PNER Convention Notes – “Endurance Foot Care” – by Sue Summers and Lee Pearce

One of the talks I attended at the PNER convention in January 2016 was all about the things we put on our horses’ feet to protect them. As most horse people know, the old adage “no foot, no horse” often holds true. And when you are asking your equine partner to carry you for twenty five, fifty, or even a hundred miles, good hoof-care is key!

They started the talk by hammering home the fact that knowledge is not understanding. By using the example of a backwards steering bike (where when you turn the handlebars the wheel turns the opposite direction) they illustrated that once you have a ridged way of thinking, It’s hard, or even impossible to change. A lot of us get stuck in a rut of doing the same thing over and over, believing it will work like we expect it too (this holds true to when we think the same thing is going to work for every horse.). I think the idea that “knowledge is not understanding” is a tenet that I should keep in the back of my mind for other areas of my life.

All endurance horses should have some kind of hoof protection – and what that protection entails depends on terrain, the horse, the nutrition intake, etc! There are so many hoof protection products on the market right now so you have lots of things to try. Both Summers and Pearce told us what products they like to use as farriers. What follows are some pictures I took of different products that were passed around during the presentation (I’ll try and link to the products I recall throughout and I’m sure my readers will chime in about what they recognize as well).

Protecting your horse's feet starts before you saddle up to ride or even consider what protection our horse may need. These were some of overriding themes of this talk:

• Bad shoeing is going to be cumulative! Horses can lie to you – they may not be moving as efficiently as they could. And you want them to move efficiently in this sport. 
• The most important part of hoof protection is a GOOD TRIM.
• The LONG foot is the enemy. Keep everything short and balanced. Essentially this makes it easier for them to move. (Again, it’s all about efficiency.)
• The environment that foot lives in will affect everything else. For example, crushed heels seem to be common where it is very sandy – because you don’t get that natural dirt pack. Feet packed with dirt isn’t a bad thing. Think of it like Mother Nature’s own pad!

Steel and Metal Shoes

The old standard is, of course, steel shoes. Steel shoes are still in common use and work very well for many horses. Both Pearce and Summers like Triumph steel for when you are not going to be riding through a lot of rocks. Aluminum shoes are good for heavy competition – especially for gaited horses who wing out (because then they have less weight on legs). The biggest issue with aluminum is they wear out quickly.

A Table full of examples!

Glue-on Boots

There are two main brands for glue-on boots right now: Easyboot and Renegade. Sue Summers noted she prefers the Easyboot Glove glue-ons. Renegades are also popular.

It was emphasized that these DO stay on if applied properly! This usually means: Adhere on the wall of the boot and Gooberglue (also called Silkaflex) on the sole of the boot and hoof. Gooberglue dries more slowly and is like a sponge. Horses love it and in the presenters’ experience, horses with this kind of padding in a glue-on shell no longer look for the soft footing on the trail. Summers noted that she applies Durasole before shoe or glue-on. It’s also good for a barefoot horse.

There are some issues to consider with a glue-on shell. For instance, most hind feet are more triangle shaped and most glue-ons are more round shaped. Summers noted that because of this she often has a gap along the edge of the toe she has to fill with glue on the hind feet. Also, the hoof has to be completely dry before you apply them! Another downside is they are hard to take off and are usually one-use only (though people do sand out the excess glue and re-use them, but that’s labor-intensive).

This hoof-needing-to-be-dry issue would be the reason I don’t use them for Deli in her current living situation. She can’t be stalled overnight to get dry and we live on the wet side. Glue-ons would probably only work well during the height of summer on a non-humid day. 

Glue-ons are usually just for a single ride. They can stay on for 2 weeks for a ride and they are fabulous for multi-days. Sue Summers has a tip for glue-ons: she duct-tapes the heel to keep the glue from picking up things in turnout (because it takes around 4 hours to dry).

Here is a video from Easycare showing the process for gluing –on one of their shells. And here is a revised gluing method, also from easy-care. This gives a good idea of what you need to do to glue-on shells!

This is the bottom of a boot used in Tevis.

More wear examples.

Strap-on Boots

Neither of the presenters seemed to be a fan of the strap-on boots and they did not go into depth as to why. Summers noted that the horses seem to move choppier with the strap-ons, giving them a shorter stride. They also mentioned potential issues with rubbing and that you were more likely to lose them.

