On Hooves and Living Conditions

In my last journal entry, Janet Grant left a comment with a query, which I thought I would address here today. Janet wrote:

Lynne, I have been reading your blog since the beginning and don't recall you having a discussion about the horse's feet. I am involved with the Paso Fino's, as you know, and they are very prone to founder. With your herd, do you ever have to trim their feet? Are their hooves in really good health because of the herd's constant movement? What percentage of their food are they getting from you in the form of hay and what are they getting from the land? I suppose my real question is what are we doing wrong! I think the Pasos have been bred in South America for 500 years, are recent immigrants, and don't tolerate our rich grass.

I specifically haven't devoted any prior journal entries to hooves, because I have not immersed myself too deeply in the study of the "natural hoof" and therefore feel rather unequipped to discuss or advise about such things. Nevertheless, there are some experiences and observations which have occurred here at Ravenseyrie that might be of interest to those who have studied hoof ailments intensively or those who have horses with less than perfect hooves.

Kevin and I did attend a barefoot hoof clinic held on the island in early May. Kate Romanenko was the instructor/farrier and she offered first a lecture and then worked on some of the horses that participants had brought to the clinic. I'm sharing some of the photos I took. Kate did an excellent job of relaying the benefits to natural horse keeping and stressed again and again how important it was to remove shoes and get horses out of their stalls.

Natural hoof advocate, Kate Romanenko

There appear to be many issues that trigger abnormalities in hoof growth and overall hoof health such as genetic heritage, environment, nutrition and what humans might "use" their horses for.

Kate Romanenko helps a horse with a severe case of founder

Here at Ravenseyrie, I put a lot of trust in the varied environment to supply the horses with everything they require to maintain themselves the best hooves suited to their lifestyles. Most of them have no issues that would require intervention from us, not even one nip or need for rasping.

Bella, pictured here with Belina and Zorita as they move across the autumn landscape

The registered Spanish Mustang mare, Bella, who came to us as a yearling, has always had poor hooves (flat, prone to flares and wicked cracks) and during the spring of her second year suffered from a laminitic episode that required some specific trimming on her front hooves. Despite a brief period of being distinctly lame, Bella continued to keep up with the movements of the herd, which more than likely hastened her recovery. While today Bella's hooves are still not "perfect", their shape and growth patterns have improved a lot and she has not had any further episodes.

Zeus, the Thoroughbred gelding, has massive hooves that, like Bella's, would persistently flare and crack. Zeus was often "ouchy" especially back in the old days after the routine farrier's trim. The first year here at Ravenseyrie, Zeus suffered from a bad abscess, but again, like Bella, despite being distinctly lame, kept up with the movements of the herd and quickly recovered on its own without digging it out or soaking it. Today, Zeus' hooves are much stronger and while surface cracks continue, the flaring has stopped and though they sometimes get ragged-edged, his hooves now self-trim to a nice looking shape which appears to suit his needs incredibly well.

I don't think that Zeus and Bella will ever have "perfect" hooves, but it appears that their hooves have adjusted to their environment in ways that have improved them and allow them to lead very active, energetic lives. It's possible their hooves are less than ideal due to genetic heritage and while micro-managing by highly skilled farriers might keep them looking more like ideal hooves, I suspect that the environment of Ravenseyrie actually does a better job of making them better functioning hooves despite their less than picture perfect appearance.


Occasionally, we will do a light trim of the toe or quarters on the mules, whose hooves seem to take longer to self-trim. From time to time each of the other horses will have a chip, crack or break in the quarter as their hooves go through the process of self-trimming, typically this is noted during the seasons when the ground is moist.

At Ravenseyrie, the horses are fed hay generally from December to early May. The hay is a first cutting of mixed prairie grasses combined with flowering herbs that grow among the grasses. The hay is put up into the large 500 lb round bales, off from which we peel copious amounts two to three times a day and spread this out into numerous piles wherever the herd has chosen to be on the landscape depending on the weather conditions. The amount we put out is based on the condition of the horses (both physically and mentally) and how harsh the weather is. In addition to hay, we feed one scoop (approx. 3 cups) of whole oats per horse (foals not included, though they nibble a little of it) in the morning. While we continue to offer breakfast oats even after we've stopped feeding hay, there is a period of time in late June and early July when the horses stop coming up for oats altogether...it is a time when I feel most unneeded by them--except that when I hike out to see them they remember how good I am at itching places they cannot reach themselves. Occasionally, we hand feed apple and compressed alfalfa cubes as special treats.

Kevin hands out some apples to Mistral's group

The horses at Ravenseyrie experience seasonal changes in body weight, gaining weight in the spring, losing a bit during the late summer, regaining again in the autumn and losing a bit over the winter. In March of this year, we noted that Ciente and Mistral had lost much more weight than normal and so supplemented their breakfast oats with black oil sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, fenugreek seeds and alfalfa cubes, which were no longer required once the early spring grasses flushed over the landscape.

There is no barn here at Ravenseyrie, so the horses take shelter in the forest, selecting for themselves the spots most advantageous to their comfort depending on the prevailing winds. The horses are almost perpetually on the move, except when dozing, and while they move less in the bitter winter weather, they nonetheless continue to traverse their territory. The horses obtain water in spring and autumn from the numerous seasonal ponds and creeks upon on the table land. In summer, when these sources dry up, the horses go down the rocky bluff to slack their thirsts in the the lake. In the winter they eat snow or visit the few spots in the landscape where the ground water under the snow doesn't freeze.

In addition to grazing the grasses and herbs, the horses at Ravenseyrie also browse on branches, leaves, bark, roots, even dirt at all times of the year. In previous journal entries I have also showed the horses partaking of the mineral/salt block we put out for them.

