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The Natural Equine

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25.01.2022 We would like to officially welcome the newest member of The Natural Equine team! Little miss Lennon joined us 4 weeks ago and has been the most perfect addition to our family. Lennon has already been out trimming the home horses with us and while she hasn’t shown much interest yet we have high hopes for her future! We are still waiting for the green light from the Dr’s and then we will be very slowly getting back on (or under?) the horse! Spaces will be limited for the tim...e being and preference will be given to current clients and case studies. We hope you are all well and will hopefully see some of you very soon!

25.01.2022 It was foggy and freezing cold but it felt good to be back under a horse!

24.01.2022 Low sugar pasture hay but . Sorry I’ve been so silent on the page. I’ve been focusing on some personal things and in all honesty have been avoiding my business page because I don’t have much to share being unable to trim and it makes me a little sad. However, I thought it was time to give you guys a little update........ One of my amazing friends who is a qualified equine podiotherapist has offered to travel with me and do the hands on work until I am physically able to t...rim again. Jess is travelling down from bendigo every 5 weeks and will be here for two days so spaces are extremely limited and we will only be able to cover certain areas. I have been in touch with all of my regular clients and have sent out contacts for other trimmers in their areas but if anyone is having troubles finding someone then please don’t hesitate to get in touch and I will try my hardest to get you in contact with someone who can help or depending on the location we may be able to squeeze you in. I hope you are all keeping well and are having a great time with your horses/ ponies/ donkeys!

24.01.2022 This is why WLD and thrush need to be taken seriously.

21.01.2022 With this dry weather I am seeing post after post on how to stop feet from cracking/ splitting/ drying out. Here are some handy hints....... 1. DIET DIET DIET!!!... I have said it before and I will say it again. No amount of trimming and oiling and praying will improve feet that are weak from a diet lacking in the essential minerals and vitamins. A good hoof care provider will be able to assist you with basic nutritional advice but I always recommend contacting a reputable equine nutritionist. What you pay up front to have your horses diet analysed you will often save in long term feed costs and unnecessary supplements that are full of fillers. 2. REGULAR TRIMMING This is crucial! For some horses this may mean every 6-8 weeks, for most it means every 4-5 weeks and for some horses it means every 2-3 weeks. Your hoof care professional will be able to advise you on the right trimming cycle for your horse. 3. MOISTURE Water! Yep, that’s it! There are a lot of misconceptions about using hoof oil’s to moisten hooves. It isn’t necessary and it doesn’t work. It may make the hoof look moist and shiny but that’s about it. The best way I have found to soften feet in summer is to stand your horse in water. Overflow your water trough, place wet carpet around their feed bins, allow access to a dam or soak in a bucket a couple of times a week. All these things will make a huge difference to your horses feet and if you combine them you should see a big improvement in very little time.

21.01.2022 Laminitis is NOT a death sentence! Check out our little pocket rocket living his best life!

20.01.2022 Back in 2015 while studying vet nursing I was lucky enough to spend some time doing placement at a equine veterinary clinic. While there I learnt a lot of interesting things including how to perform faecal egg counts. I have been doing them on my own horses and for friends ever since. I have some spare time on my hands these days so I am now offering this service to clients. Cost will be $15 per horse (discounts available for multiple horses). If you want more info please don’t hesitate to send us a pm or give us a call to discuss.

20.01.2022 https://drkhorsesense.wordpress.com//topping-off-hay-diets/

17.01.2022 This little lady has battled chronic laminitis for years and the owners have had a hard time finding someone to come and trim her and her buddies regularly. I took over their trimming 6 weeks ago and we made some great headway on her feet but when I visited on the weekend we discovered that she had a severe case of white line disease. Due to how quickly the WLD spread and the amount of care she will need the owner and I agreed that she would come to stay with us for a little ...while so we can monitor her and treat the affected foot daily. Sometimes when horses have multiple things going on it is a bit of a balancing act. Normally I like to put boots with padding on laminitis cases to support the solar surface of the foot and keep the animal comfortable but because the bacteria that cause WLD are anaerobic (they thrive in a moist,dark environment) this isn’t an option. Instead we chose to go with rubber matting. This means the foot is being exposed to plenty of oxygen and staying dry but she still has a comfortable surface to stand on. If you suspect your horse has seedy toe or white line disease please contact your hoof care provider. If caught early they may be able to completely remove the affected area with no follow up treatment. On the other hand (and as seen here) these things can also go south quickly and potentially cause long term damage to the hoof and it’s internal structures.

