Archive for Barefoot Horses

Cash’s left rear – Photo taken two weeks ago

Ten months ago we moved from dry, rocky southern California to middle Tennessee. I had done my homework and had conversed a lot with my pasture mentor Melanie Bowles (The Horses of Proud Spirit Sanctuary). Still I was very nervous. Our guys and gals had been living on hard rocky desert-like ground. All barefoot. Their hoof trims every eight weeks amounted to maintenance trims as they were wearing their hooves much like they would if they were in the wild. But they were moving to the soft (it turns out mushy) green grass pastures of middle Tennessee and we were being advised by many that our herd simply could not be out 24/7 on the “rich grasses” of this area. Read More→

Jun
11

Yippee! At Last! No More Excuses!

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Finally. Enough days of dry weather sandwiched together to get the grading done and get the pea gravel delivered and voila! We have a round pen. Kathleen returns for the summer (another yippee) in a couple of weeks – with her cameras – and then work with Noelle will begin in earnest. No more excuses. A Join-Up and a lead rope are in her future :). Meanwhile she will spend time Read More→

This 6-pound stone was taken from the tummy of a horse. It was
given to
us by Dr. Matt and we keep it on a prominent
pedestal
to remind us how important it is that we get
the diet right for our horses.

By popular demand the next tele-workshop will be on diet and nutrition. A Crazy Little Thing Called Love (TW2) – OR – Why Would You Ever Let Your Horse Eat That? This topic is a slippery slope, like running a military obstacle course, but we have a super group of guests who know the subject inside and out. First Read More→

May
16

If You Regularly De-Worm Your Horses…

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…please listen to this Equine Affaire presentation by Dr. Dan Moore, the Natural Vet: http://www.thesoulofahorse.com/Video%20NH/NaturalVetOnDeworming.mp3

He also gets into vaccinations and diet and nutrition as well. Very good information. – Joe

Cloud (on the right), mustang stallion of the
Pryor Mountains winning a mare

Ginger Kathrens’ motion picture camera has followed the life of Cloud since the day he was born – the day she named him – more than nine years ago. Across those years she has filmed three incredible PBS Specials on Cloud and his wild herd, but the latest one Cloud: Challenge of the Stallions (I call it Cloud 3 :) is truly the best compilation of the the most amazing footage I’ve ever seen that tells a story story so remarkable Read More→

Apr
26

Noelle Has a Sweet Spot

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Unfortunately it was a tick bite, but at least it served a purpose. I could give her something she loved. This became the routine for more than a week, until the bite began to heal and was no longer itchy. I immediately looked around for another tick…nooo, just kidding. Anyway, around here you don’t have to look far to find ‘em.

I love it when Kathleen comes home, camera in hand. I tend to forget about these sweet moments until I start browsing through her weekend of photos. I didn’t even know she was standing behind me when this next batch was taken. Read More→

You’ll love it. A short blog: Next Saturday, May 1 at 9pm Eastern (8pm Central, etc) Kathleen and I are hosting our first TeleWorkshop: A Crazy Little Thing Called Love. If you haven’t checked it out, please do: http://www.thesoulofahorse.com/Workshop1SignUp.htm

Also wanted to report our new The Soul of a Horse Fan Page on Facebook is now above 2000 fans. Many thanks to all of you who have become fans. If you haven’t and would like to, we’d certainly love to have you: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Soul-of-a-Horse/106606472709815 Oh, almost forgot… for reasons unknown Facebook decided to change Fan pages to Like pages. Somewhat less honest I’m thinking but if you’d like to be a fan, when you get there click “Like” :)

Joe

Apr
14

Other Things That Make My Day

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Scribs-4-14-10-400 copy
Kent Maddock was after us for months and months to allow them to acquire Scribbles. If you’ve read the book you cannot help but remember Scribbles. One December Kent called and begged, saying he wanted Scribbles to be a surprise Christmas gift for his wife Laurra.

