April 2007
Morris is booked to be started by Dave Stewart at the end of May so we have been working hard on giving him the preparation he will need to make things as easy as possible for both him and Dave. Over the past few months he has learnt to lunge and long rein. All this has been done either in the field or on our hard core area with the herd for company. The hard core area is hard and stony but Morris has such strong feet he never notices the ground on which he is walking and trotting. We have also been educating him about the outside world by taking him for walks. He always goes with Fari so he has a nanny when things get scary. We have done many miles on the road and his feet are wearing into hooves of steel.
15th May 2007
Morris has been getting used to getting in and out of the trailer in preparation for four weeks with Dave Stewart. Although he was tentative about getting in the trailer at first, his curiosity and love of food soon got the better of him. We will however travel him without the partition as he is not yet ready to be in such a small space.
20th May 2007
Morris loaded and travelled well to Dave’s venue He came out of the trailer a bit fast but for an Arab kept himself together. He was overjoyed when he was turned out into a lovely large field full of green grass with five other mates. We have to say that we were slightly perturbed but had to shrug our shoulders and hope he would be OK.
31st May 2007
Today we visited Morris to see how his training was progressing. Dave met us with the good news that he had successfully ridden Morris five times although he was proving slower to accept everything in comparison to the other horses being trained. The bad news was that he was lame. We were totally surprised to see him shifting weight rather uncomfortably on both front feet as if suffering from a laminitic attack!
Could this hoof be so quickly and so substantially affected by our UK grass?
3rd June 2007
Morris is much better although still footy on stones. We believe he had a laminitic event which has been reduced by a few days of dry weather making the grass grow less strongly. Dave has been very supportive and we have agreed that he should now be stabled at night. This means he will eat his mineral and vitamin supplements and have a much reduced grass intake. It will be fascinating to see if he returns to his previous barefoot performance and how long it takes. Even we didn’t think the spring grass could have that much effect on horses hooves until now. It leaves us wondering how many young horses are shod because of low level laminitic events.
Watch videos of Dave Stewart working with Morris here
22nd July 2007
Morris has now been home for just over a month and in that time he has hacked out regularly, mainly along roads. He has been calm, happy and enthusiastic with Fari as his number one hacking companion. He is confident to take the lead and seems brave and able to cope with hazards like mad barking dogs and cows poking their heads over hedges. There has been no reoccurrence of the lameness or footiness he showed whilst with Dave but then he has been on a mostly hay diet.
24th August 2007
After a four week break, while Sarah went sunning herself in France, Morris has come back to his hacking like a pro. He has been hacked out for an hour, five times this week and his hooves are wearing well and gaining strength. He is now confident to trot along roads with his best friends, Fari and Jesta, and has been enjoying expeditions into a local forest. We are very impressed that the four weeks he spent with Dave has set him up so well for all the hazards and excitement that hacking out in the Welsh countryside can provide. Thank you Dave.
10th September 2007
Morris has been riding out regularly on a mixture of roads and forest tracks at both walk and trot. He is happy to trot along roads and stony surfaces and sometimes becomes a little too enthusiastic even though the ground looks like he should not!
Here is a picture of one of his lovely hooves. Notice the development at the back of the foot. Notice too the bars which Morris likes to grow like this. We tried smoothing them to the level of the sole. This didn’t affect Morris’ performance one bit but as he grew them right back we decided he liked them like that and who are we to disagree!