16.01.2022 RESTOCK Anyone that knows me knows that I love all things natural. This by default means I love all things @happyhorseaustralia. We use these products on all of our horses (and occasionally on our chickens, dogs and even ourselves ). As well as the skin balm and microbug we are now stocking and recommending fortify! We are also able to refill microbug bottles for anyone who has already previously purchased a bottle which means you are helping the environment while also... saving a few dollar bucks! Grab some at your next appointment or if you are local we can deliver! Happy horsing!

15.01.2022 Hoof cast application from yesterday.

15.01.2022 Now available at The Natural Equine

14.01.2022 Check out the improvement in this foot! This is the perfect example of why keeping your horse on a regular trimming cycle is so important. I started trimming this boy in October last year and had some major concerns about his feet. His owner has been incredibly dedicated and since keeping him on a 4 week trimming cycle and changing his diet and lifestyle we have seen huge improvement in his feet. These photos are taken pre trim, 4 months apart (October and January). They are far from perfect but they have come a very long way in quiet a short amount of time.

13.01.2022 Hi guys, grab a cuppa, sit yourself down somewhere cozy and listen up! What I am seeing time and time again is horses suffering from low grade chronic laminitis and/or sub clinical laminitis who are not being treated as laminitic because they are not obviously lame or unable to work. Then something happens (spring grass/ illness/ abscess/a stressful event etc) and the horse is suddenly having an acute episode. The horse is then locked in a small dirt yard, fed a biscuit o...f hay a day and more often than not put on bute for pain relief. Now, by locking your horse up and giving bute you will likely see improvement. You are removing the most common insult (grass) and giving pain relief. The problem is that this is not a long term management strategy and if it is used as such you will end up with a depressed horse with secondary issues wether they be behavioural, physical or most likely a combination of both. So here’s where it gets crazy! Wouldn’t it make more sense to find a way to permanently alter your horses environment and diet so they are not suffering with reoccurring inflammation and to lower their risk of an acute laminitic episode? Even if we can’t fully prevent an episode we can definitely set the horse up in a way that can reduce the amount of damage done! Our understanding of laminitis and ways to manage metabolic horses has come such a long way. There are so many great track systems, loop systems, paddock paradise set ups. The list and inspirational ideas are endless and horses who would likely have been euthanised are thriving on these management systems! This could be your horse! We owe it to our horses to do our very best for them. Some horses and ponies will never cope being left to graze in a large green paddock. Wether that’s due to genetics, grass types, whatever. It is really irrelevant. They just cannot cope and we owe it to them to find a way to manage them that doesn’t involve keeping them confined or isolated or forever walking on less than ideal feet! So I suppose the point(s?) I am trying to make is this....... Educate yourself on the subtle symptoms of laminitis. I mean the ones that appear well before the horse is rocking back on its heels and unable to walk. I am talking about the hardening crest, the stretched white line, the rings on the hoof wall, the subtle foot soreness. The little things that if not noticed fester away and will give the horse a much lower recovery rate should something push them over the metaphorical ledge into a full blown laminitic attack. Contact your vet/ hoof care provider/ nutritionist and ask them for advice. Not the lock in a yard with no food kind of advice but a clear long term management plan. Expect more from us! Make professionals do better!

13.01.2022 Very interesting article. As a trimmer I am constantly seeing pathologies in the hoof that are coming from higher up in the body but just as often I am seeing issues in the upper body created by dysfunctional feet. It is often impossible for one professional to fix these issues. The best approach is when trimmers/farriers, body workers, vets and owners work together as a team.

12.01.2022 Just over 1 month and this sweet little munchkin is just about to head home where her owners will continue her care. Still some work to do but from where she started I am so happy with how she is doing and how her feet are looking. Rehabbing her at my property was ideal for her as I was not only able to micro manage every aspect of her care and diet but I was able to weigh her regularly and trim her as needed.