I do use strap-ons for Deli and plan to continue to in the near future. The Easyboot Gloves, in particular have worked really well for Deli (I have never lost a single one) and I am using Renegades for her hind feet due to an issue with the Gloves not fitting her scarred right hind pastern well. The rubbing can be an issue: our last tough ride the Renegade on one foot did cause a rub. One of my mentors has suggesting using bodyglide next time. Or I may try the Gloves for the hinds again because I’ve found the Easycare products (and customer service) so much more reliable. I'd love to try other things in the future if we do start going to regular rides. As they say: use what works for you!

Composite Shoes

Composite shoes are made from some combination of plastic and possibly metal. Some can be glued on and others can be nailed and/or glued. The general idea of a composite shoe is to get some of the benefits of a traditional steel shoe while getting some of the benefits of a boot (lighter, more shock-absorbing, flexible). In fact the presenters noted that composites in general reduce 65% of the concussion to the foot and they are lighter.

One of the major issues with composite shoes is that the horse’s foot has to be the same shape. Your farrier can’t shape the shoe to fit your horse over a forge. The horses do love the composite shoes – but they have to have a foot that fits the shape of the shoe as it comes!

The “EasyShoe Performance N/G” is a product both Summers and Pearce recommended and passed around. It is quite a clever design, in my opinion: you can glue AND/OR nail (has a metal plate inside it, which give the ridged structure needed for nailing-on). Summers noted that these shoes do last: she knows people that reset them. It seemed like this shoe is versatile based on what the presenters were saying. For example, you can fill the hole in the center with equi-thane adhesive, and you can add spacers to the back of this shoe. The presenters noted that this shoe is really great for horses with contracted heels (especially when utilizing spacers).

Easycare also has other models which are ONLY for gluing-on (Though Pearce noted he sometimes puts nails in them). Unlike the glue-on boots these can stay on for a full trim cycle. 

When comparing glue on boots versus composite shoes:

• You can keep the glue-on or other composite shoes on for 6 weeks
• Glue-on boots stay on better, and so are better for an intense ride.
• At Tevis and other extreme endurance rides glue-on boots have been the most successful. But it you are going to use something new (like a glue-on boot) you don’t want the first time to be at a hardcore ride. Try them out on a 50 first!
• What should inform your decision if  you are trying to decide between glue-on boots (or strap on) versus a nailed-on shoe versus a composite shoe of some kind?
• The conformation of the pastern AND the hoof conformation need to be taken into account. When you have long toes and long pastern (especially with weak heels) you are adding a lot more stress with glue-on boots. Why? Because you are extending the breakover and have more leverage.
• The shape of the hoof will change ability to do composite shoes.
• Horses that have feet that tend to want to flatten out (pancake) do not do good in composite shoes because they just exaggerates that flattening out trend. Consequently, an upright and contracted will do really well in a composite because it will help the foot to spread out!

Pads & Packing

• Wedge pads affect bone alignment. These can be used if a horse has bad heel (like a crushed heel) and you have to take heel off to get to better quality horn. However, hopefully wedge pads are always temporary. In fact, they can be detrimental so you have to know what you are doing (so incorporate the veterinarian and get feet x-rayed).
• Packing under pads usually encourages a thicker sole. Putting a sponge or something in boots will thicken soles up too! However, when you are doing pour-in packing, do not have the cushion or pads so that they are flush with the ground. This can cause sole soreness and pressure points.
• Summers noted she was a big fan of concussion rim pads (in the front feet in particular).
• Equipak CS is also a recommended product – it has copper sulfate in it to help with white line and thrush.
• Leather pads not so useful in endurance – they can get sand and things underneath them and lame the horse easily. This introduction of material defeats the purpose of packing (which is to keep sand and stuff out).
• Just having a pad makes problems of bacterial growth arise, so always PACK when you are PADDING.
• Both the presenters love the product: Magic cushion. They note it’s best for horses with sore feet after the ride as a therapeutic treatment.

That's all for now!

Last time: Trying out the GHOST prototype.

Last time from the 2016 PNER Convention : "10 Things You Can Do Better" by Susan Garlinghouse, DVM, MS

Next time: PNER Convention Notes – “Beyond Conditioning” – by Robin Ryner

PNER Convention Notes – "10 Things You Can Do Better" by Susan Garlinghouse, DVM, MS

First in my convention-note lineup is a talk given by Dr. Susan Garlinghouse. She is fairly well known in the endurance world for her articles on equine nutrition and other salient topics regarding the health and fitness of our horses.

During this talk she essentially rounded up some of the more interesting things she had found from scientific research, and the practical applications of this recent research. Everything she talked about comes from her reading peer-reviewed research journals (so we don't have to?).

