Epona's Natural Hoofcare

My herd...Part 1

2010-04-10T18:58:00.000-07:00

Hoanna on her first 50 at the Bryce Canyon XP

Well, thought I would throw in some pics of my own horse's feet. And one of Terri's, LOL...basically the mare band I posted about earlier, that hang out in the "mare pasture". I have to admit, I let them go a little long when I took these pics and did the trim (8wks instead of the usual 5-6...they need it every 4 or so if I ride lots and they grow more, but 5 is ok right now). The old saying about the 'cobbler's kids are the last to get boots' sometimes rings true. I get so caught up in stuff and since I don't really write down when they were done or are due (ug, I know, set it on the calendar like with clients!), I sometimes just forget when I did them. If I ride all the time, I notice it more (cleaning feet all the time and such), but not when they are lazying about the pasture. Anyway, I will start with Hoanna, my 13yo, 14hd MOrgan/QH cross. She is my steady eddy, do anything horse. My first horse actually (didn't "own" horses til I was in college!) and my perfect pony in many ways. She was what got me really convinced about barefooting...she would wear her hind shoes thin enough to shave after 6wks of good riding, only on the outside branch though. If doing endurance, I had to pad her as she'd be tender over rocks/gravel (she is borderline insulin resistant, which had a lot to do with that, but this was before I knew about IR and nutrition). I never thought this horse could go barefoot, so I used her as my main guinea pig when I started all this. I figured if SHE could go bare successfully, most any horse could! Well, as you can see, I still am a barefoot fan, so it worked! Happy Barefoot horse! :)

This mare is interesting....leaving her long is actually good as an example trim... She tends to grow LOTS of toe and wants to run her heels under, so I try (when I am less of a dunce and remember!) to keep her toes back and often... It has made her feet SO much better! And on her hinds, she "twists" with every step, so she REALLY wears the outside of her feet (and twists off every boot of every brand I tried...or twists them around on her foot...sighhh..only glued/foamed boots stay on properly with her....though I have a few simpler tricks for endurance rides... I just ride her bare behind if on trail rides) . This means trimming mostly the inside of her feet, trying to keep everything relatively balanced.... The pics might be of left or right side, as I didn't really take total pictures of ALL feet the whole time. But she doesn't really vary much from R/L so I do the same thing on both sides and you can get the idea :)

From the front and side.. here you can really see how she shoots that toe out and her heel under..it actually makes her look even longer than she is (as you'll see when I show you the solar view).

Front feet...she has about 1/2" too much wall height, but about 1" too much toe length... frogs have the typical "tattered" look most our local horses have (I still think it has to do with acidic soil...there is not really much thrush in there, though sometimes they will get it...AFTER the tattering..).

First the rough nippering... just taking length off, toe still on, cleaned the frog a little. Then I rasp it all clean and take back that toe and round the hoofwall. The difference in the hoof shape is huge... think of where the breakover is on the first shot, then the second...

And a side shot...she doesn't have a huge amount of concavity, but seems to do fine with it. Sugar is her enemy when it comes to hoof sensitivity (and she'll be coming off pasture this month, as it is starting to grow again...more than she should have...her daughter is the same way...).

I also take off any wall flare (once the toe is set back, the flare almost disappears and the wall doesn't need a ton of rasping) and round the edges from the top as well.

And the back feet ...you can see how she really wears the outside (the whole foot really...I don't have to nipper the hinds like I did the fronts! At least I know she is using her hind end well! :) ) and how that heel even comes back further as a result.

So I just rasped the walls a little all around, brought the inside wall down to where it is now even with the outside one, and brought the inside heel back as much as I can to even it out more. I also cleaned up the frog and evened out the walls, finishing with a roll around the walls.

And the finished project. She is standing a bit under herself, so the angles look a bit odd, but if you see her more "normal" standing and moving, she looks correct.
But it gives you an idea of how bringing the toes back really makes a huge difference on her feet...

Where's the "REAL" Foot? (Part 2)

2010-03-12T11:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, raining today, so I have time to post again :) Here are the back feet... They were shorter to begin with, but still had the same issues going on, that the front feet had...This picture is right after I was all finished. He was still standing under himself a bit guardedly, but after I had his owner walk him around on his new feet, he stood normally when asked to just stand again. Goody goody!

