Glow
June 27, 2008 #19 Wth all the response we've been getting from emails, letters, and reader-reviews around the internet about the new book, we've been thrilled and felt blessed that we might actually be giving folks a smile and helping them and their horses as well. It has given us the sense that all the effort and time put into it is being re-paid with positive differences in the lives of people and horses. Then came an email from one Ron Reil, an Idaho rancher/engineer/precious metals specialist... and Kathleen and I were humbled by his story, by what caring, committment, effort, and energy really means. We thought you might be empowered by reading it. We were. I share it with you below. Joe
Joe, I want to share with you the incredible story of my daughter’s horse Glow. I get choked up every time I tell this story. Glow is my daughter Natalie’s drill team and trail horse, and we have had Glow about 5 years. She is a registered Quarter Horse Paint. Glow is about 18 years old now. Here is a link to a picture of Glow just after I performed a medical procedure on her last summer....the reason for that procedure is the story that follows.
http://ronreil.abana.org/Glow.jpg
Last summer on a Saturday, May 18th, I walked out early in the morning, as I do every day in the late Spring and Summer, to let the horses out of their paddock into my lower SE pasture. I was stunned to see Glow standing there in the paddock with the front of her left rear leg ripped away by a cougar. I had seen the cougar the day before in my lower pasture but did not shoot it...I don’t shoot critters unless I have to...I sure wish I had. The severity of the injury seemed to be beyond any hope of saving Glow, but I phoned my vet in Cascade, an hour and a half away, and told him I had an emergency, and he headed down. It was a Saturday morning so I was fortunate he was even available. This injury was a shock to me for another reason too. It happened just barely a month after my saddle horse, Scamp, had gotten in a fight with a bull elk and almost lost an eye. We had just successfully completed Scamp’s treatment, and now Glow was severely injured. Meanwhile I got my neighbor Kevin, who is very knowledgeable about horses, to come over and help me stabilize Glow until Olin (my vet) got here. Here is a picture of the injury as it was when I first saw it. Be forewarned, it is a very bad injury. If you look above the injury in the left picture you can see the claw marks from the cougar. And yes, that is almost 5” of exposed bone.
http://ronreil.abana.org/Glow1.jpg
We took Glow over to the barn, amazingly she wasn’t limping, and rinsed the worst of the dirt off the injury, then wrapped it and soaked it well to keep the bone wet and alive. By the time we had all that done it was almost time for Olin to arrive. I also had gone in the house to break the news to my younger daughter Natalie (14) about her horse Glow. She came out, looked at the injury, and just slumped down next to the barn with tears running down her cheeks.
Olin finally arrived and tranked Glow so we could explore the damage in depth, and after a detailed examination he gave us the good news that no tendons were cut, but his prognosis was dismal. He said that it was very unlikely Glow would survive if we attempted to save her, and that the best case we reasonably could hope for, if she did survive, would be for her to be unrideable, living out her remaining years in the pasture. It was clear Olin thought she should be put down. I put Olin on the spot and asked him if he thought there was any chance whatsoever of Glow making a full recovery, and he said it was always possible, but extremely unlikely.
When Olin arrived he had called Natalie over first thing to work with us on Glow, since it was her horse, so she was involved in every step of the process right from the start, and everything that was to come. I turned to Natalie and told her Glow was her horse, so she had to make the decision whether to put down Glow, or to commit to a huge amount of work to try to save her. I told her that I would support her 100% in whatever she wanted to do, but she had to be totally committed if she opted to attempt to save Glow. That meant no summer camp in McCall, and basically no summer activities at all. Her summer would be totally devoted to Glow. I also told her she had to think about Glow too, and the pain Glow would have to endure if we opted to try to save her. She thought about it a long while, and then said she had decided that we would save Glow.
Thus began the most intense and emotional project I have ever embarked upon, and a very expensive one too. In the first week I ordered over a thousand dollars in medical supplies, including gel pads, which are cutting edge technology for healing human bone. In the following weeks I ordered another thousand dollars in additional supplies, and the orders kept going out after that too. After Olin had completed his work, Natalie and I loaded Glow in the trailer and took her up to Cascade to spend her first week under expert care. We saw a bull moose on the trip up, and after a week I brought her back down, seeing two more moose on the trip home...for sure a sign of good luck. Almost all further care was performed by Natalie and me, with occasional tutoring by Olin, and later by Keith, the senior vet and owner of the business. In the beginning I had Olin come over to make a weekly checkup on Glow, and then every two weeks, and once she was stable and seemingly doing well, it went to 3 week periods.The stalls in our new barn had been completed only 4 days prior to the injury, so we were very fortunate to have a nice clean stall for Glow.
http://ronreil.abana.org/stalls.jpg
Glow got massive amounts of antibiotics for the first month, both orally and by hypodermic, infection being our greatest fear at that point. I had to give her three huge shots a day, and it wasn’t long before her neck, rump, and chest, were all lumpy from all the shots. I was running out of places to stick her. In the beginning we changed the dressing on her leg once a day...each time requiring two hours to complete the detailed and very stressful work of thoroughly cleaning the injury and building up the very complex dressing, starting with Silvadene cream and gel pads. I had been well schooled by Olin in how to perform state of the art racetrack quality dressings, even to wrapping counterclockwise around the leg to force the tendons into proper alignment. Here is another picture showing Glow just after Natalie and I had completed a dressing change. That is me with next to Glow. BTW, I had a large table set up in the barn with all the medical supplies organized and ready for use, as well as a hand tray with all the needed supplies for a given procedure. Under the table were many boxes of additional supplies. The barn looked like an operating room, which is what it had actually become.
http://ronreil.abana.org/Glow%20&%20Ron.jpg
The only thing that even made this project possible was Glow’s total cooperation during the long medical procedures we had to do daily in the beginning. She would dance around with her other three feet, but never once moved the one I was working on while I was under her, even when I was cutting away proud flesh. In the beginning it was terrifying to me to be working in such a dangerous place, with my face often in direct line of a kick, and doing the things I had to do to her, but as the weeks and months passed I came to have full trust in Glow. In the beginning I would end up soaked with nervous sweat by the time the work was completed, and I sure didn’t look forward to the daily medical procedure. The anticipation would give me an upset stomach in the beginning. Yes, my adrenalin level was very high at times, but Glow ignored it. She was in control of the situation. I think she knew we were helping her.
