Hermes Ranch Inc.

12/05/2023

You can find prints of this doodle on my site, here:
https://danasdoodles.com/ols/products/artofriding
Check out my coloring book here:
https://bit.ly/3FgMORb

11/23/2023

Great information!

11/10/2023

What do you think about this Article my Equestrians!

At the U.S. Dressage Finals in Lexington, Kentucky, there’s a common question bouncing around the rings and barn aisles between the volunteers and competitors: “Have you seen the checkered horse, yet?” 

11/01/2023

Have to do the above next year! Adorable!

10/20/2023

🖤📸

10/19/2023

Might have loaded by Halloween 🎃 👻

09/20/2023

Unbelievable achievement!

The Tevis Cup is a hundred-mile endurance race on horseback and is one of the most prestigious there is. Goober crossed the finish line like he knew it.

09/17/2023

Here you go!

Perfect bed for a young equestrian!

09/02/2023

wow amazing 💚

08/30/2023

Neat idea!

What a great idea to help make drivers more mindful on the roads!

08/20/2023

Strategic riding! Wow!

07/21/2023

So true!

1052 likes, 8 comments. “this audio pretty much sums up everything we love about this sport! 🐴💪 🎥 Wellington International / Hannah Stephens”

07/04/2023

A recent study, conducted in Japan, compared various methods for cooling horses after exercise in hot and humid conditions. Thoroughbreds were exercised until their pulmonary artery temperature reached 108°F. The time until the pulmonary artery temperature returned to

06/29/2023

One of the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales is set to visit Roanoke in July.

06/29/2023

Does Martin Fuchs, FEI World Cup Final winner, FEI World Equestrian Games medalist, Olympic competitor and FEI European Championship individual gold medalist, feel pressure? 

06/26/2023

Outstanding!

Christian Ahlmann has done it again!!! 🏆✨ Riding Otterongo Alpha Z, Ahlmann wins the Saint Laurent Eiffel Challenge here in Paris! 🇫🇷🐎 | | | | | |

06/24/2023

For Immediate Release: June 22, 2023 Virginia Horse Center Foundation Media Contact: Lisa Davis Engel 908.310.6248 [email protected] OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM VHC LEXINGTON, VA— On June 22, th

06/23/2023

Great information!

Find out if you can feed newly harvested hay or if you should wait and let it “sweat” or “cure.”

06/22/2023

Once virtually unseen at hunter/jumper shows, safety vests are now part of standard show ring attire for many riders, from juniors and amateurs to hunter professionals and international show jumpers. Instead of the full ASTM-certified body protectors required in eventing, air vests tend to be the eq...

06/03/2023

LOL!

05/14/2023

I love this horse. I love actual footage of this horse. So making this made me happy.The footage was sent to my by cf1970 #4 - Top Favorites (Today) - Pets & ...

05/13/2023

05/07/2023

Neat!

Check out this awesome illustration of Emma and her foal, Panda! Margaret Corry did the artwork and their owner Heather took the photo. Panda was born in 2013. 💕

05/05/2023

558 likes, 31 comments. Check out Christian Langeder's video.

05/01/2023

5792 likes, 41 comments. Check out Equestriquiz's video.

04/29/2023

Great information!

I went for a little walk around the local show park yesterday during the season opener hunter/jumper show. I try not to look down at horse feet unless someone asks for my opinion, but despite my best efforts, I couldn’t stop noticing that most of the horses there, from the low level hunters to the 1.20m jumper class I watched for a while are very obviously NPA and/or showed obvious signs of caudal failure. NPA means “negative palmar angle” on front feet or “negative plantar angle” on hinds. It means that the back of the coffin bone is lower than the front. It is supposed to be the other way around! A normal palmar/plantar angle is 2°-10° yet soooo many horses work on feet with palmar/plantar angles of less than zero. It is so common that by most people it is seen as normal. Caudal failure means structural collapse of the caudal (back) part of the foot.