There were several points that are very applicable to Deli and I. I hope making my notes available will be helpful for other riders and horse lovers.

1. How to Feed Feet

There are tons of factors go into growing a good foot – bio-mechanics, genetics, age, breed, metabolic rate, temperature, and moisture (so the season and climate in general matter quite a bit for what a foot needs). Nutrition is a big deal but there is no one thing that is a silver bullet.

The key points from the nutrition standpoint are:

• Feed enough calories – the quality of their feed might not be high enough. In a positive energy balance they will grow foot 50% faster than horses on a restricted diet (not meaning the horse is on a “diet” for weight control, jut that the horse might be working more than the calorie intake received).
• Provide a good amino acid profile – don’t just supplement one amino acid and expect it to make a difference (for example, don’t just add methionine).
• Should you add minerals? If the mineral profile is already adequate, adding more is not going to help (and it might hurt). What’s more important that adding in single minerals is BALANCE. Don’t add a specific mineral unless you have a shown deficiency.
• Chelation of minerals is when bonded mineral to some kind of protein. This kind of mineral may increase rate of hoof growth. Minerals are absorbed more easily when chelated but it’s going to cost more money. Look for things like “zinc proteinate” or some kind of yeast. Zinc is a good one to be chelated.
•  Gelatin does not help – it has no scientific influence on hoof growth (And it’s not good for your fingernails either).
• Adding fat to the diet – adding a generic supplement will not help hoof, but it could help keeping the positive energy balance discussed earlier. However, adding fats high in omega-3 fatty acids IS beneficial for the foot.  This WILL provide direct benefits to their coats and hoof. Essentially these kinds of fats will add increased tensile strength if fed in the right amounts for long enough.
• Premium commercial feds provide a good vitamin-mineral balance if feeding around 5lbs a day. More cost effective than multiple supplements! For example: LMF Gold.

2. Feeding Biotin (for hoof quality) – it does work!

As for specific supplementation, Susan Garlinghouse discussed biotin extensively (which makes sense – it’s a common additive to hoof supplements). Biotin is one of the more expensive vitamin supplements. Most supplements do not add a lot of this because it’s expensive. The daily requirement for biotin is around 1-2mg/day just for general health. But if you supplement extra (15-20mg/day) you are going to get better hoof quality with some patience...

It will take 6 months to appreciate the difference with the 15-20mg/day dose. In about 9 months you should see a statistical difference (most horses grow out a foot in this timeline). In 33 months you see the increased tensile strength in the foot.

So yes, biotin can help a great deal with “feeding a good foot” if you keep in mind these baselines:

• Be patient and consistent!
• Improved quality: 5-7.5mg/day. At 15-20mg/day you see even better quality but no increased growth. At 50mg/day – you will see increased hoof growth. This will be around 15% better growth, plus a higher quality of hoof.
• Not every horse is going to respond, however. There are other factors that contribute to the hooves growth and strength (you need to have an overall good environment and supplementation before you can get payback).
• Biotin is a B vitamin (B7) and is not stored in the body – you have to feed supplement 2x a day if you are giving 50mg/day otherwise it will just be “an expensive pee puddle”.
• Her personal favorite is Paragon Biotin Plus – one scoop is 50mg. It also includes yucca. Yucca in naturally-occurring feed supplement is okay (otherwise it’s on AERC’s prohibited list).
• I personally recommend HorseTech’s Bioflax20 product. I didn’t know horses should be getting at least 20mg/day of biotin – but looking at the dosages for this product the horse does get the 20mg in the normal dose! The company also has higher doses in other products.

3. Feeding Fat

This topic is one I’ve seen discussed a lot within the endurance community. So, why feed fat? It has 2x the calories that protein and carbohydrates do, and it’s highly digestible! So feeding fat makes it easy to maintain a horse’s body weight.

The vegetable fats are more digestible (about 90%) and animal fats  are somewhat less  digestible (about 75%) because they have an added mineral content. In contrast, forage on average is 50-60% digested. What is not digested is poop, urine, or heat. You need that also, but heat is also a byproduct of exercise. A horse gets very hot during exercise and when their normal cooling process aren’t operating, they can get to a lethal core temperature in <15 minutes.

Feeding fats DECREASES the thermal load! Thermal load is higher in: larger horses, carrying heavier weight, heavily muscled horses. (This will tie into competing the non-Arab in endurance because one of the primary advantages Arabs have is a lower thermal load.)