We changed her stall bedding daily, and checked and removed any soiled bedding or manure every two hours, seven days a week. We also made constant checks on her dressing to make sure it was remaining in place. Twice it slipped down, requiring an immediate complete new dressing change and thorough cleaning of the wound. One of those two times was just minutes before I was supposed to leave for Boise to meet with Governor “Butch” Otter for a media presentation they had put together because of a 64 pound meteorite I was donating to the State of Idaho. Natalie and I went into high gear and performed a complete cleaning and dressing change in record time, all while I was wearing my good clothes for the media event. I was a nervous wreck by the time we got there...with only 3 minutes to spare.
Thus passed the most intense summer of my life. Every morning when I took Glow’s rectal temperature I held my breath as I read the thermometer, fearful of an elevated reading, indicating infection..it never happened. Also, we had a minor problem when fly season started. Even though we were keeping everything spotlessly clean, there were flies, and I didn’t want flies possibly infecting the wound, so I installed an automatic full barn fly spray system. That was another unplanned thousand dollar expense.
The time passed slowly, and Glow seemed to be doing well. Olin was very impressed with her progress each time he came out for a checkup. Then Keith took over for Olin when Olin moved on to another job, and it was Keith who then made periodic checks. The magic day finally arrived when Keith told me to let Glow out of her stall into the corral so she could work the leg and get the tendons moving to prevent adhesions. That was in early September. At this point the dressing was for cosmetic purposes only, to try to reduce the scaring as much as possible. The wound was only the size of a silver dollar by this time, and was fleshed in completely, but requiring frequent trimming of the proud flesh....not my favorite task. Proud flesh has no nerves in it, so Glow felt no pain, but the edges where the new skin is closing in do have nerves, lots of them, and to accidentally cut into that flesh could result in a severe reaction by Glow, so I was extremely careful. My own health depended on it. Also, proud flesh is loaded with blood vessels, so we had what looked like huge volumes of blood on the floor mats, and sometimes under them too, but in reality it was insignificant so far as Glow was concerned. It did result in huge clean-up jobs however.
At the end of September, Keith came back to perform a thorough evaluation of Glow’s leg to determine her condition and soundness. Natalie took Glow out in the parking/turn-around area and ran along, trotting Glow back and forth, while Keith watched Glow closely. He poked and prodded her leg, and after an hour he pronounced her 100% sound, and he gave her permission to take part in the state drill team finals in latter October if we worked her up to it slowly. She had no limp whatsoever. I had tears running down both cheeks, as did Natalie. We would keep the dressing on her until after the drill team championships, and remove it just before snow came...we get LOTS of snow here, sometimes over 200”. Click on this Gallery link to see this past winter if you are interested.
http://gallery.mac.com/ronaldaun
The drill team event went very well, although her team, the Mustang Sallys, didn’t win. I thought they did great however, considering it was their first time at State. Below is a picture of Glow and Natalie during the first event, which had to be performed out on a road. Notice the dressing on Glow’s left back leg. That was approved by the event officials. Also, her leg wraps are not on correctly, a result of me being detained by the Chief Parish Forest Fire. I am in the fire department here, and was not able to be there on time to tack Glow up. Others helped her who didn’t know how to put the leg wraps on, but that didn’t matter. Glow and Natalie were out there with the team, and that was all that counted. :-)
http://ronreil.abana.org/drillteamglow.jpg
I should conclude by saying that Natalie made me proud. Sometimes the procedures we had to do were very messy, leaving large pools of blood, trimmed flesh, and a huge mess to clean up, but she never complained, and always did her part and more. Glow IS her horse.
Joe, here is a paragraph with my thoughts about your book.
I have been flirting with the idea of natural horse care and barefoot horses for several years, having started out thinking it was nothing more than a California fad. I graduated to thinking there might be something more to it, and finally starting a determined search to learn all I could about it. A neighboring rancher had invited me over to observe their horses getting a “wild horse trim,” and they loaned me the book “A Lifetime of Soundness” by Hiltrud Strasser, but after reading it I was still not convinced, but I was getting closer. Twice I discussed the wild horse trim with my farrier when he was here to trim and shoe my horses, but in his opinion it was totally California hype, end of discussion. I have a lot of trust in Ron, my farrier, so his word carried the day. Then my daughter Natalie gave me a copy of Joe Camp’s book, “The Soul of a Horse,” for my 62nd birthday. I was reading two other books at the time, but decided to open it and take a quick look inside anyway. I read it almost straight through. It was the missing link in my search for information, and Joe’s open and honest descriptions of his fears, feelings, joys, experiences, and occasional disasters, during his first year and a half with his horses, were so close to my own feelings, fears, and experiences, that he achieved total credibility with me. Joe wasn’t selling anything, he cared deeply about the welfare of all horses, and I knew what I was reading was accurate and genuine. I could then accept natural horse care, and shoeless ponies, and things are changing on the Reil Ranch as a result. Thank you Joe, from me and my horses.
Ron Reil
Thank you so much Ron, for all you have shared - Joe
The nation's #1 selling horse book for the past 8 weeks!
Odds and Ends
June 1, 2008 #18 Sorry we've been offline for a bit.We've been really slammed working on promotion of the new book. But a few things have happened I wanted to pass along.
I read somewhere during the past year that someone was having good results feeding their horses pro-biotics to help clean out the parasites, thus eliminating the need for worming. We had already gone to a program of fecal testing before worming six months ago, with a plan to test every six months and only worm if the tests are positive. So we started using Probios Dispersible Powder (http://www.probios.com/powders.htm#disperpwdr) six months ago, mixing about a half teaspoon with each horse's small tub of Triple Crown Safe Starch forage, feeding it for a week, the off for two weeks. In other words, about a week every three weeks.
We just did our fecal six-month check on four of our horses last week and they were all completely negative. This is terrific news. That's at least one batch of poison we won't be putting inside our guys and gals.
