Finca Cavali

19/05/2023

Oh yes - best vacation ever - thanks guys!🥰

My summer plans 🤠

03/04/2023

Our Banana plants just keep on giving.... a whole lot of bananas missing in this pic as the horses apparently got first dibs!

01/02/2023

The Stables Guards - who dat dere? A cool summer morning at the Finca

21/12/2022

PROUD's NEW JOGGING SHOES: We have now finally transitioned our boys to barefoot and Proud's new ACTIVE JOGGING SHOES arrived yesterday (these are from Equine Fusion in Norway). These are the new version of the EQUINE FUSION All Terrain Jogging Shoe which we have used before and the new design looks terrific, very easy to put on and take off, and very confortable and secure. Also, because Proud has a Hi-Low condition up front which we used to correct with a wedge inserted behind his shoe, we are able to use a 3 deg. wedge insert tailor made for this jogging shoe, which we will insert in his left (low side) boot - also adding to the cushioning effect. Decar has Easy Care Sneakers at the moment, which fit him very well, but I suspect we will also transition him over to the Equine Fusion boot. As we did before before, we got them from Jenny Edwards at All Natural Horse Care ([email protected]) who was so helpful in making sure we got the correct fit for Proud. So with summer finally here the boys will soon be on their way again hitting the trails - Pura Vida!

06/12/2022

Summer is Arriving: So great that the Rainy Season is coming to an end and we are entering summer .... finally and not a moment too soon. Proud and Decar are already making the most of it

17/11/2022

Proud and Decar enjoying being turned out in one of our new fenced pastures

05/11/2022

Absolutely at the heart of the magical relationship we have with Proud and Decar

Exploring Autonomous Horsemanship

Autonomous Horsemanship is an attitude rather than a method. There is no method to truly understand each other, each relationship is a unique exploration.

Natural Horsemanship is a method, built on using what is considered to be the horse’s natural behavior to take advantage of her vulnerability by the use of aversive manipulation – if you do as I tell you I will make the discomfort stop. Autonomous Horsemanship does not expose the horse to pressure or pain in the first place.

Honoring the horse's choices even if she chooses not to participate is essential to build the relationship. Freedom from harm is fundamental for her safety and her willingness to stay curious.

Our own ability to create a mindset where we let go of judging what is desirable or not and leave the protocol behind is the first step towards Autonomous Horsemanship.

Asking, not commanding. Building a compassionate relationship, not controlling.

Join us as we explore and develop our abilities to find a mindset that allows us to grow compassionate relationships with horses at https://manypathstotheheart.com/community/

31/10/2022

NOTICE TO FACEBOOK (Meta): I do not give Facebook or any entities associated with Facebook permission to use my pictures, information, messages or posts, both past and future. With this statement, I give notice to Facebook it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, or take any other action against me based on this profile and/or its contents.

06/08/2022

At last ..... my Ball! Proud has been waiting a long time for this moment, and it appears his soccer skills do not appear to have diminished ... more to come!

31/05/2022

Out in the new pastures - the boys love it

23/01/2022

FIRST FARRIER VISIT OF 2022: Beto, our farrier, came today and is putting the final corrective shoeing touches to Proud and Decar - a program which has been going on now for close on a year! We have finally succesfully transitioned Decar to barefoot trimming and his angles look really good now, and his soles are hardening up nicely now that our summer is finally here. We will be ordering new boots for him this month and will see how it works out over the dry season. Proud is continuing with the High/Low correction up front (see the photos of the assymetric support), and Beto has custom made "onion heel" shoes for his hind hooves - he is a talented blacksmith! Proud's angles also look much improved and so Doc Roberto and Beto and us decided to remove the wedges and just go with the heel support ("Onion heel" shoes) for the hind end. So hopefully we are arriving at the tail end of the program and the boys should be nicely balanced, aligned and comfortable going forward ... finally (fingers crossed!!) - Oh, and today we harvested our first bananas of the year grown on the Finca!

22/07/2021

PASTURES NEW: The rainy season provides wonderful conditions for replanting and so we are busily undertaking the removal of all the invasive Mombasa grasses which were planted on the property by the previous owners. It is a less than ideal forage for the horses, grows to over 6 ft high and thus renders the pastures unusable for grazing. So we have cleared all the areas and are now transplanting natural "Ratana" harvested from other parts of the property, and rolls of sod of "Zacate" which we have brought in from Limon on the Caribbean coast and which is an excellent forage and very resistant to heat and drought. We cut it into small patches and allow it to cast its seeds to fill in the gaps. Here are some photos of the planting of the pasture around the Barn and some drone video showing the property and the areas we have cleared. Within the next 6 months we hope that all the pastures will be restored to natural grazing grasses: https://youtu.be/CIBNBPhod-s

19/07/2021

THE HOOF IS THE HORSE - a Cautionary Tale: Over the years we have always been challenged by the decision of whether “to shoe or not to shoe”, after all the condition of the horse’s feet are an imperative for the horse’s health, the hoof is the horse! Ideally we would like them to be “au-naturel”, barefoot, and so we adopted barefoot trimming and the use of boots (excellent ones too, Equine Jogging Shoes from Norway), but with the intense heat of the ground in Arizona, where we were at the time, we were always concerned about foundering and so went back to shoeing once more, even once, unsuccessfully, trying, glue-on plastic shoes. Proud and Decar both presented somewhat of a challenge for farriers as due to a racing injury Proud needed asymmetric shoeing in the front with an adjusted break-over on the right front, while Decar had very thin soles and was very sensitive to the placement of the nails - ballerina feet we called them. We also always thought something was not quite right, and no matter what our farrier(s) did the nagging feeling didn’t go away. Decar’s stance was just not right and he often tucked his hind feet under him, while Proud seemed short strided and a little unbalanced in the hind.

