Hófring in the Heart - The Hoof Fairy

07/12/2024

How easy would it be to attach a vet report with radiographs to the file of the horse on the NEIT system?

Very easy!

Open and available to the public to read.

Give your horse the gift of registration this festive season 🎁

To celebrate 20 years of microchipping thoroughbreds, during December NZTR are offering retired thoroughbreds free lifetime registration on the NZ Companion Animal Register.

The NZ Companion Animal Register is a national database that links your horse’s unique microchip number to you, the new owner. This makes it easier for you and your horse to become reunited should they become displaced due to a natural disaster, or if they become lost or stolen. In the future it will also help contribute to the protection of your horse and the entire NZ equine herd in the face of an equine disease outbreak with the introduction of the National Equine Identification & Traceability (NEIT) System planned to launch in August 2025.

To register, all you need is your thoroughbred's microchip number, breeding or race name 🏇

Interested? Register your details here: https://forms.office.com/r/F3BzqpNWmG

06/12/2024

EDIT: The parliamentary petition has been created however needs to be reviewed by the Office of the Clerk before it goes live. I will update as soon as I receive notification.

This afternoon I met with my local politician, Tangi Utikere who is also the Minister for Racing.

We had a positive discussion about my submission for the implementation of mandatory vet exams and supporting X-rays for all retiring race horses. While he did have some reasonable concerns, he also asked relevant questions and appeared thoughtfully engaged in the topic.
He then encouraged me to make a formal parliamentary petition, assuring me that we would most likely be able to transfer the signatures from my current petition to the new one and stated that he would happily submit it to parliament on my behalf once it was complete.
From there, there is usually an invitation to parliament to speak and convey my case to the voting politicians and relevant parties who will then decide if this initiative will progress forward.

This is an encouraging step in the right direction. And while we still have work ahead of us there is now a clearer path to follow.

I have also previously been in discussions with the SPCA who have said they will write a letter of support to accompany a parliamentary petition.

I will sit down tonight to put together the parliamentary petition and share the link here when it is ready.

04/12/2024

I would rather a hard doer than an easy doer any day. And this is why.

For a horse that’s an easy doer who is not in work or in much work, for whatever reason, the management protocols are incredibly difficult for the average person.

I find this is an ongoing issue I have with Roger and it will be lifelong and suspect it will be regardless of how much work he is in.

Finding the balance of getting enough fibre in to protect their gut while ensuring it’s not so much that they gain weight is a very, very fine line to tread. And a line I often fall off of regularly.

03/12/2024

Yesterday I filmed a whole section of the first level of basic exercises in my course, Protect the Equine Spine, with my beautiful big model, Joy.

This is only the second time I’ve done these with Joy and she had some creative ways of trying to work out how to do them.

Check out her cute rendition of this exercise. It’s not how it’s supposed to go but made for some great video to help others with troubleshooting.

The Foundation and Basic levels of Protect the Equine Spine will be available over the next few weeks on my new Patreon account.

https://www.patreon.com/TheHoofFairy?utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator

01/12/2024

“You need to address the western world too”

On EVERY SINGLE post I’ve made about my work with the racing industry, there is at least one person who comments that I need to address the western world.

As if the work I’m doing for racing isn’t enough to have on my plate…

I’m just one person who works a full time job, has 3 kids, 3 horses, 3 dogs and chonky cat that probably at least account for 2 cats. I have a partner and a home to care for as well.

Everything I’m doing here I do alone and I do in my spare time.

I’ve put countless hours, days, weeks, months into my work here and I do it in the very, very little spare time I have with, to date, zero reward.

I’m aware that the western world is increasingly questionable in their ethics and approaches. I know they start horses as babies. I know the horses break down early. I know the breeds involved have an ever increasing list of genetic disorders that plague the breeds. But I can’t do it all.

And why should I do it? Why not you? If not you, then who?

It’s all very well telling me that I need to be doing more than I’m doing, but if you’re so adamant about it, why don’t you do it? If you’re so sure that this is something that needs to be addressed (and I agree, it does) then why don’t you do it?

Google Scholar is freely available to anyone with internet access. Start searching.

Don’t know how to read a research paper?

Top tip:
Read the abstract. If it looks like what you’re after then read the introduction and then the conclusion. If it still looks like it’s what you’re after, read the whole paper, take notes and start writing your own piece and reference the research.
You probably want 20-50 separate research papers in your collection. You don’t have to reference them all but that is probably how many you want to at least read to get a feel for it.