For those who don't know what probiotics are, it's like feeding your horses yogurt, putting those "good" live cultures to work. At worst, it's just plain good for them. At best, we might have found a way to keep poison out of their bodies. The theory I read six months ago (can't remember where) is that the "good cultures" help send the bad parasites down the tube so to speak. I'll report again in November to let you know if we're still good. I'm also asking the Probios people to do some research on their own. This could be really good news. Of course, it is not a scientific study, properly done, etc etc. I just didn't want to put any more poison into their bodies, heard about someone having luck with this, and decided to try it. So far so good. If anyone else decided to give it a go, please let me know the results.
Next, I thought you'd all enjoy the review below of Pete Ramey's new DVD set on barefoot. Primarily because it's a review from the American Farrier Journal, the publication of and for traditional farriers. Pretty outstanding:
"Pete Ramey's set of DVD's is without a doubt a must-have series for any equine rofessional farrier or horse owner. While he is an advocate of barefoot trimming, here are many ideas that you can learn from this package regardless of how you trim and shoe horses. In these 10 DVD's, Pete Ramey spends 16 hours covering topics ranging from basic anatomy, biomechanics, nutrition, laminitis, navicular issues and problem feet. All are discussed in a clear, no-nonsense approach.
This series is filled with detailed information that all equine professionals can use. Everything is explained in such a way that everyone can benefit from Ramey's knowledge and learn new ways to unlock tremendous healing powers from the horse's hooves. It focuses on the ability to demonstrate the steps that are needed to drive a pathological hoof toward a healthier state. A combination of contemporary veterinary research and practical real-world field work will help viewers arrive at sound protocols that can be put to immediate use with any horse.
In 9 hours of classroom instruction, you'll learn about the mechanics of trimming and how to effectively bring positive changes to the hoof over time. You'll also develop a deep understanding of the internal hoof structure and see how it impacts a horse's performance.
Following the lecture portion, you'll view 7 hours of trimming on live horses suffering from a wide range of hoof concerns. This includes assorted breeds, a foundered mule and a draft horse. Finally, the DVD walks you step-by-step through an emergency call with a laminitic horse suffering from a 20-degree rotation. You'll evaluate the trimming and progressduring a number of visits with this laminitic horse.
Pete Ramey offers wisdom and insight that his years of practice and study have given him. If you own only oneshoeing DVD series, this should be it." American Farriers Journal May/June 2008 issue
And now a story from Irish trimmer, Dermot McCourt. This made me cry. What a wonderful world people like this make it for all of us and for all horses. This came to me as an email from Dermot fowarded by a mutual friend. I had seen Dermot's website (http://hoofsculpture.com/) and had asked why he had screwed a rubber pad onto a horse's foot. I, unfortunately didn't take the time to read and determine that it wasn't actually screwed into the hoof wall. This is the response to my question.
Hi Trish, thanks for the mention to Joe. I am going to answer his question to you in the first instance. The horse in question was being treated by a vet and farrier for weeks. Nothing more could be done, and so the mare was to be p t s when the kids were in bed. The owners daughter told my niece, to ask for my help. I went for the mare which could not walk, and so was carried, using sheets, ropes etc, into a trailer. She was unloaded the same way. Jeanette and myself worked at her for hours. We lifted her with a sling which I made, and used pully blocks. She had pedal bones penetrating through both front feet. This was a terrible situation. So we had laminitis, rotation, penetration and infection in both fee. I reshaped the feet to ease pressure, trimmed away all necrotic material, and pressure washed the wounds. The next prob was that she had to walk to pump out the infection and increase blood supply.
The wounds needed to be cleaned every day, and every two days later on. In this mare's case, boots would have been very dirty with the infection etc,also it was winter, and water, mud etc was also a prob. Knowing also that we were in for the long haul, I knew from previous cases that any boot used full time over a long period would cause sores in the bulbs, back of frog etc. In the past i have found sore or infected bulbs hard to treat . so i opted for everything open, and protect the sole.
As well as this I needed to support the bone in an exact spot. Not possible with boots. So I applied a rim of urithane all the way around the outer wall. I also formed a soft urithane rim around the wounds, it looked like the rim of a volcano. I then cut a firm rubber pad to size, and screwed it to the urithane rim, not the hoof wall. I then sealed everything with a soft sealant. We then set her free, and she walked slowly to the field and started to graze. I removed the pad for cleaning every 1-2-3 days. From that night she did not spend one night inside , but chose to stay with 7 other horses. After 6 weeks I was able to do away with the pads, and after 13 weeks she was fit to go home. A fiew weeks after that the owner and his daughter called to show me a 1st place rossette she had just won. She never looked back.
How fantastic is that? And how dedicated is Dermot?! Much applause and cheering for you Dermot. I am so glad we have folks who care this much on our planet.
Joe
The Derby: There Was Good with the Bad and the Ugly
It wasn't all bad news at the Kentucky Derby. There was one piece of good news that will likely provide a pathway to serious health improvements and longer life - not only for horses on the race track - but for horses everywhere. When a beautiful bay horse named Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby and two weeks later The Preakness he unwittingly shattered a tradition that could be the best thing to happen to horses in decades. Big Brown became the first horse in history to win the se two races without traditional metal shoes nailed to his feet.
"So what," a friend said. "A shoe is a shoe, right?"
Wrong.
Mother Nature designed the horse's hoof to flex with every step taken. That flexing acts like a secondary heart, pumping blood throughout the thousands of capillaries in the hoof mechanism, which keeps it healthy and provides an excellent hydraulic-like shock absorption for the tendons, ligaments, and joints of the leg. When a metal shoe is nailed to the hoof, it cannot flex. Blood flow is restricted. And the concussion upon impact is far worse than that of a bare foot. In short, fifty-five million years of genetics are constrained.
When I first learned that Big Brown had been fitted with some sort of plastic/rubber-based glue-on shoe, I was ecstatic. I had been researching the horse's hoof for my book The Soul of a Horse: Life Lessons from the Herd and the information I had found had caused me to pull the shoes off all of our horses immediately. So, I recognized what the shoe designer Ian McKinlay was accomplishing. He was allowing Big Brown's hoof to flex as Mother Nature had designed it to do. And he was providing much needed shock absorption. This is huge for horses. Huge!