This is before the trim...length of feet is much more normal and from the outside they don't really look all that bad (though when I first started, the back feet were long and high heeled as well as the fronts)

This is pretty much what both feet looked like on the bottom. That long sole/bar growth and not much frog (though much better than the fronts). The "divot" at the point of the frog was normally not present though, same for the flakiness at the front of the bars...sole looked uniformly even (thus, again, no guideline for me to know where to hack away at it).

When you look closer, you could see that there was a crack separating sole material in the sulccus...before, it always looked like the "crease" you can see just above the actual crack...solid, with no access into the hoof. Now, when I put my nippers in there, I could just easily peel back the bar and frog material... So again, I had a guideline to work with

After peeling off that first bit, I was able to trim him up the rest of the way. I suspect all that false sole and some of the thrushiness was causing abscessing in there (since in both this foot and the front feet you can see the "holes" left) and that allowed the sole to finally start peeling away (though I never saw any exit holes either in the sole or the coronet while trimming him).

And the left hind pretty much finished with the trim... big difference to before!

Then I did the right hind..(forgot the "before" pics on this one..) This seems the most intact of all the feet, both from the frog and sole aspect of the foot...

And the end result from the side and on the ground... feet not a whole lot shorter, since they were much better off than the fronts to begin with, but looking "normal" from the bottom at least again :)

Where's the "REAL" Foot? (Part 1)

2010-03-10T18:51:00.000-08:00

Once every 5 weeks or so, I drive about 1 1/2hrs north to Crescent City and trim a number of horses up there. For some odd reason, I have seen the most crazy feet up there. Especially trimming at the local fairgrounds (this was not there though)...LONG heels (basically both 4 feet would look clubbed) and bars grown all the way around the frog, retained soles, thrush that has taken out most the frog, etc etc. Sometimes they are quick and easy fixes, sometimes slow...but usually I know what the fix IS... Well, one horse I do is an old TB gelding. Ex racehorse and generally well taken care of, but also had those LONG heels and feet that most the horses up there have. He'd had these for many years (though done at about every 6-8 wks most his life) and had a history of bad and multiple abscesses every year throughout the winter. I started working on him last year in the spring I think it was, and was pretty baffled with his feet. I knew there was "something not right" (as you'll see in the pictures) and that his heels were too long (which I DID manage to bring down over time so he at least wasn't looking like he had 4 clubbed feet), and of course the horrid frog thrush issue (still working on that, but owner is unable to soak feet and treat them properly, and I live too far away to come out and do it for her). But he also had a hoof capsule that was too long (see pic...4 inches..now...can you believe they were actually LONGER when I first met him?!?!) and what looked like retained sole... BUT (this is the important part), when I would carefully cut at the sole, I would immediately hit what I thought was "live" tissue..it really looked like live sole and not that crumbly dead sole material you can cut away. Without X-rays (nearest vet with those capabilities is 2hrs from her and was not going to happen) I was afraid to start chopping away. I feared that he might have a descended coffin bone and I would screw him up worse than he was, if I cut into the sole willy nilly. So I would just shave a little off his soles every time I came up, keep his angles as good as possible, and hope his feet would eventually work themselves out. Better safe than sorry in my book...(he never was lame during this time, or looking foundered, or anything, btw)
Well, my patience has paid off. Yes, it has taken a LONG time for the feet to begin their correction, and someone with more experience may have fixed it sooner (not available in our area) but this time when I came to trim, I finally had the sole ready to come away mostly on its own and I was able to drastically reduce the length of his feet. We still are not anywhere near perfect (thrush will be our worst problem now), but he has somewhat "normal" feet now! Here is the photo journal of the day :) I'll post the front feet first, then tomorrow the hinds.

Ok, here are the front feet.. looks like the ruler is past the foot, but it isn't. They are on the same "plane" and the photo just makes it look funny. Hard to take pics, hold ruler, and keep horse still

On the left is about how it has looked for the last 6 months.. heels are not hugely long anymore, but not normal either. Frogs gone, but not really any wall growth...on the right, even when cutting into the foot, it looks "live" and like I shouldn't touch it (that long hole on the outside wall was not there...sole had a uniform look to it and I was just afraid to go hacking away at it without x-rays, even with the frog WAY down there (cause of the frog damage, it was hard to know where the frog SHOULD have been). This is the right front and the second hoof I did.