Fat in the diet also provides glycogen-sparing effect. Glycogen is animal storage form of starch. Glycogen is a big bushy molecule. It’s not efficiently stored compared to adipose tissues so is in very limited supply. This means that feeding fat makes the animal more fuel efficient and Improves glycogen utilization. Once a horse had adapted to a high fat diet (which takes 5-10 weeks) they can still replenish glycogen repletion. High carbs are not something you want to feed a tired horse, so getting horses fat-adapted makes their rebound easier after a tough ride as well.

Fat is a SAFER feed than a lot of grain! Horses get more fuel efficient when exercising using aerobic metabolism processes and when they are used to burning fat, this process is encouraged over anaerobic energy uses. The glycogen sparing effect is also associated with a decrease in respiratory exchange ratio.

The comparison of oxygen consumption to CO2 produced does relate to the glycemic cycle in a horse as well. Adding dietary fats smooth’s out the glycemic/insulin curves from starchy meals, so your horse will have less of an energy rocket-boost and then a corresponding crash. Ideally its better to have sustained energy. Another reason to avoid large swings in the glycemic index is that insulin suppresses the horse’s ability to oxidize fatty acids – and you want them to be oxidizing fatty acids. All of this ties into how you want to feed a horse before a ride: ideally you want to SMOOTH OUT the glycemic/insulin curves.

Other considerations of a high-fat diet in the endurance horse include:

• Horses on high fat also digest grain better.
• One thing to note that is perhaps a bit unexpected: horses on generic HIGH fat diet show symptoms of being insulin resistant! However, if you change their diet to include 1-2oz of marine oil daily abolishes IR effect. So with a high fat diet add a little fish oil and add that. Dr. Garlinghouse recommended the product “EO3”, which is a marine oil source.
• Don’t ever syringe straight oil down the throat as it does not induce the “swallowing” effect and they can easily aspirate it into their lungs.
• What about the adage that you should stop feeding fat a couple days before an endurance ride? Essentially, fat consumption makes the horse less hungry. You want the horse to be stuffing itself with FORAGE before and during the ride-day as it is the best thing for gut health and water absorption. During the ride you should not add additional fat to their meals. You want your horses hungry whenever you make hay available to them. A horse can’t utilize fat on ride-day anyway. Edit to add another comment from Dr. Garlinghouse: "It's okay to feed a ration that happens to contain significant fats, and it's okay to add a high fat feed, like rice bran, as a flavoring agent. Just don't add a specific fat source, like pouring corn oil on their mash. I generally stop adding additional fats a day or so before a ride." 
• What about coconut oil? One of the fatty acids in coconut oil is lauric acid – the only other place it’s found is in breast milk. Lauric acid has been linked in some research with cancer fighting properties. But before you get too excited, this is what the actual research said about lauric acid and cancer: one of the metabolic byproducts of it, when put into a lab petri dish the “cancer did not like it.” Does this mean it actually has cancer-fighting properties? No! Essentially just think of coconut as fat a fat source. (It also tastes good and is therefore a palatable fat if your horse is picky.)

4. Chia seed vs. Flax?

These two seed sources are commonly fed to our equine partners and in her talk Dr. Garlinghouse compared them. Actually, she mostly talked about the benefits of feeding flax.

These seeds have equivalent omega-3 content but Chia is twice as expensive (so why buy it?). Flax helps with hoof and hair quality and helps as an anti-inflammatory. It’s good for arthritis and it’s great for horses in the endurance sport because endurance creates a certain amount of inflammation in joints and tendons even if it's not a chronic condition.

So what are the research points for flaxseed in a horse's diet?

• Every horse should be getting omega-3 fatty acids.
• Some endurance horses who had metabolic issues did well on 4-5lbs of flax a day (suggesting it's pretty safe for horses with metabolic issues).
• Lingan is higher in flax than in chia – lingan is a phytochemical structure (ie. An insoluble fiber which just providing bulk).  It does have a weak estrogen-like properties but the Dr.  Garlinghouse assured us that that is near impossible to actually make a measurable difference. She told us a story about a bunch of stallions on a rigorous breeding schedule who needed a lot of calories and were getting 5lbs of ground flax a day without experiencing any fertility issues. Though it has not been tested in horses, lingan can be protective in humans (prostate and breast cancer!).
• Human grade flax seed is okay to feed to our horses. Golden and brown flax is the same.
• Don’t over-grind the flax. You degrade the omega-3 if you grind it too much (because it gets too hot). Also, getting it pre-ground is risky. As long as it’s not rancid it will still provide some fat content to the horse, but the omega-3s degrade more quickly. Feed within 10 days/2 weeks. Put it into freezer bags to make it last longer.
• Flax does have the cyanide precursors that in some bodies do turn into cyanide. But the dose makes the toxin! It is another “cowboy myth” that flax seed is toxic because of these cyanide precursors. How did the myth start? It began– from cows fed linseed cake (which is the same plant but with the oil taken out of it). Cattle have the enzyme to break down the cryogenic precursors and they had some issues arise. Horses do not have this enzyme! Or at least not in high concentrations.