“Ohhh that’s so sweet,” Kathleen cooed, and my resistance shield Read More→

6-14-09JoeNoelleSad400

Yesterday I spent the entire day uploading 77 photos of Noelle and Malachi to our new Facebook fan page for the The Soul of a Horse. I don’t think I have the patience to do this. And I know I don’t have the emotional stability to do it when it means going back through all the photos of our wonderful boy horse Malachi. But do it I did, buckets of  tears and all. The one above struck me hard. It was taken Read More→

Breakfast-3-20-10-400

It’s been too long. This is where Kathleen and I ate our first several dozen meals after the move last September. Breakfasts. Lunches. Dinners (or as they say here in middle Tennessee: Suppers). We would sit sometimes for an hour without a word. Just watching the herd. Listening to the symphony of the frogs at night. The birds. The crickets. Smelling the roses. Without alternative. Locked up in the house over a seemingly endless winter, buried in work and warmth, the roses were fewer and further between. And easy to ignore. I often looked at it as a good thing because I was getting so much work done. Not bothered by those smelly old roses. But my spirit suffered. Read More→

Mar
16

A Crazy Little Thing Called Love

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Pete'sHoof

Finally we’ve got the date set for our barefoot TeleWorkshop. Sorry it took so long. It’s called A Crazy Little Thing Called Love – or – Why Would You Ever Let Your Horses Go Barefoot? It’s not a “how-to” but rather a “why-to” workshop designed for people who are not yet convinced barefoot is the right thing to do, the loving thing to do. And for everyone who is already there but needs ammunition to ward off and convince all those friends and “not-so-friends” who think you’re nuts. This is a two-hour workshop with Joe, Kathleen, and Eddie Drabek, one of the foremost natural hoof specialists in the country, jammed full of facts, undeniable truths, and real-life experiences, with lots of Q&A after.  Send your farrier! Check it out.

Feb
22

Ahhhh…. sunshine at last!

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Joe-Cash1-400

Four consecutive days of sun! The first time that’s happened since we moved in last September. Kathleen flew in Wednesday night and brought it all with her. There wasn’t Read More→

Comments (11)

BenjiReturnsHero400Meet Benji,  Kathleen, and moi at Road the the Horse, the World Championship colt starting competition March 5-7 in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Benji will make a special appearance at the event; I’ll be signing copies of The Soul of a Horse: Life Lessons from the Herd; and – by popular demand – Kathleen will be introducing Read More→

Jan
29

This Morning Began…

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CalmBeforeStorm…like this. The calm before the storm! Read More→

MalSweet350

2009 was a tough year; full of struggles, change, and pain. And much to remember. But 2010 began with an awesome reminder of what our task on this planet is all about. Read More→

NoellePasture1-400

Sometimes I have to haul off and slap myself.

Seriously.

Something to force the brain to stop racing around like a crazed maniac and take a deep breath. To pause and smell the roses. Or at least look at them. How many times in my life have I closed my eyes and dreamed of the above picture? And here it is. Part of our life. And I’m fretting about how far behind I am and how much I have to do. Read More→

Last night was an emotional ride. Benji and I were invited to speak at The Animal Rescue League of Iowa’s annual fund raiser: The Mane Event. At the end of the presentation I attempted to demonstrate to the supporters of the ARL how important they are to the League’s work of saving animals; how their support is actually making a difference. Not only saving but changing lives… of people (mine and Kathleen’s) as well as animals. Our Mouse was the subject.

MouseRescueMouse on the far outside

Two years ago, nine-month-old Mouse was among 14 horses rescued by the ARL from just horrendous, Read More→

Aug
14

Is Natural Horsemanship an Oxymoron?