This is the left front and the first foot I picked up. You can see where the sole (dirty blackish, reddish area) had come loose by itself and gave me the clue that it was time to finally help it along. I had just started cutting at it when I realized I should take pictures of the process :) So now that I had a "guide to tell me where the real sole level was, I was happy enough to (still carefully) start taking out the false sole.

After getting a basic cut halfway around, I took some pics to show the difference in wall height. You can see some bruising at the toes as well...

Then I attacked the other side with my nippers and hoofknife (remind me to sharpen the knife..uggg... I just am not very good at that and it is always duller than I would like...I don't do knife work much, so usually not a big deal, but this was a pain!)

And then after cleaning it up a little bit more...wow...there's a real foot under there!

And after taking off some minor flaring (the foot actually never flared much...just grew down a long hoof capsule...)

And the final product, next to the "before" on the other foot... now we are a whole inch shorter!

Now back to the right front...I didn't have a lost piece of sole to guide me here (though I did mark off 3" on the hoofwall as a general guide)...but I noticed while picking away at the sole, that it seemed to be "loose" at one of the cracks in the bar area...and sure enough, I could get my nippers under there and pry/cut it up. That gave me the start I was needing...

I was able to work quicker on this foot, since I had my confidence up from the first one :) This foot is in a bit better shape too...less bruising and cracking.

Not too bad when all is said and done :) It will be neat to see how they continue to develop...He walked and trotted completely sound when we were done. Whoo Hoo, I must have done ok then!

More tomorrow....suffice to say, the back feet were similar... weird feet...but kinda neat. Even though it tweaks me out when I hit stuff like this (you don't get this in farrier's school, LOL), the head scratching and eventual fixing of it makes me learn so much. Each new "weird" or hard case make me that much more confident in how I can handle different feet, and it is partially what makes the job so fun... just doing normal trims is good, but doesn't make you stretch and expand your skills much after you hit a certain plateau. You can do "prettier" jobs and such and get better at catching things like slight imbalances...but after a while there is eventually only so much you can improve (which I am not at that point yet by a long shot, LOL...just looking into the future though, as I hate being bored! :P) So this is the extra goodies that make life interesting. I so love my job :)

Horsekeeping

2010-03-02T22:43:00.000-08:00

Arrow Lane...my ponies' home :) It is about 1/2hr away from my place, but only 35$/horse/mo

One of the important elements of barefooting, involves horsekeeping...or how we house our horses. A healthy bare hoof needs lots of movement and if possible, access to different terrains. To be healthy, a horse needs open spaces, if possible grazing (if no health issues like Insulin Resistance exclude this), a variety of terrain, and horse companionship. This doesn't guarantee perfect feet by any means (a lot more is involved), but it will help immensely and help with the over all health of the horse. A horse is not meant to be locked in a 12x12 stall (or even a stall with a run) and segregated from other horses. It was meant to interact in herds and roam 20 miles a day in search of food and water and escaping predators. Of course sometimes we just can't provide 100 acres and a herd of horses over lots of different terrain. We often do not own our own property and have to board our horses where ever we can afford. But often we get caught up in how we were taught horses SHOULD live (after all, who wouldn't want a warm and dry stall, deep in shavings, a blanket on when it is cold, hang out near, but not with other horses that could kick, bite, or harass the poor horse?), but not the reality of how they really DO live (cold to a horse is not cold to a human...horses are the most comfortable at 40F...when we'd be shivering!...and even with some pecking going on in a herd, horse friends are much better than loneliness) . Anyway, I am not perfect either, but I at least try to provide freedom to move in a large area, and other horse companions.
The mares have the best deal most the time, I think. Though at times like last night, listening to the rain beating on my window and the wind howling, my human mind worries that they have no blankets and only some trees to shelter under (which since I am not there, I don't know if they will choose to go up in the woods or not..). But it is not too cold and they look fine everyday after a storm, when I go out to feed them the next day. It sure is hard to fight what think is comfortable or not, and try not to put that on a horse. I do relent though when it get cold (under 40) or rains non-stop for more than 2 days...at that point, they don't get much relief and their coats won't dry out and they do get cold when the wet fur mats down and the wind howls across the pasture from the bay. So I often watch the weather forecasts and try to get their blankets on while they are still dry, if a long rain is predicted. Today it was only supposed to shower though, and it turned into a beautiful, sunny day. So they dried out nicely and my worries flew away. :)

The back gate of my pasture...I often feed from here in the winter, as there is less mud to go through and the hill on the left shields the horses from the wind howling off the bay at least a little... The girls are on the hillside near the woods, and the woods extend a ways back. Sometimes I think there is a bear or cougar that prowls through there, as the girls are really wary of the woods on some days and will pop up their heads and go flying away from there when I can't hear or see a thing...