So how much should you feed?

• For flax: give a cup to 2 cups a day (start at ½ a cup a day or you will get diarrhea) for a horse doing LD or 50s. It’s more palatable than a lot of the oils.
• What about flaxseed oil? Plain flax seed is 20-25% fat and is a lot less expensive. The oil is harder to keep fresh – it’s very sensitive to light, and needs to be refrigerated.
• What about grinding flax? You will get 2x the digestibility out of ground (slightly ground). This is different than oats (where grinding does nothing) because flax is a SEED and has a hard hull.

Someone asked about black oil sunflower seeds. For BOSS – good way to get fat into them as a source of calories. But they have more omega-6s than omega-3s (and omega-6s are pro-inflamation). But at a better ratio than most vegetable oils!

5. Feeding Grain to the Endurance Horse

Oats, corn, barley, etc. The main thing to remember about feeding grain is: there is a limit to how much grain horses can digest in a day.

When feeding 5-11lbs of grain a day the risk of colic increases by a significant percentage. Why? Starch meals are digested by enzymes in the small intestine. It is like a conveyor belt and just keeps moving when healthy. When there is too much grain it gets dumped into the cecum. The cecum will treat it like forage because that's what the cecum does!

When grain gets to the cecum it makes the environment acidic ( which is called "cecal acidosis"). This condition associated w/ colic, laminitus, endotoxemia, EGUS, and other things you want to avoid in your equine partner. What's more, ulcer medication does not heal ulcers in the hind gut, so you should avoid ulcers as best you can. Dr. Garlinghouse noted that horses with fore gut ulcers often have diagnosed hind gut ulcers.

Other considerations for feeding grain include:

• Feeding 10lbs of grain a day also decreases fiber digestion.
• Sub-acute cecal acidosis contributes to decreased appetite.
• Digestibility NOT improved by splitting a large amounts of grain into many meals.
• The least digestible grains are corn and others with a very hard casing (the “hard grinds”). There is NO advantage to processing oats or other grain feeds compared to the straight grain (crimping, rolling, etc.). 
• Commercial feeds do things to grain to make them more digestible, so if you want to feed grain that might be the way to go.
• With respect to sprouting grains (as in fodder): it does improve digestibility, improves the vitamins the horse can access, and makes it palatable. If the grain is still intact enough to sprout and grow then you know you are getting a high quality grain. 

6. Ride-day Breakfast

• Re-think 4am grain or concentrate breakfast. Why not? Because you don’t need the energy spurt at the start of the ride. You want the burst later and you don’t want a slump at the “lunch” hour. This does not mean they can't get a mash of soaked pellets or something similar. So give them a flake of alfalfa in the morning. Or soak some pellets of alfalfa. Just to make him happy!
• The horse should be eating FREE CHOICE forage all day long! And days beforehand. This packs the gut full and will help store water if nothing else.
• Feed them any concentrates the DAY BEFORE (before midnight). The "lighter fluid" can be filled up the day before and your horse's glycogen stores will be full. And you will skip the glucose-insulin curve with this practice.
• Make sure he finishes all concentrates before midnight the night before.
• The only horses that need carbs during the day are the ones being competitive. 

7. Preferred Gait Studies

How does the body mass and distribution of weight affect energy costs? Does reducing mass of a distal limb increase energy efficiency? 

We know there is a linear relation between increasing mass and energy costs. When measured in fit Arab horses, adding 1.5lbs to each ankle increased energy costs by 11%. If the same amount of weight was at the center of gravity increased energy costs by only 0.6%. So every 1lb you add to the legs equals the same energy cost (approximately) as adding 18lbs over the center of gravity (such as tied to the saddle or breast collar). But you don’t get the extra “credit” points when standing for best condition if you have things on your horse's lower limbs.

So what should you do? Essentially, balance hoof protection against unnecessary additional weight! Ask: does my horse really need splint or bell boots? Does he need the heavy shoe or can I find something lighter? Or maybe be dynamic and change the booting and leg protection throughout the ride. For example, if you know the first loop is going to have a lot of brambles or cacti, put on protective boots and then pull them off for the second loop which has more sandy terrain.

