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. On Saturday, May 3, 2008, when a beautiful bay horse named Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby he not only became the first horse since 1915 to win with only three prior races. And the first horse since 1929 to win from the far outside position. 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 Kentucky Derby without traditional metal shoes nailed to his feet.

A friend of mine looked at me strangely when I giddily bubbled up that fact.   "So what," he 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 from an article in the Times that Big Brown had been fitted with some sort of plastic glue-on shoe, I was ecstatic. I had been researching in this arena for my book The Soul of a Horse: Life Lessons from the Herd and the information I had found had caused me to take 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 feet. His hooves healed, and the rest is history.

When he burst across the finish line five lengths ahead of Eight Belles, I burst out crying 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 - between his bones - 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. Would she have had a better chance with McKinlay's new shoeing technique, or rubber boots that are now available, or even plain plastic flexible shoes that can be popped off after the race? My belief is yes. But it's just a belief because, of course, there's no way we'll ever know.

Certainly horses in the wild, which are genetically exactly the same as horses in domestic care, have survived for millions and millions of years with rock-crushing bare feet. And to a flight animal, one who must be able to run to survive, the feet are the most important thing a horse has. Mother Nature has done well by the horse in that regard. Study after study has proven that any domestic horse retains the ability to return to a feral state and lead happy healthy lives in the wild. With rock solid sound hooves. With genetics working as they were designed to work.

I look forward to the day when racing commissions and owners everywhere will allow the horse the ability to let his genetics work and thus be able to prove his own survival in the racing industry. And begin to at least talk about and explore ways to put these big races off until the horse is mature skeletally.

I wish I could conjure up a computerized scientific analysis of what would've happened if Eight Belles had been five years old, or even four, 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. 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

	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

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.

###  

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