For their transportation from Arizona to Costa Rica we removed their shoes and when they finally got to the Finca we were able to find a very experienced farrier to take on the task from hereon in. Sadly a tragedy in his family led to him very much reducing his workload and we were just too far away from his home for him to continue to work with our boys. After 2 or 3 “false starts” with new farriers, and no change in the “issues” we were concerned about, we called in our vet and he put us in touch with a vet from San Josė who was a specialist in feet, trained in Germany and “the” expert on lameness - Dr Roberto Estrada. So here we were, some 2 years after arriving in Costa Rica, and after 7 years of having our horses, trying once more to get to the bottom of things.

After meeting our boys and watching them move he pronounced “Well they have some pretty severe negative palmar angles and Proud’s boney column alignment looks way off - let’s take some x-rays” and as they were setting up the blocks he said “I think this is a shoeing issue, not an issue with their conformation, so I believe we can correct it, probably take 3-6 months of corrective shoeing”. Well, the results (see the photos attached) were shocking!. Decar had negative palmar angles in the hind feet of 5-6 degrees, while Proud was high/low in the front with a negative palmar angle of 3 degrees in the left front, 2-3 degrees in the hind and a bone alignment/axis difference of 10-12 degrees. Dr Roberto also x-rayed their hocks and did an ultrasound exam in the lumbar region of each horse - nothing significant was revealed although, as expected, their were signs of inflammation and arthritis, rather common in ex-racehorses, which we decided we could deal with after we had dealt with the feet. We felt attacking 2 things at the same time might confuse the diagnosis of what was causing the problem in the first place, apart from which they were not really showing outward signs of lameness, or pain.

On Dr Roberto’s recommendation we made contact with another farrier from San Jose who came down to take on the task. Beto Fonseca - a young man with loads of experience and veterinary training who was also a true old fashioned “blacksmith” with his forge and all the tools and skills to go with it. It was also the first time we had hot-shoed our horses too, which with a mild sedation went off quite well. The Doc had recommended “plantillas", or pads, supported with wedges and putty packing, to support the heels. (see that attached photos). Almost immediately we could see the difference. Decar’s stance seemed to correct itself and Proud’s “bunny hopping” was less evident. But it was not all plain sailing. The day we did this shoeing was the first day of the rainy season and the turnout pasture adjacent to the barn became its usually soggy clay mess at its lowest point (we are planting grass now to eliminate this). The result was that the clay got under the pads and the wedges, turned rock solid and was a nightmare to pick out. The putty fell out too, and we had to constantly replace it (we got the putty from our dentist - impression material!). But the horses appeared to be moving better.

5 weeks later, it was Beto again, with more of the same, but much better alignment of the pastern angle and hoof wall for Proud, clearly visible to the eye and the hoof had lost its bullnose. And Decar was standing normally too and seemed much more comfortable. Another 5 weeks and Beto came down again. Because of the issues with the clay packing in we left out the wedges this time and he fashioned an onion heel to the shoes for Proud’s hind feet. This seemed to work well, but with all the wet and hoof softness both Proud and Decar threw a couple of their shoes and completed the last week of the cycle with our boots again. So, again, the 5 week cycle was on us once more it was time for Beto again, and some more x-rays to check on progress. The results were very encouraging, it was working! Both horse’s palmar angles were now positive, and the bone alignment on Proud was almost perfect, and the navicular bone angles positive too. So, here we are almost 4 months into the process and things are looking good. The horses are clearly more comfortable and we will continue the program for 2 more cycles adding a wedge again with putty, which we will seal with fiberglass to try and prevent the clay problem. We will post some more photos after the next cycle.

It is quite clear to us that this problem has in fact been going on for many years, and we have only now got to the bottom of things and are addressing them. Now we have isolated one issue, we can proceed with treatment of the lumbar region, with Legend most probably or hyaluronic acid shots.

We are so grateful to have this level of expertise available to us in Costa Rica, as are Proud and Decar too!

So, the moral of this tale, at least for us, is check your farrier’s work and establish a base line with the appropriate x-rays to determine (or check on) how to trim and how best to shoe. I think your farrier will thank you for it, and maybe/should even suggest it!

After all, The Hoof Is The Horse!

31/12/2020

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

22/09/2020

A rainstorm, then a spectacular sunset tonight over the ocean, valley and mountains

02/04/2020

Exactly ......

In the video you are about to see, Julia Roberts narrates a powerful message about the planet Earth. Hearing these words really helps to put things into perspective.

29/12/2019

WE HAD A VERY SPECIAL VISITOR YESTERDAY: Yesterday evening, just as the sun was setting, we had a very special visitor who came down to the arena to check out the horses - check out the video!