11.01.2022 Block 3 complete! 3 days of learning about biomechanics with The Bone Lady Sharon May-Davis and 4 days of pathologies, barefoot laminitis rehab, diet and of course trimming pracs with Dave from The Barefoot Bloke and Nicky and Andrew Bowe from The Barefoot Blacksmith. I walk away from every study block feeling so inspired (and also a little brain fried!) but this one has also left me feeling a little sad about how much we have messed with these beautiful creatures and how m...any problems our interference and management of them can cause. Being a barefoot practitioner is about so much more than trimming hooves. It is about assisting owners with diet, lifestyle management and of course when needed, rehabilitation and referral to other equine practitioners. You can’t have good feet on a unhealthy horse and you can’t have a healthy horse on bad feet! The two go hand in hand. Now excuse me while I go and tweak my own horses paddock management..... again!

10.01.2022 Idle hooves are the devils tools..... or something like that? Horses occasionally need to be confined to smaller paddocks and/or yards, often because they need to kept away from fresh pick. Being confined isn’t ideal for a large herd animal that is designed to travel vast distances daily. It definitely isn’t great for healthy hooves and can often lead to depression and undesirable behaviours. How often do you see horses standing in the same muddy spot at the gate all day wai...ting for the next feed? So what can we do to try and keep horses happy and healthy when confined? Firstly look at your set up. It doesn’t need to be fancy. You can see in the picture that our house yard is mostly temporary fencing but was purposely set up in this area due to it being slightly elevated meaning less mud. It also has plenty of trees, different surfaces and a big pile of dirt (this serves its own purpose I will come back to down the track). Once you have a yard, lane, loop system set up then it’s time to add some enrichment ideas. One of my favourite things to do is spread their hay from one end of the lane to the other. This means they are constantly moving to get to the next pile. I also hard feed at one end, water at the other and have a salt lick in the middle. Again, encouraging extra movement. I will also often stash fresh herbs and celery around the paddock. This not only gives them a chance to pick and choose what herbs they need but also keeps them busy exploring and searching. Last but not least I always have at least two horses in together. They keep each other moving (are you seeing a theme here?) but also give each other a sense of safety and companionship which is vital for mental as well as physical health. Hopefully some of these tricks will come in handy for you and your horse/pony and maybe they will inspire you to get creative and come up with your own ideas to keep your horse happy and moving!

07.01.2022 New product alert Check out these bad boys! These are hands down the best hoof picks you will find! Instead of the traditional soft brush these have wire bristles which are much more efficient and getting dirt and mud out your ponies tootsies! ... Best part is they are only $10 and come in a range of awesome colours

06.01.2022 Keeping horses who are locked off grass mentally stimulated can be a difficult task. Here is our girl with her slow feeder hay net. Recently I learned that horses are actually designed to spend only 80% of their time grazing. The other 20% should be spent browsing on scrubs and trees. Varied feeding positions such as this one have multiple health benefits not only for the horses feet but for their whole body as well as their mind. Using slow feeder nets also means your horse ...is going to have consistent access to roughage over an extended period of time. Two nets will last this mare until morning but if I put it on the ground it will have either been gobbled up or pooped on before midnight meaning she would be without access to feed for 7 hours! My favourite thing about these nets though is seeing her little (don’t tell her I said that!) brain working on how to get the hay out faster. This net is hung up to swing free making it more difficult for her but she is well aware that it has some bigger holes in it and if she gets the net in the right position she can get a decent mouthful See more

05.01.2022 Hi everyone, as most of you are already aware, I am currently pregnant. The plan was to continue trimming until at least March next year but my body has other ideas. Due to some minor complications I was informed by the Dr that I need to stop trimming immediately. This means that I will be unavailable to trim until June 2020. I realise that I have some clients in areas who are finding it hard to find a trimmer so if you are one of them please get in touch and I can send you some numbers for other trimmers who may be able to assist. Thank you so much to all my amazing clients who have been so understanding and supportive. I have loved getting to know you and your beautiful horses and donkeys and I hope to see some of you again down the track.

05.01.2022 So happy with how far these little feet have come!