(This is one reason it's important to train in the gear you are going to use, too, so your horse get's used to the energy expenditure required in wearing boots.) 

8. The "Sweet Spot" for Gait

Energy costs for the horse rise outside the “sweet spot” – ie. the speeds they are willing to keep up all day long. Most horses will have this for each gait. If the horse chooses their own speed they will usually choose the sweet spot themselves. Where an extended (or collected) gait goes away from the sweet spot we should make them transition to a different gait or else they are expending energy needlessly. The main qualifier for this is that if you have an inexperienced horse they may try and tell you their "sweet spot" isn’t quite what it actually is (I promise, Deli, the sweet spot is not jigging sideways). It's always good to change gears every now and then to use different muscle groups, anyway.

This is another area heart-rate monitors can be very useful. With a heart rate monitor you can tell his "sweet spot" is – that’s where his heart rate will be the lowest at that particular gait. As your horse gets more experienced that sweet spot is going to change. It usually gets faster as a horse gets more fit mentally and physically.

I am really curious to figure out Deli's "sweet spot". She can trot like a demon sometimes (approximately 14mph) but she seems most efficient at 7mph or so. Her walk varies widely, usually slower at the start (2mph) and warming up to 3-3.5mph. Not a fast walker!

9. Joint Supplements

The only joint supplement that is supported by data is Cosaquin. And yet even cosaquin is only about 3-4% bio-available to the horse. Glucosamine and the different sulfite joint supplements are not bioavailble to the horse when ingested. Why? The size of the molecule matters and can't be utilized well by the equine.

Adequan (or Legend) works better because you are bypassing the digestive tract. Adequan is 90% more bio-available. So Dr. Garlinghouse's recommendation is that you get 2 vials of Adequan rather than buying expensive supplements. In the long run this might actually save you money!

Here is another article I found comparing Adequan, Legend, and Pentosan. I'm particularly interested in researching and asking my vet about Pentosan for Deli, as she doesn't have any specific joints that are problematic (just a history of traumatic injury).

10. The best thing to feed DURING the ride is hay! 

You can also feed a lower-glycemic mash (triple crown senior is pretty good for this). As an aside – green grass is MAGIC for horses! If you have access to pasture and your horse is not sugar sensitive, green grass can do wonders to multiple systems in a horse’s body. This includes ride-day.

This is what we do at the end of anything long: a good roll!

That's all for now! Since a lot of what Susan Garlinghouse spoke about related to nutrition, I thought I’d provide a link to an article on nutrition and management made specifically for Green Beans.

Last time: The 2016 PNER Conference was a blast!

Next time: Notes from "Endurance Foot Care" by Sue Summers and Lee Pearce.

June 2015: Deli’s health and conditioning update.

Some signs have been alerting me to the possibility Deli has something hormonal going on – the unusual fat deposits, a change to her heats where she is even lazier than normal, and being slow(er) to shed out this spring. She could be experiencing early signs of cushings (an equine disease of the pituitary) or have something going on related to her reproductive organs. Or it could be a hormonal issue related to her metabolism (like insulin resistance or equine metabolic syndrome).  Several of these conditions are inter-related. It could also be something else entirely. She has always carried fat in certain places without a hint of metabolic issues. She does not seem to have one of the first signs of cushings: excessive thirst and urination (though she is pastured, so it’s hard to follow those things) and the pot-bellied appearance without being able to gain weight. She is shiny and has energy and her feet are in good shape – especially now that it is reliably dry.

I’ve put her on chaste-tree berry because that herb has good properties of balancing hormones and is often used for horses leaning toward cushings syndrome. I’ve also put her on a liver cleanser at my horse masseuse’s recommendation. Luckily none of these things are on the AERC banned substance list. We have also switched her and her pasture mate (who is also a fatty) to a lower-quality hay.

If I don’t see some changes within the next two months I’ll be having the vet out to test for cushings and do a metabolic/hormonal panel on Deli. Cushings in particular is an “old horse” disease and can be managed various ways. Obviously, I’d rather something less serious is going on but I’ve slowly learned to take things as they come with this horse.

Sometimes I wonder if Deli is having a sympathy-pregnancy/foal. We just had a foal born on the property and Deli is oddly interested in it when she has never given foals a second look before.  And the day after the filly was born her udder puffed up slightly. I mean, it could have also been a fly bite to her udder but… it is kind of suspicious, isn’t it?

If she does have cushings it is still in the very early stages and I have a viable plan.