Get familiar with anatomy and biomechanics. Attend dissections. Get familiar with genetics and genetic disorders. Get familiar with how things work in that industry. Get familiar with what their arguments in response will be and address those before the fact.

Then, start applying your research to the industry and demonstrate your point.

Also, keep your emotions out of it. Be objective. But also, be prepared to deal with the emotional onslaught and backlash that you’ll inevitably get from the industry.

Be prepared for people to shoot your down and slam doors in your face. Get comfortable with being attacked, abused and laughed at. Learn to accept that people will tell you that you’re wrong despite the irrefutable evidence you’ve provided. Get comfortable with people attacking you as a person as a way to deflect from the uncomfortable truth that you’re presenting.

Make sure your family knows that you’ll probably be mentally, emotionally and physically unavailable to them all for however long it takes for you to work through this. Weeks, months, years?

Know that you’ll hit many brick walls along the way and that it will hurt you in ways you couldn’t ever imagine.

And above all, know that your chances of failure are significantly higher than your chances of success.

Good luck. You’re gonna need it.

01/12/2024

I am just a nobody, what could I do to help?

Save for a few people like Becks Nairn who helps me identify and understand some anatomy and research information and Horse Gurl who is helping me by building a website and a few special friends who would rather remain anonymous, understandably, I’m doing this alone.

I am the driver, the passenger, the hitchhiker, the dog in the boot and the baggage. I’m it.

And I’m a nobody. Just your average horse girl with a few life skills that I’m able to apply, fuelled by a broken heart and recognition of the need for change.

So what can you do to help?

Share this post. And not just a blank share either. Share it with your voice, your thoughts.
Share it to every group you’re in, even the non-horsey ones.

Know a vet? Send it to them!
Know a race horse trainer, breeder or someone who works in the industry? Send it to them. Heck, google a few of your local trainers and send it to them.

Do you know someone in the media? A local journalist perhaps? Send it to them.

Talk to your friends and family about it. Bring it up in discussion. Print it off and sit down with friends for coffee and talk about it. Share thoughts.

It is 14 pages long but it’s not a difficult read. I specifically wrote it in a way that even the most lay of men could understand it. The supporting documents of a draft policy, case studies and survey results round it out to help people see that the issue is real, that change needs to happen and what that change might look like in action.

And lastly, sign the petition!!

Here are the links to the documents. Go forth and add your voice. For the horses.

The Submission: Making a Case for Mandatory Vet Exams with Supporting Radiographs for all retiring race horses.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hX-mBLMUKej8PWujZUbumLqPqSy-w-WS/view?usp=drive_link

Appendix 1: Draft Model Policy

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RdSA-cdEY_YE15mnAHvAne23hjtQ3Zkd/view?usp=drive_link

Appendix 2: Case studies

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f_X0RiFpcXXQgRLR-wwnbRm4i_Ssn7CV/view?usp=drive_link

Appendix 3: Survey Results

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B_mVM526LQO-D1yuvCVk6jLzmUztSE1S/view?usp=drive_link

Petition:
https://chng.it/6Jt7vhyYFC

01/12/2024

It’s easy to hate me. It’s hard to face reality.

The Phar Lap post and much of my other work has summoned some hate fuelled demons from the woodwork.

It’s easy to hate me. Especially from behind a keyboard, in another country, where I’ll likely never find you or meet you to let you know that the filth and vitriol that you’re spewing are unacceptable.

Let me let you in on a little secret.

It wasn’t on my bingo cards to take a fight to the racing community to petition for Mandatory vet exams for all retiring race horses with a full set of X-rays.

It wasn’t on my bingo cards to have one of the most beautiful and exceptional horses I’ve ever met have to be euthanised due to the discovery of catastrophic kissing spine caused by his race career.

It wasn’t on my bingo cards to end up burying his spine and digging it up 5 months later so that I can stand here before you and say “This needs to change”.

Wanna know what WAS on my bingo cards?

The dream, the goal, the ambition, the thing that makes me well up with joyous emotion…is dancing with horses.

The goal has always been to put together performances to music with my horses and to show the world. To show people what can be done and for them to be in awe and for them to want it for themselves. I want to teach it and give others the skills to develop the beauty and grace that the horse is capable of.

Instead I’m washing off the remnants of flesh from my horse’s spine and banging my head against a brick wall as ignorance continues to prevail.