Here is a closeup of them from the bottom of the hill...and the top. You can see how they have certain "paths" that they use to travel around the pasture. The rain has made them show up well. I spread the hay in smallish piles across the sides of the hill...it drains water well if it rains and it makes them work a little more by moving across the hill and eating at a slant...

This is the other side of their pasture..the brown corner is their favorite loafing area, and most years it is past the fetlocks in mud. This summer a local tree service dumped a bunch of wood chips in there (look into that if you have mud...they often have to pay to dispose of their woodchips and will give em to you for free!) and that has helped IMMENSELY... The other picture is of their water source. There is a seasonal creek that runs through the pasture from about October-May/June and creates two ponds the ponies can drink from. They also have a water trough (to the right of the right pond) that is hooked into a well and has a float valve that keeps it full all year long. Often I will feed on the far side of the hill, and they will graze and eat hay there, and have to wander around/over the hill to get water a few times a day.

This is the loafing area...from one direction........and the other... There is still a little mud in some areas, but it is mostly water/chip mix and not that muckboot sucking stuff that it normally is. The chips were a mix of Redwood and Eucalyptus...it smelled really good for the first few months. The gate is the bottom gate that we usually pull the horses in an out of the pasture from.

The girls and the ponds from up top again, The house up top is the pasture owner's (I rent) and the barn on the left is where we keep our hay and tack. The pasture on the right is rented by another couple that have four horses and also rent a large pasture behind the barn. On the left is another pasture that runs up to near the barn and has three horses in it as well, rented by another gal. I REALLY wish I could own this place! So much land! I could rotate pastures, put an arena in in the pasture behind the barn (pretty level back there) and Bayside is mostly out of the fog zone in summer and gets pretty warn...oh well, one can dream... Here is also a pic of our gate area...we need more chips here :( We also keep a halter per horse here. I know a lot of ppl say not to leave out halters cause of thieves, but there are never horse thefts around here. Heck, you can't GIVE horses away here and there is no real livestock auction close by that would be worthwhile to take horses to, even for sale to a meat buyer. It would take more in gas and hassle to drive to an auction, than it would prob bring in for the sale of the horse. Besides, we have had the horses escape and go walkabout across the street and such, and to have halters right there helps with passersby or the land owners or whatever...

Here they are today (the other pics were yesterday)..I fed on the front side of the hill this time. In the right picture, you can see a good example of the hill principle...Jazz has to tuck her butt under her to eat on the slant. This works her muscles while eating and teaches good balance and use of her body as well. A win-win situation :) As you can see..no, I do not have a mud-free environment...they don't have gravel or other rough stuff to walk around on (thus we use boots when riding on hard/sharp footing), and not a shelter in site besides trees. But they have fresh air, lots of room to move and run, grazing (in late spring-summer I have to be careful as they otherwise get TOO much grass), and fresh water. And they have each other to build a small herd. So all in all, they live a pretty good life :)

And now....for some panoramic shots...my camera has that feature and I thought I'd play around with it a little. I also embedded a video at the end of this post, that gives a good walk around view of the pasture area :)

Wow...talk about a blow out!