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That phrase  – Natural Horsemanship – is beginning to affect me like fingernails on a chalk board because there’s very little that any of us do with a horse that is truly natural. I suppose if we never had an agenda – a human agenda – we might be able Read More→

Jun
28

We Enter the Blogoshpere

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In an effort to keep up with the 21st Century, Kathleen and I have leaped headlong into the world of blogging with this, The Soul of a Horse Blog. The object is to make the blog everything that our newsletter has Read More→

May
05

Quite a Morning Adventure for Malachi!

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MalAdventure-5-5-350

What a spectacular morning! Malachi really stretched his boundaries on his at-liberty walkabout. Although today it was a race-about. He had never ventured farther than Read More→

Our canine superstar Benji, Oprah’s favorite onscreen animal, has never had anything to do with our other horses. Not even sweet Cash. Along comes our unhandled pregnant mustang adopted from the BLM Dec 10. Malachi was born on March 3 and from the very first day Benji was taken with him. Maybe because Benji was adopted from a shelter as well Read More→

Pete and Ivy Ramey are currently spending one week every month at Auburn University’s Vet School trimming hooves for Doctor Deborah Taylor, DVM, MS, DACVIM who is recording and studying the results of natural hoof care on chronic laminitis cases. The study has consistently shown rotation reversal, increased sole Read More→

Mar
11

Malachi – The Soul of a Horse Continues

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Mal-3-10-09-1-350

Malachi’s 8th day on the planet.

Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament of the Bible. In Hebrew the word means messenger, and in the Book of Malachi the message is that change is coming.

Malachi intended to write a book about change.

I didn’t.

In fact I didn’t set out to write a book at all. Kathleen and I were just trying to figure out how to keep and care for a small group of horses that had somehow landed quite unexpectedly in our front yard. We were asking Read More→

Mar
03

Morning Surprise – It’s a Boy!

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Foal-Noelle-3-3-09-3W350

We’re giddy. Last night everything was normal. No liquids anywhere. And this morning there he was. And mommy is very much a mommy. And very protective. This morning I couldn’t touch Read More→

This short video from Ove Lind in Sweden is the clearest example I’ve ever seen of why laminitis and other problems with the lamina in your horse’s hoof go hand in hand when your horse is wearing a metal shoe. The horse was not Read More→

Jun
01

Odds and Ends

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I read somewhere during the past year that someone was having good results feeding their horses pro-biotics to help clean out the parasites, thus eliminating the need for worming. We had already gone to a program of fecal testing before worming, with a plan to test every six months and only worm if the tests are positive. So we started using Probios Dispersible Powder (http://www.probios.com/powders.htm#disperpwdr), mixing about a half teaspoon with each horse’s small tub of Triple Crown Safe Starch forage, feeding it Read More→

Apr
29

Q&A with Joe Camp

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1) There are thousands of horse books on the market. Why did you write another one?

I didn’t actually. I mean, yes, of course, it has to do with horses, but first and foremost it’s a story. I’ve spent most of my life telling stories, most of them involving animals. And I found this one particularly fascinating. Two complete novices-my wife and I-leaping into this enigmatic world of horses literally without a clue. The mistakes, the fear, the fascination, and the frustration with some of the answers we were getting. And ultimately the discovery that something was very wrong in this world of horses. Read More→

It took me three years to finally boil this journey of ours down to a single simple point as it relates to how horses are supposed to live. It never ceases to amaze me how I can have something right in front of my face and not be able to see it because it’s camouflaged by some predisposition or learning sequence. Like this old logic problem:  What do the words, first, hijack, and crabcake have in common? Stare at that for a bit and if you get it quickly, you’re doing better than I did. I spent several hours before finally, in desperation, I began to assign numbers to the letters, looking for some commonality of sequence, or totals, or something. Only after a number was attached to each letter did I see it. The answer literally leaped off the page. Do it yourself, assign numbers… ie: a=1… b=2…z=26, etc. You’ll see it very quickly. That’s the way it was with this concept of so-called domestic vs wild horses. How do you explain Read More→

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