Big Brown had lameness issues, cracked hooves, and hoof wall separation allowing him to run only three races prior to the Derby. His traditional metal nail-on shoes were pulled and McKinlay's flexible glue-on rig was fitted on each of Big Brown's front feet. His hooves healed, and the rest is history.
When, in the Derby, he burst across the finish line five lengths ahead of Eight Belles, I burst into happy tears because I knew what this would mean for horses. It is an acknowledgement that a horse's hoof does not need to be constrained by the traditional metal shoe nailed into his hoof.
And then tragedy struck. The only filly in the race, Eight Belles, after racing past the finish line in second place, suddenly collapsed with two broken front ankles and had to be euthanized on the spot. My joy turned to pain. The death of Eight Belles, even more clearly than that of Barbaro, focuses on another need: to find a way to push these races off until the horses are old enough to have matured skeletally.
The growth plates in the joints of a horse do not all fully mature into strong bone material until the horse is four to five-and-a-half years old. Yet the horses in the Derby are running at three years old, after usually being trained hard from the time they are one-and-a-half to two years old. It's way too young.
Could the concussive impact of a pounding hoof wearing a traditional metal shoe have contributed to the cause of Eight Belle's collapse? Could two years of hard training hammering immature growth plates have weakened her joints? Absolutely it's possible. Even probable. Would she have had a better chance with McKinlay's new shoeing technique, or rubber boots that are now available, or the plain plastic flexible shoes that can be popped off after the race? Or even running the race completely barefoot? My belief is yes. But it's just a belief because, of course, there's no way we'll ever know. Eight Belles is dead.
There has been much ranting about suspending the jockey, changing the running surface, changing breeding practices, and the belief that the big races are too close together. Absolutely they're too close together because a three-year-old horse is too young to be there in the first place. Holding such races every two weeks only compounds the problem. But however true any of these complaints might or might not be, none are at the heart of the issue. The problem is age and skeletal development. Horses are being trained and raced too young with under-developed growth plates and skeletal structures. Complicated by early pounding of those immature joints, ligaments and tendons with the concussive effect of a metal shoe nailed to the hoof during training. Complicated further by the steroids some 80% of racing horses take at one time or another during their training, according to our vet, a veteran of the racing industry. Steroids build muscles, but deplete bone mass. What is wrong with that picture is not difficult to understand.
These issues can actually be solved quickly and easily by lifting the upper age limit to, say, eight years old at these major races. Leave the lower limit at three for the time being. Then require a complete radiographic exam of all growth plates to accompany every entry. Whenever a horse is found with growth plates that are not mature, not closed, the owner would be advised, but not forced, to withdraw his entry. The owner would understand that if he doesn't withdraw and something happens to the horse, the exam will be made public. This puts the responsibility, and the heat, solely on the shoulders of the owner of the horse.
Next, remove the requirement that the horse wear shoes in the race, leaving the hoof wear, if any, totally up to the owner. He can race the horse barefoot if he chooses.
Next, forbid by rule all use of steroids, pain killers and performance enhancing drugs. Make it zero tolerance.
And lastly, lobby insurance companies to exclude from coverage any horse that does not pass the skeletal development exam.
I believe these rule changes and a willing insurance industry would be relatively easy to effect, and could revolutionize the effects on horses. It's amazing what can happen when an owner knows that the spotlight will be on him if he makes a mistake.
I wish I could conjure up a computerized scientific model of what would've happened if Eight Belles had been five years old instead of three; and throughout her years of training, her hooves had been able to flex, and pump blood, and provide much needed shock absorption for ankles and knees and tendons and ligaments. And she had been drug free for all of those five years. I know in my heart what the difference would be. My happy tears for Big Brown's amazing win would not have turned to tears of pain. And that beautiful filly would still be alive.
Joe Camp
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A CONVERSATION WITH
Joe Camp
author of
THE SOUL OF A HORSE
Life Lessons from the Herd
Harmony Books; On-sale Now
Hardcover $24.95
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1) There are thousands of horse books on the market. Why did you write another one?
I didn't actually. I mean, yes, of course, it has to do with horses, but first and foremost it's a story. I've spent most of my life telling stories, most of them involving animals. And I found this one particularly fascinating. Two complete novices-my wife and I-leaping into this enigmatic world of horses literally without a clue. The mistakes, the fear, the fascination, and the frustration with some of the answers we were getting. And ultimately the discovery that something was very wrong in this world of horses. Imagine a couple of newcomers wrestling with the notion that either we were completely nuts or that we had truly stumbled upon something that was very wrong. That's where the book got started. It's a story about the journey.
2) You are the creator of the very successful Benji series and now, in this newest venture, THE SOUL OF A HORSE, you have leapt into horses with both feet. What similarities have you found between dogs and horses?
I suppose the only real similarity would be that, given the opportunity, both want to please humans very much. Both can be willing, generous partners. But their hardwiring is entirely different. The dog, descended from the wolf, is a predator. The horse is a prey animal, a flight animal. React first and ask questions later. And I think that is one of the most often misunderstood behaviors of the horse. This freaky flight response has more often than not been interpreted as a horse being mean. Like the story in the book about my wife, Kathleen, getting dumped on her derriere when the dogs next door ran down to the fence barking. The mare she was standing beside leaped sideways like a jackrabbit and Kathleen was in the way. I won't give away the story, but suffice to say many people would have disciplined the horse for that, when all she was doing was what her genetics dictated. If horses didn't have this react-first-and-analyze-later hardwired response, they likely wouldn't have survived as they have for the past fifty-five million years. They could've well been extinct eons ago.
3) Why do you think there is such a disparity between the traditional thinking about horses and what you think it should be?
That's a pretty loaded question. First, it's not really what I think that matters. It's what Kathleen and I discovered in this wild and crazy journey that the book covers. And what we ultimately discovered is that the so-called "domestic" horse is genetically the same as horses living in the wild. Which means that all horses are hardwired to live and function like horses in the wild. And most domestic horses are living in a way that is diametrically opposite to how they are genetically programmed to live.