 

Overall Deli has been doing really well, I think. Up until this week, where I have been sick with the flu and not riding her at all, she has been getting regular conditioning. I worry that we should be doing MORE and that I’m asking for too much at the same time. But she seems unaffected by the mileage increase in a bad way. She LOOKS more fit, she has more energy. She’s still a lazy pony in many respects (she says: I conserve energy for when it's IMPORTANT, human!), but she certainly prefers hitting the trails to anything else we could be doing. She can walk all day. If we had better footing to contend with I bet she could trot a lot of it too. The fact that the last time we went out to ride 10 miles she offered to canter up a hill shows she’s more game than ever.

Deli’s skin is doing really well too – I’ve figured out supplements that seem to help her hot-spot flare ups from insects. When she does have a flare up I have developed a system of topical applications that calm down the inflammation. This includes some of the previously mentioned creams/medicines (T-ZON, Tricare, my coconut oil concoction) and now just plain old aloe vera gel. Aloe is just another one of those things that I should have everywhere as it is absolutely essential for my OWN skin care (having red-dead skin, I burn TOO easily). It’s just another Deli-maintenance thing I needed to figure out and keep on top of!

My saddle-future is still up in the air. I AM getting a demo saddle in early July and have saddles I might be able to borrow from folks within the lovely endurance community. Still, I can’t afford to get a new saddle right now unless I am able to sell my current dressage saddle and use that money to get something new. There is still part of me flinching at the idea of making another huge investment when I don’t know if Deli is going to be able to (or want to) to the kind of miles that will make her a successful LD horse. Of course, to most endurance riders LDs are just the easy stuff. Not “real endurance” and pretty insignificant when it comes to distance riding.

It’s still a huge hurdle for Deli. And having her complete an LD in good shape is a huge hurdle for me, too.

I can see myself doing LDs easily. My fitness level is the best it has been in YEARS. I'm not saying I'm the most fit person out there, but I'm on the right path and I intend to stick with it. I am also the lightest, weight wise, that I have been since I was hit by a car and forced into a sedentary lifestyle by injuries in 2009. That feels great, too, though I am still not done with that journey either.

As long as I watch out for heat stroke and dehydration being on a horse for 6+ hours just sounds fun. (The heat stroke and dehydration is a big deal, but it’s also another management problem and not a deal-breaker.)

I am committed to going to the Bandit Springs ride with Deli in mid-July now. I haven’t yet committed to the idea of doing an LD, but it is a possibility. If something doesn’t feel quite right (or it’s in the 90s that weekend), I can opt to do another intro ride. I hear the trails are beautiful there and I don’t want to miss it either way!

My friend from the East coast riding the piggy pony in May.

I’ll have a demo saddle at the time, so I could possibly use that for the ride. I don’t know that it’s going to be a great fit though (it IS just a demo) so it will really depend on Deli’s opinion of the whole thing.

At least there is forward momentum of some kind in horse-life even when most everything else in my life is stagnant right now. Deli, as always, is a bright point. 

She may be a "cupcake" horse (a term I've heard endurance riders use to refer to their accident prone "special" horses), but she is my soul-horse. After all, I'm kind of a "cupcake" human in the same sense. 

We are probably too alike, Deli and I. 

(Except she's the looker.)

An update on Deli's tack and various allergies (and what I'm doing about them).

Tack update!

Our tack is finally in a decent place. In a workable place. My plan is still to jump into saddle shopping with both feet when my work life and income is in a more predictable state, but for now my saddle is working and gives even sweat patterns. This is helped by my other tack in combination, of course.

Observe:

Right now I’m booting her all-around as the weather has made her feet fairly soft and she moves out more confidently in her boots. That ride was the first time I tried her out in her new pair of Easyboot Gloves that I put a pad in – something I’ve done so that we can trot on roads more comfortably and without serious strain on her legs. Her front feet fit in 1.5 wides normally, though they get annoyingly difficult to put on and take off in the last 3^rd of her trim cycle. These are size 2 wides with a firm pad added. Plus powerstraps (I use powerstraps on all my Gloves). They stuck on well and she didn’t trip, so I was pleased. We are still trying to figure out what the best option is for her hind feet (which are more irregularly shaped and have that fetlock scar to contend with), but right now the Renegades I have for her at least stay on even if I am not super happy with the fit there.

As for other tack my parents got me the Thinline Sheepskin Endurance Pad I’d been coveting for my recent birthday, and Deli clearly LOVES it. Though I must say a little part of me dies when I take a clean fluffy sheepskin pad and within 3 rides it is disgusting from sweat and dirt. Her back is soft when I get off. For arena work I use a fleece-cotton square pad with a Thinline Contour pad on top.

