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 going through the round pen to the front paddock where she is fed morning and night, just getting used to that evil horse-eating pen. It went up yesterday and this morning she cautiously strolled down the hill and into the pen through two open panels, sniffed around for quite some time, then walked toward the gate into the paddock, stopping cold a few feet away. The huffing and puffing began. This is one scary gate, only six feet wide, surely designed especially to eat mustangs. But there was her feed tub, not far away on the other side of the gate. She thought and huffed and thought and puffed… and finally bolted through the gate at a dead run. Whew! It was good to know that mustang mares are faster than round pen gates. But, after mealtime, without that good Safe Starch forage as an incentive, it was a no go. She got really close to the gate at one point and some part of it scared her so bad she did a perfect rollback, front feet all the way off the ground for the full 180, before racing off across the paddock. I think it might’ve been the metal cross piece on the ground at the bottom of the gate, but I was up in the pasture scattering hay by then and couldn’t tell for sure. She ultimately discovered that the back end of the barn breezeway was open to the pasture so off she went. My guess is if that escape route is closed to her and there just happens to be a bit of hay in the round pen, it won’t be long at all before this will be behind her.
It’ll also be fun to get Cash and Mouse into the pen with the big circus ball. And Kathleen is looking forward to picking up her work with her big ol palomino sofa Skeeter.
This is one of those near-perfect days that allowed things to dry out enough to get the work done for the round pen. The skies were clear, the pastures had just been mowed, and everything was just gorgeous. I’m sure someone is going to screech Did you say pea gravel in the round pen?! Are you nuts? The answer to both, of course, is yes. But pea gravel is, in fact, terrific for bare hooves. Especially in this ground soaked climate. It does a bit of rasping and stimulates the soles and the frogs, promoting good blood circulation. We put a base down of crushed limestone (called crusher run) so the pea gravel wouldn’t sink into oblivion.
Some of the boys and girls are having plant allergy issues and the cumulative opinion seems to be that it’ll take a couple of years for their immune systems to become adjusted to all the flora they’ve never encountered before. But their feet have come through the wettest fall, worst winter, and most flooded spring ever in excellent shape. All except Noelle’s. But we made the decision way back that we wouldn’t let her hooves get in the way of allowing relationship to evolve slowly, pretty much at her pace. I haven’t known many mustangs but she is definitely the freakiest. The incident at the round pen gate this morning speaks volumes. I think her feet, however, have grown tired of waiting for her brain.
Believe it or not, when I saw this flap I wasn’t terribly worried. On that same morning Kathleen found this clump of mud that that had dropped out of one of her front feet beautifully in tact.
Note how the live sole area is almost perfectly defined in white (exfoliating powdery sole material I presume) as is the ridge between the live sole and the lamellar wedge that Pete Ramey talks about so often in his DVD set. Everything forward of that ridge is lamellar wedge (no vascular system… pretty much worthless material – stuff that the natural hoof specialist or the horse itself will ultimately do away with). As part of studies of the Australian wild Brumby by the University of Queensland, they captured a mare in a herd located in a climate similar to ours here in middle Tennessee and introduced her to a stallion in a herd in the desert. When she was released to the herd in the desert her feet looked pretty much like Noelle’s. When she was recaptured three months later (she wore a GPS collar) her feet were perfect. Beautiful. In just three months! Which comes from traversing the kind of terrain her genetics evolved in for millions of years.
The next day that flap on her right front broke off, very cleanly. I wished I could put a mustang roll on it.
A couple of days later the other side broke off. Sorry for the soft focus. It was cloudy dark this morning when I shot this with my phone. I’m watching the situation closely and if anything scary happens we’ll do what needs to be done. But I think she’s just trying to make Mark Taylor’s job easier when we finally get to trim.
Noelle, Cash, and Mouse
Mustang, Arabian, American Saddlebred
Ages 6, 14, 3
Girl, boy, girl
Not too bad for an ol’ middle-aged guy. Right between the wild and the young.
Okay, I can’t believe you put pea gravel in your round pen!
I just set up a 60 ft. round pen in what used to be a sand volleyball court. After I graded it I couldn’t decide what footing to put it. After three months I still have not finished the round pen because of the question of footing. I kept coming back to the idea of pea gravel…I thought it would be a great way to exercise and ride my horses to help keep their feet tough through our wet, rainy Washington winters (and springs, summers, falls!). But I’ve never heard of anyone using pea gravel in a round pen, and nobody I even know rides their horses barefoot (except my friend who does my barefoot trims). I put pea gravel in my horses’ run-in stalls, but though my crazy idea of pea gravel in the round pen might be going overboard. Then I read your blog!!! I’m not crazy!
So please, tell me everything you can about the process you used. Did you just grade it, put down crushed limestone and then pea gravel? How thick was each layer? What size pea gravel did you use? Is the pea gravel compacted, or is is laid thick enough that there is some give? How are you keeping the pea gravel in the round pen? Will you exercise AND ride your horses in the pea gravel?
Any info you could post would be greatly appreciated!
PS…when you Join Up with Noelle I would love it if you would record and post it. I have the Join Up DVD series, but I think I’m having trouble with my timing. Monty is a professional horse trainer, he makes it look so easy. When I go out and do it I feel as though I’m not quite getting it right. I’d love to see someone who isn’t a professional horse trainer Join Up.