2010-02-28T14:52:00.000-08:00

I have dealt with a few abscesses here and there, but not had to worry about them too much. Most the time, by the time I see the client's horse, the abscess has already been found and treated by a vet (which I prefer anyway and almost always send the client to the vet if they call me first, as I am really not compfy with digging away at a horse's sensitive tissues...). So I often just get the "cleanup" job afterward, helping the client with the hoof as the cavity the abscess left grows out. This is actually more fun anyway, as I get to see quite a lot of interesting things going on in the sole...
Here is a hoof I worked on this past week. It belongs to an older QH that went dead lame on New Years (the client was OH so happy to have to pay THAT call out fee, esp as he is a ways out in the countryside) and the vet determined it was an abscess. They found and dug out a small drain channel right at the tip of the toe (the hole was maybe the size of the tip of my finger) and the horse was happy and sound again after a few days of soaking. Enter me, about 6wks later... I trimmed up the hoof, looked at the "hole", felt a LOT of "hollow" (meaning you really do feel the top layer of sole "give" under your fingers and can tell there is an air pocket between layers of sole there) sole all around the edge of the hoof. I could also tell that there was mud and gunk up under there (when you pressed on the hollow parts, mud would flow out the drain area..uck) and figured it would be good to take out the dead sole and get some air up on the new sole growing in. Otherwise, in our climate, you are just asking for thrush to set in under there and cause some major problems down the line. In the following pictures, you can see what I found under the sole...I would cut a tiny little bit, feel around, find more hollow, cut some more, etc... it just wouldn't STOP! by the time I got done, you could see the abscess had sat under the entire hoof, all along the rim. OUCH..no wonder the horse went dead lame (guess he said it had been going lamer for a week, but since this horse has arthritis and stifle issues, the "ouchy" lameness was not seen as unusual, til it was obviously not bearing weight on the foot...he's a new horse owner who just didn't know, so I can't really fault him. He felt REALLY bad about it all). So I cleaned it up as well as I could (you can see there is already some black goop starting and I told him to clean and betadine the hoof for a while til everything clears up nicely) and we'll keep an eye on it over the next trims. I think more sole will be coming off though, as I felt some spots that were on the border between good and bad sole... Fun stuff...ugggg :)

From the front...

From the side.....

Closeup..... it not only spread far, but fairly deep too...

If it ain't broke.....Foaming Easyboots

2010-02-26T18:54:00.000-08:00

Day 1 at EMS...Chey and I are FLYING with his Easyboots and Gloves.

Why fix it? At least that was the working idea for the Eastern Mojave XP 4-day, 200 mile multi-day ride I went to over Valentine's. With all the new innovation in boots now, Barefooting is becoming increasingly easier to do. But there are still some aspects of the new booting systems, that are more time consuming or complex and have greater expenses, than some of the old ones.
For example, though I absolutely ADORE the new Easyboot Glue-Ons (they are so light weight, form fitting, and have no hardware to mess with or break down), the gluing process is still both a little expensive (using the Vettec products, which do work exceedingly well) and has a bit of a steeper (though anyone can learn to do it) learning curve to it. So sometimes I go back to the roots of the booting systems, and just go back to the good old way of foaming boots on.
Foaming is a tried and true method that has been around for a good long time and is relatively easy to do. As with all things, it also has a learning curve, but it is a fairly shallow one and with one in-person teaching session, I could have you all set. I will try and describe it a little here, and sometime get some pictures or video of the process as well (forgot to do so this time around). What I really like about it, is that the horse's hooves seem to tolerate it pretty well (not much thrush happening, and there are ways to stave it off if going to a very wet ride...and it doesn't stick much to the hooves after the fact and makes a fairly nice sole/frog cushion as well) and the cost is fairly low (all you need is the foam itself, which runs around 12-15$ for the set, and can foam 4-6 feet depending on hoof size).

This is the two part foaming kit....