So why is there disparity between the life a horse is genetically designed to live and traditional thinking? One reason, I suppose, is that to some it might be really inconvenient to care that much about the horse. But I think most horse owners just don't know. They don't have the knowledge. We didn't when we started. Our horses were living in stalls, with shoes, eating wrong, and never moving. We were the typical horse owner, until we started asking questions--lots of questions. Many of the answers we were getting didn't really make any sense, and with every one of these answers came more questions. It was like peeling an onion, one layer at a time, and suddenly one day we said, "Wow. Either something is very wrong here or we're completely nuts." It turns out we weren't nuts.
4) So how should horses be living?
The short answer is that the horse should live as much like he would in the wild as is absolutely possible. We discovered that there is really no such thing as a domestic horse. There are only wild horses living in captivity . . . or wild horses living in our care. But what I hope is more important about this book is that the lessons we learned from these horses have immense applications to the way we live our lives with other humans.
It's all about relationships, and choices, and trust. And these guys [the horses] taught us that the quality of life is often found in the choices we make. That we should approach every relationship--whether it's with a boss, an employee, a family member, or a spouse--from the other end of the lead rope. In other words, we should walk in their boots, not ours. We should gain understanding of what they're about, what they want out of life and out of a relationship, and only then move forward.
5) What do you hope the main takeaway will be for people who read THE SOUL OF A HORSE?
That you can live your life every day, go to work, tend the kids, mow the grass, and still make a positive difference on this planet at the same time. That your soul prospers from sharing, caring, relating, and fulfilling. That nothing can make you feel better than doing something good for another being. Not cars. Not houses. Not face-lifts. Not blue ribbons or trophies. And there is nothing more important in life than love. Not money. Not status. Not winning. It is the synthesis of this book, and why it came into being.
And you should always give the choice of choice . To your horse, or your employee, or your friend, or your loved ones. Care enough to want them to be healthy and happy. It will come back a hundredfold.
And always question everything. Be your own expert. Gather information and make decisions based upon knowledge and wisdom, not hearsay. Know that if something doesn't seem logical, it probably isn't. If it doesn't make sense, it's probably not right.
March 24, 2008 #15
No Such Thing as "Domestic" Horses
It took me three years to finally boil this journey of ours down to a single simple point as it relates to how horses are supposed to live, how they should be living. It never ceases to amaze me how I can have something right in front of my face and not be able to see it because it's camouflaged by some predisposition or learning sequence. Like this old logic problem: What do the words, first, hijack, and crabcake have in common? Stare at that for a bit and if you get it quickly, you're doing better than I did. I spent several hours before finally, in desperation, I began to assign numbers to the letters, looking for some commonality of sequence, or total, or some thing. That's when I saw it. Do that yourself, assign numbers... ie: a=1... b=2...etc. You'll see it very quickly.
That's the way it was with this concept of so-called domestic vs wild horses. How do you explain quickly why barefoot with the wild horse trim works? Or why horses should be out moving around 24/7? Or why sweet feed, corn, oats, etc are not good for the horse's diet? Or why stalls cause such stress for horses? As we came along, learning, internalizing, I could answer any one of those questions if I could get someone to sit still long enough to listen. Or to read sixteen paragraphs. What I longed for was a single concept that would start the brain a-whirring. A light bulb moment, if you will. I worked all around the subject but never discovered the clear, concise connection until I was putting a Power Point presentation together one day and had a photo of my Cash next to a photo of a free-roaming stallion in the wild. And suddenly there it was.
When someone speaks of "domestic" or "domesticated" horses, it conjures up images of wild horses that have somehow been changed to suit our "domestic" environment. But it doesn't take much knowledge of science to understand that "domesticating" a horse is no more possible than "domesticating" a lion or a tiger. You can teach, and train, and work with a tiger, but you are not going to change his genetics unless you hang around for thousands, maybe millions of years. You can not turn a tiger into a household kitty any more than you can take the flight response out of a horse.
I have been talking genetics for a couple of years, but the simplicity of the concept had never occurred to me until that moment staring at Cash and the wild stallion. Genetically speaking there is no difference. Genetically speaking they are the same. Which means that, genetically speaking, there is no such thing as a domesticated horse. There are only wild horses... in captivity. Or perhaps better put: only wild horses... in our care. Again, I'm speaking genetically.
And, of course, I don't mean wild in the sense of a tiger or a lion or a wolf. A horse is not predator, but prey, and very generous and willing with humans given the opportunity to be, even when living in the wild. I have yet to meet the horse who wouldn't ultimately choose to be in relationship with humans. I'm sure there are some around who have been abused enough that it might take Monty Roberts or Pat Parelli at their best to bring that out, but as the New York Times editorial after Barbaro's death said: You would have to look a long, long time to find a dishonest or cruel horse. And the odds are that if you did find one, it was made cruel or dishonest by the company it kept with humans. It is no exaggeration to say that nearly every horse -- Barbaro included -- is pure of heart.
But the phrase: Wild horses in captivity seems to make it so much easier to see why all this works, so much easier to put everything in its proper place, quickly and neatly. The horse has survived on this planet for something like 55 million years. Survived without humans for the great majority of those years. Not bad for a prey animal. An animal whose only defense is to flee, to run. The next question, naturally, is: And just what does he need most in order to run?
Perhaps... feet?
Good, sound, rock-crushing feet?
Absolutely. And if Mother Nature had not developed such a foot, a foot that can go and go hard, over the worst kind of terrain, we would've never known the horse. He would've been extinct eons ago.
But he isn't extinct and those genetics still know how to create a fantastic rock crushing foot, no matter how many folks say We've bred the hoof right off the horse... or... The domestic horse and the wild horse are not even the same species anymore. The truth is that there is not one shred of evidence from any scientific or medical source that would agree that fifty-five million years of genetics could be changed by a few generations of selective breeding, feeding, training, or whatever. Cannot be done.
There is virtually no lameness of the hoof with horses living in the wild. Yet, the president of the American Farriers Association has said that 85%-90% of all "domesticated" horses in the world have some degree of hoof lameness. Pretty much all caused by us.