Don’t think you are not crazy Erin. If I am you are too :) The crushed limestone base is about 4″-5″ thick with about 4″ of loose pea gravel on top. Don’t know yet how it’ll hold up or how well the pea gravel will stay around. We’ll see. We probably won’t do much riding in it as we have lots of acres and country roads for that. st ground work with the unschooled horses (Mouse and Noelle) and some fun stuff with Cash and Skeeter… like the big round circus ball… and teaching them to side pass TOWARD me on the mounting block (a simple trick I recently picked up at Monty Roberts’ online Equus University. The horses are all in the round pen or passing through it every day as that’s the only way to get to the barn from one direction. Kathleen plans to shoot all the work with Noelle.
Okay, I’m intrigued by your round pen footing. I just added pea gravel to my barefoot horses’ run-in stalls so when they want to loaf around out of the rain (WA State!)they have to stand in pea gravel to do it. I’ve been desperately trying to think of ways to get my horses’ feet tough enough to ride without boots…after a long, wet, rainy winter it is hard to keep their feet tough enough to trail ride without boots. And I have yet to find a pair of boots that fit my Arab’s wide feet that are really easy to use.
I recently purchased and set up a 60 ft. round pen in what used to be a sand volleyball court…after grading the area I’ve been pondering what kind of footing to put in, given there is already beach-type sand (which has been fairly compacted by the grading). I kept coming back to the idea of pea gravel, thinking I could help keep their feet tough year round by working them and riding them in the round pen on a regular basis. But I’ve never heard of anyone putting pea gravel in a round pen and thought I might be going overboard. And of course, all my friends who shoe their horses (I’m the only barefoot fanatic amidst the bunch of old-school friends I ride with) told me I was nuts to think about doing that. Then I read your post! I’m not crazy!
So please, tell me everything about the footing for your round pen. Did you just grade it, put the crushed limestone down and then top it with pea gravel? About how thick are each of your layers? Is the pea gravel fairly compacted, or did you lay it thick enough so it has some give? What size pea gravel did you use? I assume you will be joining up with, exercising and riding your horses in the round pen? How do you keep the pea gravel from spilling out of the round pen?
Anything and everything you can tell me about the process you used would be greatly appreciated! And just out of curiosity…what size is your round pen?
PS…I have Monty’s Join Up DVD series, but I’d love for you to record your Join Up session with Noelle and post it so those of us who are trying to do it (I just don’t think I’ve been able to get my timing right) can see it done by someone who isn’t a professional horse trainer. Monty makes it look so easy, but I’ve had trouble getting it right.
Thank you!
Re the round pen… it’s Priefert panels: http://www.priefert.com/
What kind of round pen did you purchase?
As always love hearing about all of your adventures and seeing all the pictures. The horse eating round pin looks great!! Lots of love to ALL of you.
Cindy Sprinkle
Beautiful round pen. Very well done!
I bet Noelle wont take long to get the hang of things.
I feel for you with all the wet weather – we have had some
rain her too (NY) but nothing like the amounts down there.
Will look forward to hearing about Noelle’s “lessons”.
Maggie
the man has a way with words for sure–“between the wild and the young” :)
After the wettest May and a wet start to June we are about to have 10+ days of good weather—maybe we can get our hay cut and baled after all. Thank the good Lord.
Wow Joe i love this blog! and Congrats on the round pen! i cant wait to see what you and kathleen do with Noelle, must be so exciting to finally communicate in her language in the round pen! im 100% sure she will join up with you, and she knows you are the one who rescued her, horses know these things, they just do, and her feet dont look bad! shes trimming it all by herself, smart girl, you should see this old horse poor thing, stabled 24 hrs a day and his feet are growing upwards! upwards! i spoke to the owner and she said that it wasnt any of my business, and that she has a farrier coming to look at him, oh well, i just let it go,i cant wait for the workshop and your second book!
Big Hug to you and kathleen and all the horses and BENJI!! xxxxx
Looks like everything is falling into place for you and your entire family from this move. We too moved, from SoCal (Huntington Beach) to Panguitch Utah. Very different, to say the least. My 27 yr old Arab mare is now being trimmed by my friend Lance, a shoer with a barefoot way of thinking. We are letting her sole get thick, so we won’t have any problems riding in rocky terrain. Her feet look good on top, it’s when you look at the bottom that it’s different (for me). I trust what he’s doing and we’ve been riding over some rocky stuff lately and she’s sound and moving out just like she’s happy to be here! Good luck to you and keep us up on Noelle’s Joining Up!!
Bev & Briahna (my mare)
Good luck in Utah. Remember… this is her terrain. This is the kind of country her genetics evolved in. Keep her trimmed within the wild horse model with lots of mustang roll and she’ll be fine. If she gets ouchy growing that calloused sole, it takes 8-10 months to grow a whole new foot from hairline to ground. Use boots and the foot can still flex yet the tender areas will be protected. We shot Benji Off the Leash up there. Hot summers :)
Remember that Noelle was “captured” and put into our trailer through a series of pens like that, as well as put into a trailer again to go to Tennessee via the same pen panels. She’ll adjust :) (BTW “between the wild and the young” has to be my favorite line of yours of all time.)
Hi Joe,
I enjoyed seeing your experience with Noelle’s feet. I have the same situation with my 26 year old mustang Satin. She wasn’t take out of the wild until she was 16, and I got her at age 20. She was hanging off the top of the trees for over two years, so we couldn’t get her feet done. She did the same thing as Noelle of stomping her feet and breaking them off like she did in the wild. Even though we can work with her now we still have to have her sedated to have her feet trimmed. She has gotten so smart now when she sees the needle coming she takes off and it has gotten to be a battle again, so we have to leave her feet alone again. Good luck with Noelle and be carefull those back feet are wicked.