There is, as with all things, a downside. The foam can be a HUGE mess to clean up and sometimes will permanently stay in the boots (I will get to how to help mitigate that in a bit). One way to solve this problem, is to use old boots. I have a whole stack of boots that have either fairly worn tread (but still usable...esp on a sandy/rocky desert ride) or slight issues that can no longer be repaired (like tears in the cable or screw holes). Another good source are OLD boots... the ones that had rivets and not screws, so hardware is really hard to replace on these. These you can find on e-bay or other places used for a really good price. This way, I don't feel bad if there is glue all over the boots and the price ends up being about the same as using Glue On boots, but with less overhead for the adhesive.
So here is what I do. First, I prep the boots. If you have really old boots (like I used this ride...just enough tread left for one last multi-day and then they were trash worthy anyway) you can do less of the prep, or even none at all if you feel like.. (I like at least a little prep, as I can often "harvest" parts off even old boots, like buckles or whatnot). But if you want to re-use the boots, then you want to get some duct tape and tape a single layer over the inside sides (not the bottom of the boot)of the boot, all the way around. Be especially careful around any places that have screws or hardware (to keep the foam off it) and some around the heel strap as well (LEAVE the strap in! I have seen too many ppl lose foamed on boots because they took out the heel strap, which helps pull the boot snug around the hoof, and by cutting the heels in back too far down, which lets foam escape out the back). If you have any hesitations about whether or not the boots will stick, just leave out more tape and the boot will stay on. I have not have any issues with losing boots taped up, but I know a few have...maybe it was the amount of foam used? Or the stickiness of the tape? But if you want to be safe, just tape less.
Next, the application. If you can, have a second person help you with this, and if possible do it with the same person (or few ppl) every time. After a few applications, you become a well oiled team that can do this is no time and with boots that stick (Terri and I have gotten really good at doing the foaming...she handles the foam, and I put the boot on the horse...works great!), but you can also do the foaming on your own with no problems as well. You just will have to be a bit more organized while applying them. Make sure you have lots of baby wipes, disposable gloves, and vaseline. Wear older clothes in case the foam gets on you, as it will not come out later . The vaseline you put all around the hairline of your horse's hoof and up in the area on the back side of the pastern. This helps keep the foam off the hair. Your horse will be fine if you don't do this, but it will have some glued together hair for a while :) I also tend to trim the long hair over the coronet band, the fetlock, and pastern hair...I do this much of the time anyway if I remember, as it helps in the muddy environment we have to keep those areas cleaner and in the desert to help with scratches.. I know, you are now saying this sounds like lots of work...but it really isn't and for gluing boots you would do most this anyway. This is just a different adhesive. Oh yes, also have some clear plastic cups and stir sticks (coffee sticks or kebab-sticks broken in half work great for this) ready.
To glue, just follow the directions on the bottles...pour and mix the two liquids, stirring with the stick. This is usually one partner's job, while the other one is cleaning out and holding the hoof of the horse at this point...having an old door mat or something for the horse to put the clean foot on helps, then you won't have to hold it a lot..baby wipes should be next to the horse, and a rubber mallet or something similar nearby helps to knock the toe of the boot on better. Oh! sheesh, here is another step I forgot (I think I will make a video of this at Cuyama in March for you all! It is so much easier when you "see" it)...get baling twine and cut some lengths (make sure there are no knots in the lengths) to put around the heel strap...this helps pull the boot on snug and the heel strap up slightly, and pulls out of the foaming boot much easier than the pull up straps that come with the boots... Once the liquid is just warming, pour in the boot, then when it is JUST starting to bubble, hand boot to the horse handler...this person swishes the liquid around the boots (getting it up the sides a little) and then as it bubbles a little more and changes color slightly (but if it is truly foaming, it is a tad late...you can still put it on, but it will be harder and might not stick as well), the horse handler puts the boot on the horse, wack the toe with a hammer, makes sure it is straight and sets the hoof down. While the hoof is down, pull up a little on the baling twine to lift the heel strap, then pull out the twine (or just cut off ends if it won't come out for whatever reason). Then buckle down the front of the boot fairly snug (use a cheap metal hoof pick to manipulate the cables if need be). Then start wiping away the excess foam with baby wipes as it comes out (usually most will come out the back between the heelbulbs) as it foams up. Repeat with all feet. I find a smaller horse (size 0 or 00 feet) will take less glue (the "pony" portion on the bottle or between pony and 00) than it says on the bottle (you can use the normal portion, but have lots of baby wipes ready!) and for large feet, I might use a tiny bit more if it is not foaming out well (like size 2 or higher).
Anyway, this seems to work great, and the other upside of the boots, is that removal is super easy...just pop open the buckle, loosen the cables, and use a flat screwdriver to loosen the bond (which after 3-5 days of riding is already loosening) and pop the boot off...takes 30 secs a boot to remove, which is easier than the glue-on boot (but arguably also less secure than the glue-on, though I have only lost two foamed boots (not enough foam and the weather while foaming was freezing and I didn't warm the foam first) and not a glued boot boot at all yet. A few tricks of the trade: if it is COLD when you are applying the foam, heat the bottles in a pot of simmering water first (you can even warm the boot this way as well)...otherwise it takes a long time to set and may not set right (this works for the vettec glues as well!). The opposite is true in HOT weather...if you want a little more time to fuss with the boot while applying (heat will make the foam start to bubble up and foam real fast), just leave the bottles in your fridge or cooler for a few hrs before the application (or freezer for a little bit).
Now to show you what the feet look like before, and after 5 days of foamed on boots (I foamed on the day before the ride, road 4 days, then pulled the boots about 1/2 hr after I got back in camp after the last day). We did all four feet on Oliver (Terri's horse) and the front feet on Cheyenne. I used Gloves on his hind feet as I was testing out a new gaiter (which after 4 days had ABSOLUTELY NO evidence of any rubbing...whoo hoo! I hope these come to market soon!) and only had a size that fit his hinds. Both horses finished all 4 days in fine form and their feet looked great. This was a desert ride of course, so we didn't have to go through lots of water or mud (though there was one bog on the first day and some snow melt creek/wet sand we had to go through on the last day). Which reminds me of another tip...if you expect to be riding in rain, mud, or lots of water crossings, I have a little anti-thrush trick. Get some cotton balls and soak them in betadine, or even coppertox...stuff them into the lateral grooves on either side of the frog, and if the horse already has a deeper central cleft from thrush damage, in their as well. Foam the boot right over the top of this (make sure the cotton is level with the frog and even, so no "lumps" form to cause pressure). This works like a charm! Also works well this way when gluing Glue-ons to the feet, or you can fill the sole area with the Vettec CS packing material, that has the copper sulfate already in it...

