My journey to more positive training.
Mojo had his left front rasped well by Liz. He kept his foot on the block after a little fidgeting. Plenty of reinforcement with carrots.
We plan to do one foot at a time so he doesn’t get too frustrated by it all.
I then trimmed his feathers so we can actually see his hooves.
I went to see Mojo on Monday the 11th May after 6 weeks of not travelling anywhere due the virus pandemic. We have been safe and adhered to all lockdown and self isolation measures. Mojo has been in a field with Smoke and Indi in the care of our excellent yard owner.
When I went on Monday I just picked out his feet in the field and did a few exercises.
Today, I joined my daughter – we are now allowed to see 1 other person we don’t live with – as long as we stay 2 metres apart. I picked out Mojos front feet but he was a bit sticky with the hinds. So I just looked at them.
Liz managed to rasp one front foot before Mojo decided enough was enough. So I just applied some hoof paste and gave him a good groom. Apparently he was not impressed with having to come out of the field into his stable this morning. Even with the yard owners husband leading him – he normally loves him and isn’t a problem.
We will have to do more sessions on the yard before asking the trimmer to come. Liz will rasp one foot at a time if necessary.
Mojo had his appointment with the hoof trimmer. He was OK with the fronts and held them up well. However he was way over threshold by the time we got to the hinds. So Penny will come back and start with them first next time. He seemed to enjoy his red light therapy and was relaxing but still very protective of the hinds, even though he had been on bute for 4 days beforehand.
We have been training with a new head collar and really starting over with hoof care. I consulted and experienced equine behaviourist who came to see him a few weeks ago. Justine thinks it is pain related but how do we get to the bottom of this when he wont let the vet near his right hind?
We will keep on with the retraining and adding duration of his hinds legs being off the ground.
The yard has a visit booked from someone with a Theraplate machine so Mojo is booked in for that and a sports massage. He enjoyed the last massage he had and is OK with our physio too. So we will see how he is with a new person present.
May be we need to rent a few people to come and see him – so he can start associating new people with fun things.
November 4th 2019.
Mojo had his feet trimmed today, started with the hinds, got the left one done then he decided not to pick the right one up. So Penny did the fronts, he is perfect with them now and holds them for quite a long time. Eventually got the right one done with lots of rest along the way. Non of the horses were very settled in the horrendous rain so we were very pleased with him.
December 9th 2019
Update on Mojo’s feet. He needed them done as quite flared and cracked so the trimmer came a week early. He wasn’t at all settled or co-operative, so we decided on veterinary sedation. Fortunately we are close to the hospital and a vet came out straight away. Mojo was sedated and towards the end twitched. I felt a bit bad about twitching but he did need trimming. He also had an injection for feather mites and I trimmed and oiled his feathers whilst he was still sleepy. Hopefully he wont be so bad next time – he lets us pick out his feet and I have been trying to add duration but the vet thought the mites were making him extra sensitive.
Mojo update, 13th December.
Yesterday was the first time I got to see him since the trim under sedation, he picked up all four feet but wasn’t interested in any treats but took the grass pellets.
14th December 2019.
Today I groomed him, poked about at all four legs, to check his skin. He didn’t object to me brushing his feathers. Then I got him out on the yard and held a bucket of Readigrass whilst Liz picked out and brushed his hoofs. He didn’t object to her holding his left hind out behind him – as the trimmer would do. He was a little tense with the right hind and did snatch it just as she had finished and was putting it down. Big fuss for him when the feet were off the ground.
Mojo has a new hoof trimmer, she spent 2 hours with us and offered essential oils and red light therapy too. Mojo tolerated his fronts doing and they were done very well and he had spray and hoof clay too. By the time we got round to the hinds he had had enough, next time we will start with the feet and end with the esssential oils and red light.
Mojo’s feet 4th October 2019
Penny Thorpe ( the hoof trimmer) came again today to do Mojo’s hind feet. I got him in at 8 am to dry out and gave him a feed with cortaflex, buteless and some calming herbs. He also had some barley grass and a bucket with peppermint in – he wasn’t too keen last time but this time he licked the bowl clean, not sure whether he had the peppermint water. He had plain water too and some hay.
He seemed much less stressed when Penny arrived, she offered some tobacco essence and he seemed quite keen on that. Then she picked out his front feet and just tidied them up. Then on to his left hind – he lifted it well and it was trimmed and rasped, lots of breaks so he could rebalance. One of the other liveries gave me some readigrass for him to chew on – and he loved that along with some grass pellets and herb treats when he needed a bit of extra support.
Lots of praise and bridging when his feet were off the ground. He had both hinds done and then the sole cleanse spray and hoof clay was applied.
After the he had some red light therapy.
All booked in for 4 weeks time, I will continue to work on his foot lifting – which was very good on the fronts and is getting better on the hinds.
Positive Horsemanship. 