New photos December 27 - compare with June

[June and December off or right foot] [June and December near or left foot]

Left - June Bailey developing 'slipper' feet.. Middle- October 8, 05. Trotting out freely.. Right - December 21 gleaming with health.

A personal page on feeding and hoof care of the Shetland Pony in New Zealand

The in line frame photos will take a minute to load but they are very clear and worth the wait.

My personal thoughts - I accept no responsibility or liability for any information found on this web site.

Go to: My thoughts on Diet

Bailey's hoof care and rehabilitation

First of all I want to tell you that this is and has been a learning curve for me, this is not the last word and to begin with you might like to compare the photos from June with those of December 27, 05.

[June and December off or right foot] [June and December near or left foot]

In Octber 04, Bailey's feet suffered from a bout of Laminitis which was greatly aggravated by the administration of Equipalazone Powder and her adverse reaction to Phenylbutazone which it contained. We had to feed her to save her liver and at the end of the day she survived. You can read about this saga HERE

Bailey began to walk on her heels and I could see her toes would turn up if I did not take drastic action. I read as much as I could on the internet about natural hoof care and how you could rehabilitate even badly foundered feet in time. Beginning in May I began to trim her feet almost daily a bit at a time and took photographs for comparison and then loaded them on this web site and in October I asked for comments from the naturalhorsetrim support group for horse owners interested in high performance barefooted horses and the Strasser method of rehabilitation. A big thank you to Odette who, though living in another country, bravely gave her advise and expertise via E-mail, and markings on my photographs, which was a wonderful help and support. I endeavoured to trim as she suggested, but erred on the cautious side and feel that photos can give a distorted view. Shortening back the toes and reducing heel height seem to have worked.

Barefoot for Soundness (has been a big help) and is an excellent site with a lot of clear photographs and drawings and information about founder and correction of the feet, which is even possible when the coffin bone has rotated. For ponies read the 'Founder Pony' linked from the links on the left side. (Quote from this page - "Note that the correct heel length on a pony "seems" longer than in a full-sized horse -- it makes the foot look more upright. A pony's coffin bone is as tall as a horse's, but is not as wide. So the heel length is about the same as a horse's heel.")

HEEL HEIGHT: THE DECIDING FACTOR by Pete Ramey, MHG 5-22-05. This is an article about heel height and gives another viewpoint and a warning about trimming heels.

My thoughts on diet

Shetland ponies have lived for thousands of years in the Shetland Islands where the climate is too harsh for trees to grow and grass must be accordingly different from what is grown in New Zealand. The ponies are known to graze seaweed to survive severe winters.

Small ponies are prone to founder here, especially in the springtime and autumn.

Scientists have bred grasses for fattening cattle and sheep grazing on fertilized lands.

This is not ideal for a small pony from the Shetland Islands whose main object in life is eating.

Since Bailey's illness last year, I have been experimenting, strictly monitoring their diets and they are all much more active since losing weight. Bailey in particular, gallops around just for the joy of it.

She is in a very restricted area but with with hill for exercise and a shelter. Using an electric fence we have made a 'run' for Bailey, Moonshine and Elliot. This goes around, up and down a steep hill. During the day in spring when sugar levels rise in short, rapidly growing grasses, they have only a small area available.
In other areas we encourage specific 'weeds' and grasses for cutting. It is easy to develop these. You just let some of the desirable plants seed, cut the undesirable before they seed and wait.

We try to feed them a variety in small quantities and often as follows:

Breakfast is in a bucket. This consists of a single handful of Lucerne chaff (as much as I can pick up with one hand), and about double of oaten chaff. To this I add 1tsp each of Seaweed meal and Dolomite and mix it with a Tblsp of Apple cider vinegar plus enogh water to dampen the feed. I used to also add molasses dissolved in hot water but no longer feed this. Bailey also has a small amount of soaked 'Speedy Beet'. I stopped this for a while but think she was better in herself for having it so reintroduced it.

For lunch Elliot gets up to an hour tethered on rough grazing (actually his 'ride on mower' duties on the grass verge). Bailey and Moonshine dine on cut mature grass and a few herbs such as dandelions, yarrow, sow thistle or cut New Zealand Snow grass. In winter it is what I can find and some hay.

Later in the day they have access to a large bale of thrashed grass seed straw for several hours. This is mature grass which has had most of the seed removed and has been baled. It gives them fibre. It is easy to give them too much, especially when they look in the window with imploring faces.

One important thing to mention; I have not had to use it so far this spring, but if there is any sign of her appearing even the tiniest bit laminitic, she will get 4Mls of Bio Start

Web sites: Veterinary Surgeons articles on feeding for Laminitus founder etc. A number of excellent articles - These are a must read with animated graphic: http://horses.at.co.za/vet.htm

Spring Grasses and Problems for Horses Dr. Jim Brendemuehl - May 5, 2005

Particulars about Bailey

Rose-Eyre Moonstruck - Bailey around home
287 NZ Shetland Pony Breeders Soc. Inc.,
1372 NZ Miniature Horse Assn Inc.

Buckskin 8.3 h.h. 33.5 inch.

Foaled November 16, 1997 Brand 1 over 7 off shoulder
Breeder: C. & K. Houston

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