The genetics of the horse living in the wild are alive and well within every so-called domestic horse in the world. That's why the right combination of barefoot that replicates the wild horse hoof, and replicates the lifestyle and nutrition of the wild horse works. It's not magic. It's not voodoo. It's merely allowing the horse's own genetic system to take charge and function as it is supposed to function.
We all have wild horses... living in captivity.
When a foal is born, she will be standing before the end of her first hour of life, eating and walking by end of hour two, and running and kicking before hour three comes to a close. By hour four, the herd could be once again on the move if necessary. And by the second day, that foal in the wild will be moving 10-30 miles a day with the herd.
We all know that. But has the importance of it ever really occurred to us? Hadn't to me until recently.
Why isn't that foal lying around for a week or two with it's eyes still closed, like a puppy? Or why isn't the foal like us when we're born? No walking, talking, learning for months and months? Because the foal is encoded for survival. Mother Nature knows that our mama and daddy are predators and can protect us. Same with a puppy. But the foal is going to have to move in order to eat, drink and stay ahead of predators. And move immediately.
Whether born in the wild, or in a barn, the horse is genetically predisposed to:
Move 10 to 30 miles a day searching for food, water, and staying ahead of predators...
Be with the herd, physically - and thus emotionally - safe, unstressed...
Spend 16 to 18 hours a day eating... from the ground, a variety; continuous uptake in small quantities to suit their small tummies and the continual needs of their intestinal tracts...
Control their own thermoregulatory system, thus controlling their own internal body temperature with no outside assistance, including heat, blankets, and the like...
Stand and walk on firm fresh ground, not in the chemical remnants of their own poop and pee... nor be breathing the fumes of those remnants, plus the excessive ammonia and carbon dioxide that accumulates inside a closed structure...
Get a certain amount of unstressed REM sleep, which can only be achieved by lying down and will usually only happen when surrounded by a herd with a sentry on guard... again, safety and security are the horse's chief concern... and the herd provides that.
But, come on, what harm can it do to show a bit of TLC by storing them away in a nice comfy stall, with central heat and air, a bit of velvet on the walls, and a soft, cushy floor?
A lot of harm. Believe me when I tell you: a lot.
What we humans feel our sweet babies should have is most often exactly the opposite of what they need for health and happiness.
When I was standing out in the cold rain, without a rain coat, feeling sorry for my horses, I wasn't wanting to hear, "Your horses are fine, Joe. Leave them be." It was difficult for me to believe, as miserable as I was feeling, that the horses weren't miserable too. But the truth is, they weren't. And the things I've been seeing are always pushing me to learn more, to dig, to throw out the marketing-induced guilt of the barn and blanket makers, the "traditional" reasoning, and try to get to the truth. For no other reason than I care for my horses as much as they care for me.
When we take control of one of these lives, when we say I will be responsible for this animal, his care and feeding, his health and happiness, we tacitly promise to give him the very best care that we can. To learn everything we can about the horse, and how to give him the longest and very best life possible. Not the life we think he should have because that's what we'd like, but the life we know is right because we've studied it and are certain.
Yet the majority of so-called domestic horses in the world are kept in some sort of stall for at least part of the day/night cycle, if not all of it. Often within a closed structure, like a barn. Some stalls are bigger than others, but the vast majority of box stalls in closed structures are approximately twelve by twelve feet. The accumulation of negatives from this lifestyle is devastating to an animal born to be outside, on the move, with the herd, day and night.
The most frequent argument we've heard is This isn't a wild mustang, it's a domesticated horse. As if the declaration, "He isn't running free" would somehow change the millions of years of genetics that have made him what he is. As if such a statement would make the ammonia from poop and pee eating away at his feet disappear; or cause his physical structure, which was built to be on the move constantly, to be suddenly fine with standing still twelve to twenty-four hours a day. As if it would make his respiratory system, which is built to be outside breathing fresh, clean air, suddenly find good health in breathing ammonia and high quantities of carbon dioxide in a closed environment with little circulation of fresh air. The average horse breathes 62 litres of air a minute, producing 150 litres of CO 2 per hour. And ammonia is so destructive to protein, it is actually being taken off the market in some countries.
Saying " This isn't a wild mustang" does not compensate for the reduced blood circulation he's suffering while standing still in a stall, wearing metal shoes that keep the hoof from flexing as it is designed to do. Reduced circulation that, in turn, weakens the hoof. And reduced circulation that doesn't efficiently pump blood back up the legs to the rest of the body, adding stress to the heart and affecting the immune system.
And whether mustang or domestic, it isn't healthy to eat from a bucket, feeder, or hay net hanging at table height when his body is built to eat from hoof level. Nor does being domestic negate the claustrophobia and stress he lives with at some level, caused by feeling trapped, unable to flee, alone, away from any semblance of a herd, and bored. Never mind how willing he might be to go into the stall either because he has always been forced to, or because he knows that is where the food is.
Why?
Because he's a wild horse living in captivity. He and the wild horse living in the wild are the same, genetically.
Is it any wonder that domestic horses, on average, do not have near the life span of horses in the wild living under good conditions?
This information is readily available. In studies. In books. On the internet. Backed up. In depth. With consensus. So don't take my word for it, or anyone else's for that matter. Know it yourself because you've taken the time to study it. There are links all over our website that can take you to knowledge by the bushel. And beyond.
The wild horse model works. It's simple to create. It doesn't take acres of property. And the horses are not only healthier, they're happier. Just ask our Cash. Or Mariah. Or Pocket. Or Mouse. Or Skeeter. All wild horses... in our care.
Joe
January 17, 2008
On Trial and Error
For years I’ve called the process of making Benji movies: trial and error filmmaking. I always – well, usually – know what I want to see up there on the screen, but almost never know how to get it on film. I remember late one night in Oregon on Benji the Hunted there were about twelve of us crammed and bundled around the camera which was sitting on the dirt pointed down at a tiny little cougar cub who was supposed to be looking up at Benji, pleading with his eyes to not be left alone to be eaten by some larger predator (his mama had been shot by a hunter). The look in the cub’s eyes had to be right. It had to make us (the audience) choke up a little, feel the plight of this poor helpless baby. So there we were, this huge crowd of people all scrunched in a ball gawking down at this wee cub with a bevy of bright lights in his eyes, and I was supposed to be holding the “look” of the cub (as if he were gazing up at Benji) and I was also supposed to be doing something that would evoke just the right expression. Something that would make the cub’s eyes beg pleeeze don’t leave me here.
