed for such occasions is Rachael.

If y'all recall, I've been really fighting a good fight to keep Rachael's feet in good shape.  She's been in shoes for the past 9 months, and she does wonderful on shoes.  Well, a few weeks back, the farrier came out, and the walls of her hooves looked good and strong, so we decided to try and keep her barefoot.  I prefer my horses to be barefoot, and my wallet also prefers it!  :)

As I called her up out of the pasture she was walking fine.  I got to the place, unloaded and saddled her up.  Everything was looking good, then I cleaned her hooves.  I was shocked.  She is carrying all of her weight right on the sole of her hoof.  The sole, with is supposed to angle upward towards the frog, was instead flat with the ground, and looking very worn.  A friend from the saddle club took this picture for me.  Here's what I'm dealing with.  The orange area on the bottom of the foot in the picture is her sole.  You can see the sidewall just beyond it, and it will not get long enough to hold any of the weight, it constantly chips up.  The frog and sole are both flat with just two small gaps between them.

Front Left hoof.  Toe at the bottom of the screen.

When I tried to ride her, I got 50 feet away from the trailer before I noticed that Rachael was limping on both the front and rear end.  I felt so bad for her.  I instantly stopped, dismounted, and walked her back to the trailer.  Looks like I'm going to have to keep Rachael in shoes full time, or any time I want to use her.  :(

The good news for the day was that my good friend Anne brought an extra horse, so I got to ride with the group on her mare Sugar.  Sugar is a real fun ride.  It felt weird to be on a small horse, but I really had a good time.  I really enjoy riding with this club.  Everyone is just fun to be around.

What a great group to ride with!

Another thing I did this weekend, was to visit my friend Bev.  She had a new filly a few weeks back (last 4th of July her stallion taught her that he can clear a 5 foot pipe fence when the mood is right).  As always, the baby is fabulous.  The stallion is Vegas, and the mare is one of Bev's awesome bred Belgian mares.  The result of these two can be seen in the pictures.  Seeing this filly really made me excited about seeing how the Vegas foals I'm due to have next year turn out.

Sin - 2011 Double M Warhorse Ranch Filly

Another shot of Sin

Mark McGowan and Sin

 Right now it's too hot to do much else.  I did get out tonight and put my hands on Whinny (my yearling filly).  She's such a docile horse.  I can lift her hooves, and touch her anywhere but the nose.  She's still a bit cautious with the nose, but we're working on it.  She's an interesting girl.  She'll stand a foot away from you with no worries, but when you reach out to touch her, she takes one step away.  However, if you can pin her in a corner or something where she can't take a step away, then she'll let you do whatever you want without any care.  I really like her and look forward to riding her in 2 years.  :)