All I’m asking for is that those who have profited from these horses do one last service to the horse. To check that their bodies will be ok to handle a second career.

It is no longer acceptable for the general equestrian public to be left with shattered dreams and hearts torn in two when they discover that the horse they have built a relationship with, loved and cared for and placed their hopes and dreams on turns out to be damaged beyond repair.
It is no longer acceptable for the racing world to churn out their wastage and leave Joe Average equestrian to deal with the aftermath of what racing has created.

No, I’m not anti-racing. I am anti passing off your wastage and washing your hands of it so you can play out your feel good virtue signalling and the naive general public thinks you’re wonderful.

This is Wiggles spine. There are literally HOLES through the bone where it has remodelled. How is this ok? How is this just “collateral damage”?

NOTE: Unfortunately the huntsman did let his dogs have a chew on some parts of this so there is some damage from that. But the parts I am showing here are not from that.

https://chng.it/cnjVY2JKcH

30/11/2024

One of the most dangerous parts of trimming broodmares hooves is that you might die from the cuteness overload of their foals.

Gorgeous Clydesdale x TB filly, aptly named Lark. Just 8 weeks old and already a big girl.

She was just an absolute delight this morning 🥰

30/11/2024

“DO YOU THINK HE WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO ACHIEVE ALL HE DID IF HE HAD KISSING SPINE AND ECVM!!!?”

As excepted, my post about Phar Laps skeleton has raised some hackles from the generic outliers.

They call BS on my post, stating that it’s impossible for Phar Lap to have had anything wrong with him otherwise he’d have never been able to achieve such great feats.
They state the anomalies I have pointed out are solely from assembly and transportation degradation and nothing to do with his actual skeleton. Because apparently bone remodelling and fusion happens after death?? 🤦🏻‍♀️

Apparently I’m just another anti-racing crazy person.
They clearly do not realise that I have owned and raced my own race horses and that I have owned numerous off the track horses. They clearly have not read my submission to racing where I clearly state that banning racing is not a viable option.

The jumping horse in the attached photos are of my Standardbred gelding who was graded severely ataxic (4 out of 5 on the grading system) and diagnosed with severe Wobblers Syndrome. Yet he could jump 1.20m with perfect form and function.
He’s had a rotational fall in the cart during his racing career that had severely damaged his cervical vertebrae. At this stage of his second career, the osseous changes that would eventually crush his spinal cord were not yet significant enough to produce the tripping and falling that became apparent just 1 year after this photo was taken.

My friends; you underestimate the horse. And that is the greatest disservice and disrespect you could ever attribute to him.

“A horse will run faster and jump higher out of heart and desire.”

https://chng.it/cnjVY2JKcH

30/11/2024

Joy Update

I’ve had Joy for a whole month now so I thought I would give a little update of where we are at.

She continues to impress me with her quick mind and trainability. She remains a kind and gentle horse. And she is developing nicely.

You may remember she has asymmetrical shoulders due to high/low syndrome in her feet but groundwork and in hand work has done a fabulous job of bringing them back in to balance.

She now frequently choose to stand square and is learning to find peace in being more balanced in her body.

It’s common for horses to get flighty when you ask them to stand or move in a way that they’re not accustomed. Horses will stand or move in any way which they feel the most balanced and comfortable. So when we ask them to stand or move differently they can feel unbalanced at first and this can make them anxious. Gentle, quiet patience and persistence is key here.

I have started putting the saddle on Joy once or twice a week while we work. Just to wear it and feel it, nothing more. While she never showed any anxiety about the saddle going on, she did get very short and quick in her movement once it was on and she was moving. She wanted to run. However within a few sessions she has mentally and emotionally stabilised and can walk calmly with me with the saddle on.

We did have one issue that arose. When Joy arrived she presented with runny 💩 At first I assumed this was just the stress of moving and new grass. However it didn’t settle so I tried a gut supplement that I had here. No dice. Runny 💩 continued.
So I purchased another brand. The runny 💩 continued. I contacted the company for advice and they gave me some advice on how to reintroduce it to her. Unfortunately I noticed that not only did we still have runny 💩 but that she had begun walking around her paddock aimlessly looking for anything to windsuck on. It was also taking her 2-3 days to finish a single slice of hay.
I made the call to remove the gut supplement altogether and within 24 hours Joy was producing normal 💩 and ate 1/4 of a bale of hay in one day.
I feel like this was an issue that started with stress and was aggravated further by the gut supplement which has a base of sea algae. I figured that she’s a land horse, not a sea horse. They’re not designed to eat ocean based foods. I’ve never been so happy to see a normal horse 💩 😂

I haven’t ridden her yet. I probably won’t for another 2-4 weeks, perhaps longer. The goal is to build her back using my Protect the Equine Spine program which will soon be available to the public through my Patreon page.