Before the ride...we stopped on the way to the ride somewhere in the desert between Bakersfield and Mojave I think it was..I trimmed them both up after taking all the pics (mainly leveled, rounded and brought back the toes a tad).

Chey's right front hoof...already drying out some from our muddy Humboldt climes, just from traveling in shavings for a few days...

And after the ride..this is his right hind I believe...this is on the way home, so he's gone a day without the boots on. His feet look great! The hinds had the benefit of not being booted at night, and only getting booted during the day, since I used Gloves on them... So they got a nice sand polish to them...

I think this is the right front again, after the ride...
Not bad at all for being foamed for 5 days...looks good!

And the left hind foot... another nicely polished foot...Oh if we could just get tons of sand at home...maybe I should buy beach front property when I get rich?? :)

Left front...looks great!

And both fronts after...you can see where I trimmed the hair above the coronets...

Day two....still having fun....We had the most perfect weather this year. T-shirts before noon!

Day three...back to FLYING again :) Having way too much fun! Terri and Oli are hot on our heels to catch us! RUN Chey, RUN! Can you believe he's 21? Barefooting has extended his endurance life, of that I am super positive... the concussion from shoes would have been bad for him....

And here is the next moment...I am just kissing him up from a canter, into a gallop... good thing we had lots of "runway" on a great, sandy, long jeep road...took a while to get a woah! after a no hands gallop, lol :) But what fun we had!

And finally, Day 4.... still looking happy and relaxed (and ghoul-face with sunscreen...I got tan this ride!)...Thanks to Steve Bradley for some awesome ride photos! I love this ride and it is so nice to get out to the desert dry every winter, out of our wet and muddy area. The Mojave Desert is so nice too..lots of variety in the plant life (a veritable garden of cacti) and the Joshua trees are so neat. Some really awesome and pretty canyons hidden in the mtns too...It's a ride not to be missed!

In the Beginning....

2010-01-25T13:17:00.001-08:00

Well, there wasn't light yet, but I was working towards it at least :)
I thought I would pull out some pictures from my days at farrier's school. I don't have many, as I tend to be the picture taker, not the subject of the pictures, but it will be fun anyway :) I decided after college and a little bit of aimlessness, that yes, I DO want to work with horses, but most horse jobs either pay very little, need lots of start up money, or don't last long/are seasonal. I also always loved hanging out with farriers and watching them work, whenever they'd come to the barns I rode, helped out, or boarded at. So one day I decided that would be a job for me, and I went looking for a school that seemed good and wasn't too far away. I got really lucky and had a great school about 7hrs south of me. For anyone thinking of getting into shoeing (or even just trimming, it is STILL a good base schooling to learn it all and go from there...like a with doctors, you first go to medical school, then you can specialize in orthopedics, neurology, pediatrics, whatever...). This was the Pacific Coast Horseshoeing School by Sacramento, Ca (http://www.farrierschool.com/ for more info...). They have an extensive classroom curriculum , great forge work (you hand build shoes from bar stock, before you ever get to touch keg shoes), and you work on horses that you actually CAN work on (vs a bunch of rank throwaway horses like some "schools" try to push on you, which my kick or stomp on you as much as let you pick up their feet). I had a great time there and learned a TON, feeling ready to go straight to work on my own afterwards (though I did do a small apprenticeship with another farrier first, to expand my practical experience under a watchful eye).
Here are some pictures from that time...

