A new year dawns

Happy New Year! Like everyone, it seems, I am quite glad to see the back of 2017 and pretty excited about 2018. Lots of exciting new projects!

Well, first things first, the gorgeous Annie is up for sale and it's been quite a wrench. I absolutely detest selling horses - not because its a sad parting (though it often is) but because I have to deal with buyers. Very rarely are buyers serious about buying. Even more rarely are they genuinely interested in paying what you're asking. Now, fair enough, a horse is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it, but if you're not even in the ballpark, budget-wise, it's pretty pointless ringing up, going out to try the horse, then starting to haggle from a point significantly below what the sticker price is. Just frustrates everyone...

Not that I'm having that much trouble with Annie. Just a lot of tyrekickers and normally this isn't a drama for me, but Annie is special. I don't like random people just inserting themselves into Annie's life if they're not serious about being her new partner. Weird, maybe.

Annie is up for sale because I have made the decision to pull back from eventing and focus on dressage. I am a competitive person - I have written about this before - and I don't ride for 'fun.' Riding is fun, don't get me wrong, but I will never be a bush-bashing, trail-riding kind of rider. If I'm riding, it's because I want to be the best at it. And eventing is not an option at that level for me. I don't have the ticker for it.

However, I have developed a strong ambition to take a horse to FEI level dressage. Go figure. I'm now a boring dressage bitch! I'll keep eventing a bit - just low level to keep the dressage pony on its toes, but it's going to be more about dressage now. Not sure if I can change my blog name!!

Going to look at a very promising pony tomorrow. Keep you posted. :)

So, I've been trimming the two colts' feet for a bit now. It's so damn dry and hot all the horses have very hard hooves (which is theoretically great but bloody hard work!). I have a couple of pics of Jack (2yo ASH colt) below.

Little Jack hooves

Jack

Some interesting wall separation on the right

You can see the small size of his hooves after a trim. Barefoot horses have comparatively tiny hooves compared to shod horses. The hoof capsule is tight, strong and correctly angled. You can see, in the last pic, the lack of symmetry in Jack's hoof, though. Some of this is due to me leaving the hooves too long between trims, allowing flare to get a bit out of control, particularly in that right side. This places stress on the hoof wall, pulling it away from the laminae and causing problems.

This is about a week after the trim, but you can see the bars of the hoof haven't been trimmed back enough. It was so bloody hard that was literally the best I could do! Have to sharpen my hoof knives!

Our web page is up and running! If you haven't had a look, please take 5 minutes to have a browse. The pics are definitely a work in progress, and I really appreciate feedback.

The addy is www.pinehillequestrian.com.au

See you out there!