Horses may not be obviously lame with this condition, however there are often subtle signs. Reluctance to go forward, forging (stepping on or hitting the backs of the front shoes with the hind feet), overreaching, not tracking up, refusing jumps, bucking after jumps (because landing hurts), lack of hindquarter engagement, decreased gait quality all around, behavioural issues under saddle, etc. These symptoms can be easily mistaken for other things or riders and trainers can tend to use punishment to try to change some behaviours that have their root in hoof pain. It is also very hard on the legs and most specifically the DDFT (deep digital flexor tendon) and navicular area of the foot because of the biomechanics of a foot with an improper angle cause increased friction where the DDFT runs under the navicular bone to attach to the back of the coffin bone. This is why low heeled horses are at increased risk of developing navicular syndrome.

We need to retrain our eyes to know what is normal. We also need to realize that asking horses to work hard when their feet are a mess is not fair and causes sometimes irreparable damage, both to their feet and to their opinions about working.

How do we fix it? First we need to acknowledge that NPA is a systemic issue in farriery and we need to change the way we trim and shoe. Owners need to recognize NPA and find a farrier who recognizes NPA and knows how to fix it. Farriers need to stop trimming off the back of the foot and add frog support to our shoeing packages. Frog support needs to be normalized. More than one client has remarked to me that if we put frog pads on the horse, potential buyers will think there is something wrong with the horse. This is because what is normalized currently in farriery are open heeled regular metal shoes, which are a huge part of what causes NPA. When we lift up the foot off the ground and provide no structural support to the frog, the center of the foot collapses. This is a very simple concept, yet we are still doing things the same way we have always done and expecting a different result. This is the definition of insanity and it is killing our horses slowly. If I help to change only one thing in my time as a farrier, I hope for it to be this.

For reference, normal/ideal angles are generally as follows:
Hairline: about 20°
Dorsal wall (toe): about 50-55°, steeper on some breeds
Heel: equal to toe angle or perhaps 5° less than dorsal wall

This horse’s toe is close to 50° however the heel is 23° lower than the toe and I could not even measure the heel at the back because the bulb is sitting on the shoe! I had to measure it where I could see the angle of the tubules on the wall. The hairline is far too low. This foot is not helping this horse at all and this horse is one of many. I might get some angry messages for this, but we need to acknowledge that most of our performance horses are NPA and/or have some degree of caudal failure and then then we need to do something about it.

——-

Addendum: This post has pi**ed off some people. Fair enough. It’s also been shared all over the world, which has been great and also quite the experience. Wayne over at Progressive Equine has been writing about caudal failure and NPA for a few years now, as have others. This topic is not new. For whatever reason, this post in particular has caught peoples’ attention.

What I ask of those who are angry about it, or indignant that I dared to challenge the status quo is this: if you think I’m wrong, ok. Go prove it. If I’m wrong, why are you angry? If I am wrong, then this post is irrelevant to you and irrelevant to your work and there is nothing to be angry about. I did not (and will not) name any particular farrier. Who did the job is not even relevant, because this problem is not about one person. I am not trash talking anyone. I am saying that there is a systemic issue in how farriers are taught to trim and shoe and that it is on us, as a group, to correct it by continuing to learn and grow. That is my perspective. If you think I’m wrong then disregard it. And yes, some horses manage in regular shoes and to the owners and farriers of those horses I am glad for you. For everyone else, maybe what I wrote here will help you. That is all I am trying to do.

04/26/2023

I am sure of this post!

😂🤣😂

04/20/2023

Good reminder!

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT, If you live near a horse farm, PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE HORSES! This older horse choked on carrots that someone fed him. Older horses (this one is 30) do not always have all of their teeth, and cannot chew very well. His normal feed is soaked senior feed…soaked in water so that chewing is easier. So, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT FEED HORSES !!!!!! He is doing fine today, but this could have ended his life. He has owners that love him dearly!

04/14/2023

The infamous Snowman is policing the grounds at HR just in case there is a breech by unknown assailants. 😂😂😂👀👀👀

04/01/2023

😂

03/31/2023

Happy birthday, Big Red. ❤️

03/30/2023

Funny comedy about a dead horse stay to the end!

Nate Bargatze | Mount Rainier

03/28/2023

Now that is true Horseman!