I was squawking funny sounds, trying to whistle (which I never had learned to do properly), gurgling, cracking sticks, rustling leaves, squeaking… none of which was having much effect. After a moment, the cub began to rock back and forth and I said, “I think he’s falling asleep!” I got louder, but the little guy’s eyes rolled back in his head and his eyelids dropped shut. He was out like a light. After a moment, he plopped over on his side, which woke him up with a start, and we began again. It had to be a funny sight to an innocent bystander. But it took a while for me to see the humor in it as rolls upon rolls of film raced through the camera. We shot up at least twenty minutes worth before finally getting the expression I wanted. I don’t even remember what sound or movement extracted the perfect look… but that particular moment in the finished film is magical. Truly magical.
The point here is, we don’t have to know all there is to know every time we enter a new situation. We don’t have to wait and wait until we’re living experts of the moment to give something a try. I’m a huge advocate of book and DVD learning, of ingesting years and years of experience from people more knowledgeable than I. But there comes a time when there is no better learning than first-hand experience, of getting out there and trying something. Giving it a shot. Knowing full well that it probably won’t work. But mentally set to keep going. To try something else. And something else again. Until that magical moment happens.
I’ve never forgotten the following moment, as described in The Soul of a Horse:
Our growing library of books and DVDs all said “begin at the beginning.” which meant standing in the arena teaching my horse to back up, or move sideways. Or come to me. These exercises would give me control, said the DVDs. And once I had complete control over how, where, and when the horse moves, I would then have a safe horse. And only then should I climb aboard.
But I wanted to know why.
I was also anxious to take the next step with Cash. After Join-Up, he was now looking to me for leadership, so off we went to the arena.
I hear we learn by our mistakes.
One of the training DVDs had spelled out three different ways to teach backup.
See Cash back up, Method One.
See Cash back up, Method Two.
See Cash back up, Method Three.
Why, I wondered, did I need three? Especially here, beginning at the beginning. One method would’ve been quite enough to confuse both of us this first time out.
See Joe look like a circus clown.
Clumsy and awkward do not adequately describe the moment. I had Cash’s lead rope in one hand and a three-foot-long Handy Stick in the other. A Handy Stick is a plastic rod used to extend the length of one’s arm so that, hopefully, one can stand back far enough to avoid the kind of knockdown Kathleen got to experience. The stick, sold of course by one of the DVD trainers, is not to be used for discipline, only for guidance. According to this particular DVD, I was supposed to be doing one thing with the lead rope and another with the stick.
It was like trying to rub circles on your belly with one hand while patting your head with the other.
I felt like an idiot.
Those droll cocks of the head and quizzical looks from Cash were coming at me like machine-gun fire. I expected him to burst out laughing any minute. I was clearly not getting through.
But I didn’t give up. I kept trying, and trying different things. If this doesn’t work, try that. Or something else. And slowly, over time, I began to see that it really doesn’t matter what you do, but rather how you communicate what you’d like for your horse to do. If touching his ear will communicate that you want him to roll over, so be it. Ultimately I reached a point where I can ask Mr. Cash to back up with nothing more than a look, or a toss of the head, or a flick of a finger.
And it all came about stumbling around through the process of trial and error. Which lead me to look at communication from his end of the lead rope, not from mine. I recommend it.
Joe
PS: Please help us spread the word about the new book. Many thanks.
January 6, 2008
Hi folks:
Yesterday morning - finally - we received artwork from the publisher for the book jacket (below). As expected it did not utilize our favorite photo and Random House had already shown it to their main sales department, their specialty sales department, the Barnes & Noble rep, and the Amazon rep. We were told they were all ecstatic. Kathleen even liked it. And Monty Roberts' daughter loved it. So what do I know?
I don't suppose the cover will cause anyone to like the book any less. I guess we're on our way.
We'll keep you posted. Again, many thanks for participating in all this.
Joe
November 2, 2007
The Animal Miracle Foundation (AMF) announced today that Joe Camp , animal advocate and author of The Soul of a Horse , will be a spokesperson for National Horse Protection Day.
Camp, best known for his work as a film writer and director of the Benji films , has joined with AMF to raise awareness through public education about the abuse, neglect, homelessness and slaughter of horses in America and to promote adoption events around the nation.
Camp encourages others to get involved. “I’m so delighted to be asked to participate in National Horse Protection day, a day that focuses on the plight of one of the most majestic creatures on earth. This is our opportunity to do something that will live within us and nourish us forever. To perhaps save a horse from slaughter, or help someone else who is saving one. To buy a bale of hay for a rescue operation, or help by volunteering to exercise a rescued horse.”
The 1st Annual National Horse Protection Day Mane Event will be celebrated at the Animal Rescue League of Iowa (ARL) in Des Moines, Iowa, on March 1st, 2008. This event will not only celebrate and honor the contribution of horses in our country but will raise public awareness of the critical legislation and adoption needs of horses in the nation’s shelters.
This family fun event will include country music entertainment, silent auction of horse-themed items, up to 140 horses for adoption, horse product vendors, special guests and celebrities, and a kids area with horse-themed crafts and games. Food and beverages will also be provided. There will also be speakers throughout the event on a variety of topics, such as hoof care, horse nutrition, and current horse legislation in Iowa. Joe Camp and his wife Kathleen will be attending the event as well. Their first adoption of a horse was from the ARLI, a young filly named Mouse ( www.thesoulofahorse.com/Mouse.htm )
National Horse Protection Day serves to bring awareness to the number of abused and neglected horses that need forever homes and also to create public awareness about horse slaughter and encourage horse lovers to get involved and spread the word about the plight of horses in America.