Meanwhile, here’s some photos of the cutest brontosaurus 🦕
I don’t know if I will ever get use to how big she is. Do you think I’ll get a nose bleed up there when I finally get on? 😂

29/11/2024

Do horses talk?

I’ve shared this video before. This is Wiggle, the day before his vet exam where we discovered he had catastrophic kissing spine to 80% of his spine.

I took the video to show the vet how he behaved when I tried to saddle him.

You can clearly see how he shakes his head, saying no, please don’t do this.

He remains polite in his attempts to communicate with me. I listened. Many would not.

Please hear your horses.

https://chng.it/cnjVY2JKcH

29/11/2024

Phar Lap

Phar Lap, a chestnut thoroughbred gelding was born in Timaru, New Zealand on the 4th of October 1926 and died due to catastrophic internal bleeding caused by what was believed to be poisoning on the 5th of April, 1932 in California, USA.

Phar Lap had a distinguished career, winning 37 of his 51 starts. His wins included:

Rosehill Guineas (1929)
AJC Derby (1929)
Craven Plate (1929, 1930, 1931)
Victoria Derby (1929)
AJC St Leger (1930)
VRC St Leger (1930)
Chipping Norton Stakes (1930)
AJC Plate (1930)
Chelmsford Stakes (1930)
Hill Stakes (1930, 1931)
W. S. Cox Plate (1930, 1931)
Melbourne Stakes (1930, 1931)
Melbourne Cup (1930)
Linlithgow Stakes (1930)
C.B. Fisher Plate (1930)
St George Stakes (1931)
Futurity Stakes (1931)
Underwood Stakes (1931)
Memsie Stakes (1931)
Agua Caliente Handicap (1932)

His valiant career lead him to being inducted into both the New Zealand and Australian Hall of Fame and is ranked as #22 of the 100 Top U.S Racehorses of the 20th Century. In 1983, the movie; Phar Lap: Heart of a Nation was released, telling his story.

His skeletal remains are on display at the Te Papa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand. What stories do his bones have to tell? Do you see things I haven’t mentioned?

Thank you to Zoe Braddock for providing the photos. Read the captions on each photo to learn what this mighty underdog dealt with in his body.

Disclaimer: I’m not trying to diagnose anything. Just pointing out what I see.

https://chng.it/cnjVY2JKcH

28/11/2024

How messed up are the Thoroughbreds?

This messed up.

Yes, the sample size is small. Yes, the sample pool will be skewed.
No, that doesn't make the results any less catastrophic.

Congenital Spinal Malformations:

"In a necropsy survey of 36 Thoroughbred racehorses, 22% of specimens had thoracolumbar transitional vertebrae and 36% had sacrocaudal transitional vertebrae characterized by sacral fusion with the first caudal vertebra"

Vertebral Lamina Stress Fractures:

"In a necropsy sample of Thoroughbred racehorses, 50% (18/36) of specimens had incomplete fractures and focal periosteal proliferation of the vertebral lamina characterized as vertebral stress fractures."

Pelvic Stress Factures:

"Pelvic stress fractures have been reported in Thoroughbred racehorses"

Degenerative Spinal Disorders:

" In a necropsy survey of 36 Thoroughbred racehorses, thoracolumbar spinous process impingement or overlap was found in 92% of specimens and was localized to the dorsal half or summit (apex) of the thoracolumbar spinous processes. On average, four impinged thoracolumbar spinous processes were observed per specimen."

"In a necropsy survey of 36 horses, Haussler et al13 found various types of articular process degenerative changes in young Thoroughbred racehorses and severe changes in 25% of specimens. Variable degrees of articular process degenerative change were observed in 35 (97%) specimens and affected 38% (153/407) of the intervertebral articulations in their study. Degenerative changes were detected at an average of four vertebrae per specimen."

"Variable degenerative changes were found at the lumbar intertransverse joints in all specimens of a necropsy survey of 36 Thoroughbred racehorses."

