 |
 |
|
FOR SALE: $2000 COSMO --- (Mikes Little Toby x Rae Sarah McCoy) 1/2 Arab 1/2 SSH. DOB Jan.3rd, 2003. Gaited. Has completed all 5 rides I've entered him in so far. He has excellent recoveries, and usually scores very high on CTR's. Awesome little horse!!!! He is also my "natural hoof trim" guinea pig. I have learned to trim him myself, using Pete Ramey's methods. Cosmo is adapting VERY well. I can't wait to compete him next year, barefoot and booted. November, 2009. I finally got a pair of Easy Boot Gloves for Cosmo's front feet. I can't wait to put some miles on him and see how they do. I plan on putting alot of LSD miles on Cosmo over the winter, and starting him competing in the spring. I want to compete him barefoot as much as possible, and boot when I feel we need to. Learning to trim him myself has been one of the best things I ever did. I've been trimming him since June of this year. After doing him myself for about 4 months, I contacted a professional barefoot trimmer that I found on the internet. She lived an hour away from me, so I loaded Cosmo on the trailer one day and took him to her. I wanted her to "critique" my work, and see what she thought. That lady is Vicki Kline, in Hamburg, Pa. She had nothing negative to say about my work. She couldn't believe I learned to trim myself from a book (Pete Ramey's "Making Natural Hoof Care Work for You"). So I spent a couple of hours with her learning as much as I could. Best birthday present I could have asked for. So now I am trimming my own horses, and some for a couple of friends. They LOVE the differance in their horses performance. Once of them was a trippy horse, and she reports that the tripping on trail is gone. I am available in the Weatherly, Pa. to do local trimming if anyone is interested. I suggest if you are interested, that you look up websites on the internet and learn what you can about the "mustang trim" method. I don't think you will regret it. I will stress that I am not certified. And I am not a farrier. Just a self-trained, barefoot trimmer. pic of Cosmo's foot below..... The hoof, the whole hoof, and NOTHING but the hoof. Rabbit Run Endurance rides. 30 mile LD. (limited distance) March 27th, 2010. I was so excited all week leading up to this ride. I rode Cosmo as much as I could all winter. We had alot of deep snow, so we mostly did alot of walking through the deep stuff. The longest ride I did on him was a 12 mile conditioning ride leading up to it. This was to be his first totally barefoot ride. I loaded the trailer Friday afternoon and we headed out. It's a 2 1/2 hour drive from my home in Pa. to basecamp in the Brendon T. Byrne State Forest of NJ. Along on his first camping trip with me is my newest addition, Blaze. The sweetest Boxer/pit bull mix you will ever meet! He was a champ the whole time and behaved very well. When I arrived,I set up my portable corral panels (thanks Dodie!) for Cosmo and had camp set up pretty quick. I was camped next to a great lady named Signa Strom. We had a great conversation about our gaited horses. She was entered in the 50. Overnight, I was sleeping in my trailer. No LQ. Just a 12 foot stock. It was supposed to get down in the 20's overnight. And let me tell you, it did. Blaze and I shivered the night away together.....lol. I was up at 6:00a.m. getting the blood circulating. Fed Cosmo and Blaze, and had my breakfast. Yogurt and a banana. Yummy. At the 9:00a.m. start, I met a wonderful lady named Karel, and we decided to buddy up. It was her first distance ride ever. She was riding a grey arab named Indy, belonging to Jen Stevenson. Jen, he is a VERY nice horse. Our plan was to start near the back and take it easy on the first loop. Cosmo gets very competetive and tries to catch everyone in front of him. He was hard to hold back, and I am riding him in a hackamore. We made great time on the first loop of 15 miles. CAme in to hold just under 2 hours. Whew! Both of us jumped off, loosened the girths, and went straight to the pulse-takers. Cosmo and Indy were both at 58, (if I remember correctly) and we went right to the vets for trot-outs. All A's and a B on mucus membrane for Cosmo. His trot-out was great. Went back to my trailer for the 45 minute hold to let Cosmo eat and relax. I grabbed some snacks for myself and had a seat. My out time was 11:47 and I was supposed to meet Karel at the timers tent. 5 minutes early before my time to leave, I gave Cosmo his elytes and headed down. Karel wasn't there, so I told the timers to tell her that I would be walking so she could catch up with me. Cosmo was pulling to go faster, but I really wanted to wait for her. She caught up to us about 2 miles out. Our horses got along really well. We did alot of cantering on the second loop, it was AWESOME. Karel and I had the best time EVER together. It took us about 2 hours and 20 minutes to finish the second loop of 15 miles. We did some nice walking stretches on that loop also. Both horses drank very well. We came in to the finish, hopped off and went right to pulse. They both pulsed in under criteria again. Back to our trailers to drop tack and clean them up a bit. Let them eat and drink. I took Cosmo back to the vets in about 10 minutes, and he finished with a 44/44 cri. All A's on his card. Trot out was perfect. Dr. Art King said "nice job"....... COMPLETION!!! Whoo Hoo! His first totally barefoot ride was a success. His feet look great this morning. Not alot of wear at all, no chipping. I could not be happier. When I got him off the trailer last night, he cantered down to the barn. After a ride, their reward is to get to graze in the back yard for awhile before I put them in their paddocks. This morning he is bright and perky. Next ride for Cosmo, the Cheshire CTR in Unionville, Pa. at the end of April. I did not go to the Cheshire ride as it was raining all weekend.....and I did not feel like being miserable riding in the rain.....5/1/2010
 |
||