This special day of tribute was founded by internationally renowned author and animal behaviorist, Colleen Paige. Paige created the Animal Miracle Foundation as home to her lifesaving holidays which include National Cat Day, National Mutt Day, National Puppy Day and National Wildlife Day - among others.
During its first year, AMF was responsible for the shelter and assistance of over 1,000 animals during Hurricane Katrina. In 2007, AMF celebrated its 2nd Annual National Dog Day event in Malibu, California. On that day, across the nation, over 14,000 homeless dogs’ lives were changed forever. A slideshow of the event can be viewed at http://www.nationaldogday.com/2007.htm Proceeds from the National Horse Protection Day event will go to benefit the Animal Miracle Foundation and the Animal Rescue League of Iowa to help save the lives of horses across the nation.
Horse lovers can visit http://www.horseprotectionday.org/ to learn more about the holiday, including sponsorship information and regular updates to national press.
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The Animal Miracle Foundation is a private charitable foundation committed to saving animal lives through partnering with existing rescues, sanctuaries and shelters to facilitate adoptions and increase public awareness of animal welfare issues.
The Animal Rescue League of Iowa Inc. (ARL) is Iowa's largest nonprofit animal shelter, caring for many thousands of pets each year. The ARL serves people and pets from across the state of Iowa through its programs, which include pet adoption, humane education, pet behavior training, spay/neuter, animal cruelty intervention and much more.
Joe Camp is an author, director, and producer of all the Benji movies and television programs, including Benji Off the Leash, released in 2004. Camp has also written three published novels and several children's books. He has recently turned his attention and heart towards horses. His book, The Soul of a Horse , will be published by Random House on April 29, 2008.
November 25, 2007
Hi all... a short note on a couple of subjects, hooves and diet.
First, for all of you who could not attend the recent Pete Ramey - Dr. Robert Bowker clinics a week or so ago here in Valley Center both Ramey and Bowker were simply incredible in their ability to simplify to the point of injecting our brains with true understanding of what they hoof is all about. And why following the wild horse model is so logical.
Dr. Bowker nailed a point I had never really thought of. He uses the term "peripheral loading" when referring to a situation where the hoof walls are carrying all of the weight when a horse's hoof hits the ground. Which is almost always the case when he's wearing a shoe, and often the case when he's barefoot and his hoof walls are too long. Dr. Bowker's point is that the hoof walls should never carry all of the load. The load should be shared by the bars, the frog, and even the sole. Why? Well, picture a small diameter tube inside a slightly larger diameter tube... with nothing locking the two together except a fiberous spongy material called the lamina; connected only laterally, on the sides. No help from the bottom. And nothing touching the ground except the rim of the larger, outside tube. Now start applying 300-400 pounds of pressure on the smaller, inner tube (as in every time the horse's foot hits the ground)... and imagine the shearing pressure on the lamina trying to hold everything together (from the side) with no help from below. That's an over-simplification, but pretty much what's happening with your horse's hoof mechanism when each step is loading only on the periphery (the hoof wall).
In the wild, if a horse is on rocky terraine, his hoof will usually be concave, because the rocks above ground will reach up and wear and callous the frog, bars and sole. If a horse is barefoot on concrete, like the Houston Mounted Patrol horses, there will be less concavity naturally (flatter) so there can still be load support from the frog, bars and soul. That's why both Pete and Dr. Bowker emphasize so strongly that the shape of the bottom of the foot can not (and left to nature will not) be the same when living on different types of terraine. If your horse is on soft arena-type footing most of the time, his foot will wear differently than if he's on concrete, or hard rocky ground, or grass. This is why Pete spends very little time trimming the bottom of the foot, preferring to let the horse tell him how he'd like it to be, and then just helping him to get there.
There's so much too all this that I very strongly recommend that you spend as much time as possible on Pete's website and Dr. Bowker's website, reading their articles. It takes time to get a handle on all of it, but it's so worth it for your horses. Here are the two website links:
Pete's website: http://www.hoofrehab.com .
Dr. Bowker's research rticles: http://cvm.msu.edu/RESEARCH/efl/index.htm
or http://wwwthehorseshoof.com .
Next, a couple of notes on our (at last) nose dive into diet and nutrition. This is a new addition to the website:
Diet and Nutrition
This is a very slippery slope, as anyone who has tried to make sense out of it can testify. We are just getting into the concept of how we can ensure that our horses are getting, or have access to, all of the options they would have available to them in the wild, which is the foundation for their genetic structure. We have begun the complex process of trying to determine not only the best, most natural feed combinations, but the best methods to ensure that our horses have access to what they need, and can also pick and choose what they feel they need based upon their individual conditions. As is highlighted throughout our writings, for us it's not about what we humans think, or what is most convenient for us. It's about how we can replicate as closely as possible the health and happiness our horses would have if they were in the wild taking care of themselves.
The Best Source I've Found So Far!
http://www.naturalhorsetalk.com/documents/FeedingNaturally.pdf
http://www.naturalhorsetalk.com/documents/EquineNutritionMythsandFacts.pdf
http://www.naturalhorsetalk.com/documents/ReadingtheLabelswhatyouneedtoknow.pdf
These are articles by Lisa Ross-Williams, editor of Equine Wellness, NaturalHorseTalk.com, and host of the internet radio show IfYourHorseCouldTalk.com. I've been searching, searching, searching and trying different things until I'm crazy! And Lisa has seriously put it all together in spades! Diet and nutrition is her passion, her focus. No matter how you keep your horses, you must read these articles. Thank you, thank you, thank you Lisa!
I feel we are now giant steps closer to my goal of seeing our horses live happily and healthily into their thirties and forties.
One other note. Emerging research regarding fat in a horse's diet is paralleling the studies for humans with similar results. Fat is necessary for both of us... but only if it's unrefined, unprocessed, un-hydrogenated fat. It's the processing that manufacturers do to "preserve" the fat that is killing us and our horses, the chemically mutated fat. There are good articles on this subject and on the need for antioxidants, and why, at The Natural Horse Vet website, link below:
http://www.naturalhorsevet.com
More to come as we put these concepts into practice and see the results first hand with our horses. Stay tuned.
Joe
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