A shot from Deli's most recent trim.

Using a crupper is also working out well to help with our long-running issue of the saddle being pulled forward due to Deli’s big laid back shoulder and forward hearth girth. Now we ride with a seriously loose girth and snug crupper and breast collar/plate and have had no issues with saddle slippage under saddle yet. I still can’t mount from the ground, but I have never been able to with this horse due to her meat-tube shape. Luckily she has become a pro at standing quietly while I use trees and rocks and ditches and random farm equipment to use as a mounting block.

I’ve also been using an elastic breast girth (as is used by eventers) instead of my Zilco breastplate for the simple reason that it stays above the area where her skin is upset from her allergies. It seems to work fine so far, and Deli seems to appreciate the elastic. I haven’t tested it yet on hardcore hill climbing but will soon.

As for an update on Deli’s allergies…

Deli’s skin issues due to hyper-sensitivity and insect allergies are an ongoing management head-scratcher. Riding does not make it worse, though I forgo riding when the tack touches any of her hotspot areas or when they are in places that stretch during normal movement (like her armpits – a typical spot for flare ups) because they clearly HURT. For the most part the flare ups are confined to her chest and between her front legs – which my vet thinks is because the spider bite several years ago that seems to have triggered her extreme histamine reaction was on her lower chest. It is really gross, in general. Her skin gets localized fevers in “hot spots” during the worst of it, making her skin peel off and the area especially sensitive. She will get scabby skin around bites or in hot spot areas. During bad flare-ups I have been giving her generic Zyrtec, which seems to help quiet the inflammation though I still wait for the peeling-gross skin areas to heal.

I’ve been experimenting with different supplements and have her on a Smartpak’s Bug-Off Ultra pellets, which I supplement with extra MSM during her flare-ups. She also gets lots of Omega 3s and other than her hot spot areas her skin and coat are shiny and healthy. Recently I added both chamomile and spirulena to her supplements as well, and one or both do seem to be helping as this past week her skin has been more dandruff-y than scabby and inflamed. When I lived in California both spirulena and chamomile were very helpful in easing some of the symptoms of her (mild) dust allergy as both have anti-inflammatory and soothing properties. Living in Oregon now the dust allergy comes up less often. At worst she usually needs to cough a couple times when we start trotting and then will be fine for the rest of the ride.

For topical treatments I use several things. Hydrocortisone has clear results in calming the initial inflammation and so I’ve made up batches of my homemade healing goo (which includes essential oils in a coconut oil base) with human-grade hydrocortisone cream. I also have my goo without the hydrocortisone which I put in areas she often gets bitten – including working it into her tail hair on her dock as it also functions as a skin and hair moisturizer. This works very well as a protective layer too, I’ve found, as the oil sticks around for a couple days and soothes her raw skin (when a layer has peeled off). The essential oils I use (Melrose and Purification, for those curious) also have an added benefit of repelling insects. 

If we ever do get to an endurance ride it’s likely I will make up some of my homemade goo without any AERC banned ingredients in it to put as a proactive protective layer before competition. My other favorite product is Healing Tree T-Zon Equine Healing Cream, which also provides Deli a lot of relief. I also use Eqyss Micro-Tek products and usually bathe her problem areas with some kind of gentle medicated shampoo (like Micro-Tek’s) at least every other week and then moisturize her skin and coat afterward.

Last but not least I rub her dry with clean towels and often use Dermacloth to clean sweaty areas after a ride to prevent any skin irritation that may occur from residual sweat and dirt. I also use these to clean around her eyes and the sweaty marks left by her bridle, as her eyes often get irritation from dust and insects as well.

My vet has confirmed that red-headed horses (like red-headed humans) do seem to have more issues with sensitivity in the skin. I think Deli has had allergies in some form as long as I have had her (the first thing I noticed was she would get white flaky skin when fed corn). The dust allergies seemed to be caused by an unfortunate illness she had when I first got her - the one where she was forced into quarantine against my will in a dark dusty stall. "Against my will" meaning I was trying to find an open solo pasture for her to be in quarantine given she had never been stalled and was still new to being handled regularly. I wasn't allowed to remove her and we were both traumatized by the experience for various reasons.

The insect issues are tied to that spider bite on her chest which was very nasty and made her skin get infected, requiring antibiotics.

That's not even half of what we've gone through, but as it relates to allergies that's about it. That, and she gets welts from many fly sprays...

Special special red mare.

Last time: What we've been doing on our "trails" lately.