"Intertransverse joint ankylosis was observed in 28% of Thoroughbred racehorses" "Ankylosis of the lumbosacral joint was not detected in any of 245 specimens of the mixed-breed horses evaluated."

"In a necropsy survey of Thoroughbred racehorses, sacroiliac joint degenerative changes were observed at the sacral and ilial articular surfaces in 100% and 72% of specimens, respectively."

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749073917301670

https://chng.it/cnjVY2JKcH

28/11/2024

The eyes say a lot

Signs of stress in the horse aren’t always going to be as overt as explosive behaviours, sudden displays of aggression and clear outward reactivity.

They’re prey animals and are experts at masking pain and discomfort as a result.

They “injured” prey animal is the one selected as a meal by predators. Horses have evolved with this in mind.

The eye does tell us a lot about the internal state of the horse, though.

Tension of the eye is a reliable way to start to catch even fleeting moments of low grade stress.

The stressed eye takes on a triangulated shape, with the eye lid pulled up in tension, often creating wrinkles.

A relaxed, but alert, eye is much softer in the lid, with the lid taking on a shape that more closely resembles an upside down “U”.

Starting to notice the subtle changes in your horse’s expression can help you to notice rising stress before it explodes into highly noticeable, oftentimes dangerous behaviour.

It can also be the difference between noticing injuries as they begin subtly and less severely or waiting until a substantial issue has developed.

The facial expressions of the horse have been chronically undervalued over the tradition of horse training and it’s only been in relatively recent years that this has been emphasized more.

This has led to a lot of people downplaying the significant of the subtle signs of stress.

But, with the growing body of scientific research, it is becoming more clear which behavioural signals are correlated with stress response.

This research demands a shift in how we view the horse.

And that can start with YOU and your application of this newfound knowledge.

Noticing stress behaviours and working to low stress as a result could be the ticket to dramatically lowering the number of injuries sustained by riders and handlers.

It will also improve the welfare of the horse and promote more empathetic training practices.

27/11/2024

Thanks to Becks Nairn for sharing this super important information.

What happens to an immature spine when it is prematurely loaded…

27/11/2024

Them: Can I ride your horse?

Me: Can I crash your car?

I don’t claim to be the greatest rider in the world. In fact my riding probably leaves a lot to be desired. But as a general rule, I don’t let other people ride my horses; and for good reason.

They’re not a toy. They’re not a motorbike.

While on a Zoom call with Horse Gurl the other day, my partner made the slightly naive comment that “Any horse that’s been broken in should be able to be ridden by anybody.”
And while he had a point in the context of the conversation, it really highlighted to me that that’s rarely ever the case.

I’ll make my point by comparing horses to motorbikes. Not because I think horses are like motorbikes but because my partner is a motorbike guy and while he knows the basics of working his way around a horse, he’s not fluent in all things horse by any means.

See, some horses are like a kids 50cc Quadbike. Just about anyone could ride one without getting themselves into too much trouble. There is pre-installed limiters and very few extra bits and bobs to get yourself into trouble with.

Compare that to say, a Repsol Honda MotoGP Superbike. It has power and technology attached to it that could get most people killed in a heartbeat save for those with the skill set to safely ride one.
Some horses are like a MotoGP Superbike. Only certain people should ride them.
And just because I can ride a 50cc kids quadbike, doesn’t mean I have the necessary skills to ride a MotoGP Superbike.

Now, I’m in no way saying that my horses are any sort of Superbike. I’d like to think of them as more of a BMW Tour bike 😂 Something you can comfortably ride without too much hassle but has some extra bells and whistles, has agility and can get up and boogy when it needs to.
But they’re also “programmed” to me. And the only people I’d let ride them are those that I know have the same training principles and values as I do because, in my humble opinion, it’s not fair to the horse for them to be ridden one way and learn to understand things one way and then suddenly have another rider thrust upon them with the expectation that they can work out what that rider means, especially if they don’t ride they way I ride.

This is me installing my “programming” on to Joy. I like my horses to go through meticulous groundwork and in hand work before I ever get on in order to install my programming of choice. And I think that’s the only fair way to do it.

25/11/2024

Move out of my way.

Patreon in the making.

There will be research based courses on building, protecting and rehabilitating the equine spine, deep diving into historical and current research to do with all things horse, training videos and more.

Let’s go!

25/11/2024

If anyone asks, I do not own 3 horses.

I own 2 horses and 1 brontosaurus 🦕