Here we see Animado seeking out and eating earth

Many breeds of horses, even though highly domesticated, nevertheless have metabolisms adapted to surviving and thriving in a landscape that presents them with seasonal changes, environmental stresses and constant interaction with herd mates and other wildlife. Our well-intentioned habit of taking horses out of these landscapes to make their lives easier, more comfortable and more convenient for humans to have them available to "use" for their own whims and desires comes at a huge price in overall health and well-being. Most domestically kept horses are lacking appropriate physical and mental stimulation, are fed too much and exercised too little, and their human handlers are scrambling furtively to tinker with elements they can never fully comprehend in an effort to create an equilibrium in an unbalanced situation. Even horses that are out on pasture are often on "improved" groomed pastures which are too rich and lack diversity.


I am not learned enough to give advice to those of you who are having health issues with your horses...I can only relay what the daily lives of the Ravenseyrie horses is like and perhaps this will reveal something about how beneficial it is to embrace even the hardships of a natural environment. I hope, Janet, that you can find a way to implement some or all of these "wilderness" elements in ways that help your Paso Finos.

Entering a New Landscape

Sovina's Zorita (Sorraia x Sulphur Mustang) and Interessado (Sorraia x Kiger Mustang)

Oh, April! I thought you'd never get here!

And how grand it is that today is warm and windy and sunny - feeling very much like an early spring day. (Manitoulin Island has not had too many spring-feeling days since Spring's official arrival on the Vernal Equinox back in mid-March.) Walking around and about Ravenseyrie is now is like entering a new landscape and the marvelous sensation of the earth slowly waking up is filled with such optimism. I find myself grinning within and without as I reacquaint myself with features of the landscape that have been hidden under snow for so very long.

I had in mind on Monday (my day off) to hike down the bluff to the beach. Unfortunately, with the temperature right at freezing, the snow pack was wickedly unreliable and I fell through up to my thigh about every sixth step. It's quite something that the upper grasslands are so nearly free of snow, but the woodland realm is still deeply blanketed. (I should have thought to sling my snowshoes over my back, just in case...but, I didn't think the snow would still be so deep!) Anyhow, before the pups and I aborted such a difficult hike, I took a few photos.

Deep snow still covers the trail leading down the bluff to the shore line at Ravenseyrie

At the bottom of the first hill going down the bluff a seasonal pond has formed on the left

We'll save that hike to the beach when the snow is nearly gone and its not so laborious to walk through it. The pups and I investigated instead various trails up top and eventually wound our way back near the area where Kevin and I had hauled hay to the herd in a wind break on the southwest sector of the property. Knowing that we were about an hour away from afternoon feed time and that the herd would likely be working their way back to the house to wait for their human servants to bring out more hay, I found a fallen log to repose upon and waited with my camera at the ready for the horses to cross the landscape. The dogs dispersed here and there among the Red Osier Dogwood, digging through the snow in hopes of discovering mice nesting below.
Tobacco decided he'd take a sun break and came over to sit nearby and watch the world go by.

This photo of Tobacco has so much expressiveness in it, despite how little of him we can see. I go all soft inside when he sits like this, with one ear up and one ear down. Methinks I'd like to do a painting of him in this pose in this light...

The first herd member to begin the journey across the field to get back to the house was Doll. Being a wary and vigilant mule, she seemed to sense that she was being watched. She scanned over the area and then she spotted me sitting on my log. She must have watched me watching her for about eight minutes before moving on.

Doll (draft mule mare)

Next to pass by, without so much as a glance in my direction, were Mistral and Zeus. The sun was falling on them so nicely I had to take a close up shot as well.

Mistral and Zeus (domestic bred geldings)

Soon, more of the herd slowly made their way across my field of vision as they headed back to the house to wait for afternoon hay.

Belina (Spanish Mustang x BLM Appaloosa mustang pony)

Bella (purebred Spanish Mustang)

Animado, Interessado and Fada, three half-Sorraia yearlings traveling together

Interessado and Fada (who notices me sitting in the brush on a fallen log)

Along comes Altamiro, and being a herd stallion, he's very suspicious about what I'm up to sitting there on my log with a camera pressed to my face.

Altamiro (purebred Sorraia stallion)

Altamiro and Zorita pause, watching Ganja hunt for mice

I did take photos of the rest of the herd as they walked back to the house, but the images didn't turn out as clear as they should have, why that is I don't know--but they weren't worth saving and sharing.

The pups and I gathered ourselves up and followed the herd back to the house. I paused by Kevin's market garden, which is now fully free of snow. I looked to see if any garlic was peeking up through the mulch yet. (Not yet.) Our good garlic-loving friend, Ken, in Michigan, wrote the other day saying his garlic is up! I wonder if Jean's garlic is up in Quebec yet? According to our note on last year's calendar, the Ravenseyrie garlic pushed through the mulch on April 17th. The seasonal birds have been coming back a week early this year, so I'm going to wager that our garlic will be up on the tenth this year.

Last night the temperature stayed above freezing and we had heavy rains falling until this morning, altering the landscape even more. Of course, yours truly had to document these changes with her camera--and of course, there are horses in the photos!

Animado (Sorraia x Spanish Mustang) with his sire, Altamiro

Interessado (Sorraia x Kiger Mustang) and his dam, Ciente

Belina (Spanish Mustang x BLM Appaloosa mustang pony)

I've mentioned it a time or two, but have yet to deliver (probably because I'm rather ignorant on the subject) but tomorrow, I promise to write a journal entry discussing the results of the color testing the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory at the University of California, Davis did on Altamiro and his offspring. In the meantime, I hope you've enjoyed seeing in pictures some of the early spring changes in the Ravenseyrie landscape.