Talon, now happy, with his new owner Samantha.
2008, exactly three years since he arrived at our farm. We have stayed in touch with Samantha and Talon and they are a wonderful combination. Samantha has shown Talon at a couple of hunter jumper competitions in which he placed well, even winning reserve champion. Talon remains barefoot (and sound)
to this day, and we are very grateful that Samantha has evolved into a “barefoot is beautiful” horse owner.
In closing I would like to leave you with a quote I found by Hans Handler, head of the Spanish Riding School: “Allaying the horse’s fears is the first order of training.” Surprisingly, it was in Jaime
Jackson’s book Horse Owners Guide to Natural Hoofcare.
WT
THE FINAL LAYER
Talon was no longer lame and no longer aggressive. He
maintained his kind eye and personality. We were thrilled with his progress but, now and then, he was still tense at mealtimes. We also happened to notice him eating his own manure and I don’t mean just a few nibbles. He was truly eating a lot of his manure when he was confined and ran out of food. Cleaning his stall was mysteriously too easy! We discussed this with our vet. She instructed us to try ranitidine (the ingredient in
Zantac) before each meal. For about 28 days, Talon had these “acid blockers” before each meal and his demeanor changed yet again. Possibly he had small ulcers, or just a high concentration of stomach acid. The newest research from companies such as Merial (marketers of UlcerGard and GastroGard here in the U.S.) claims that up to 90 percent of horses have some sort of ulcer condition. Many inexpensive ulcer prevention products are
available, including using alfalfa hay instead of grass hay. I did not know a lot about ulcers when Talon was here, but this year I have learned a great deal. I was under the misguided impression that ulcers were an issue concerning racehorses and other horses that are kept in stalls. Since Talon and the rest of ours were rarely, if ever, kept inside, we thought our herd was exempt.
A NEW BEGINNING
By using ranitidine, we found that Talon was finally happy,
and later that year, we felt he was ready to be sold. A friend of ours named Samantha bought him in May of
32 November/December 2009
Talon poses for the camera, demonstrating his “soft eye.”
About Andrea Haller: Andrea is co-owner of Wellborn Quarter Horses in Wellborn, Florida. The farm hosts numerous training clinics during the year, including the popular Obstacle Trail Challenge in cooperation with the Horse Protection Association of Florida. More recently she has authored The Equine Market published by Packaged Facts in August 2009. More information on that report is available at
www.packagedfacts.com. When she can, Andrea loves to ride her favorite mare, Secret.
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