This is our workshop...the door in the back, right corner leads to the classroom, and in the back, upstairs (window above clock) was the communal room with kitchen and pool table, tv, etc...
The dorms were behind the back wall in the right hand picture. 2 students share a forge, each gets their own anvil/tools/etc. The picture below, is an evening shot, after classes are done and everything is cleaned up. Classes were M-F from 8-5, but you could use the workshop from 7am to 8 or 9pm 7 days a week.
We didn't just work on "prefect" feet either. In fact, many of the horses we got in, though decently behaved, often had neglected feet or suffered from injury or disease (laminitis, navicular, whatever), and thus we got to work on lots of "strange" things. This was great, as it made me comfortable with most anything that has come my way in my own business too. I don't run away scared when I see foot curled up like an elf foot, falling apart from white line disease, or abscessing and seperating from laminitis. I may (and do) still have to consult with more experienced ppl (vet and farriers/trimmers) as to the best ways to help that horse (I have a LONG way to go in my experiences, as I have only been doing this job for not quite 5yrs :) ), but I can at least feel like there is something I can do, vs having to send the owner off to another farrier (and the good ones in this area are usually booked solid, so it is not like the owner would necessarily even get accepted). Here are two examples:

A very overgrown set of hooves came in one day...these actually ended up looking pretty good by the time they were done...

And a set of hooves I got to work on...Feet hadn't been done in a while, hooves too long, and if you look closely, the foot on the right side has the shoe loose and starting to twist off (which resulted in the side clip sticking in its white line). After pulling shoes and trimming (pic on the right), I noticed it kept pointing its right toe and not weighting it well at all during trimming. So the instructor came over and we tried different degrees of wedge pads (I think the horse had navicular or something...we did so many horses and I can't remember who was what). When we found the one that had the horse standing more comfortably, we taped that pad on so I could work on the opposite foot, then I used that pad for the shoe on that foot.

The left picture is of the non-wedged foot (and finished), and the right one (and still needs to be put up for a final finish with rasp and such) is the wedged hoof. I think this was only my 2nd or 3rd shoeing as well! So you kinda jump right in to the harder stuff :)

We had a whole variety of animals to work on. From the very big, to the very small. One day, we did a group of 4 or 5 Clydesdales that came in. We had to hand make the shoes (with a little help from da bosses, or we would have been there for a week...they made the blanks, then we shaped them to fit, I think) and boy, those were some BIG FEET...

Pulling the shoes on my charge (two of use at a time worked on them. One got the front end, the other the back...) That shoe is almost the size of my face!

After the trim, and then the shoes applied...Vet wrap or old standing wraps are great for holding the "feathers" out of the way on these very fuzzy legged drafts :)

Finishing off the hoof...these were some big horses, but as the advertising says, very "gentle giants" for sure....they were so cooperative and there was no need for "draft shoeing stocks"

As a comparison, I took a shoe that would fit my mare (a size 0) and stuck it on the foot...wouldn't want THAT foot stepping on you...broken toes for sure!

One day we went up into the hills, out to a min-breeder's farm. There were TONS of these little guys running around, and the foals were going to all get their first trims with us as well (along with halter breaking and leading lessons. They basically don't get handled much until we get up there....good thing they are so small! So the routine was to partner up, get the moms, tie them (they get plenty of handling), then we both grab the baby any way we can. Once caught, one of us sits down with it in our laps (that seemed to calm them....only a few would "stand" while done), while the other person trimmed the hooves. Worked like a charm, and usually when done, the baby was fairly calmed down and sometimes didn't want to get up, even after being released. They'd rather sit there and get scratched on :)

All in all, it was a great time (2 months) and I learned a TON of great stuff. Though I really think a natural lifestyle with bare (and booted when needed) feet is a lot healthier for horse's hooves, I also am not such a fanatic, that I think shoeing is "evil" (only bad shoeing, but then, so is bad trimming). With the variety of boot products out there now, and ever expanding, and the ever expanding knowledge we are getting on horse feet and how to keep them healthy, I simply do not think that shoeing is necessary anymore.

Boots Video

2010-01-21T17:48:00.000-08:00

This was the first part of the session working with boots. You can kinda see what I do with him. Just keep at it til he settles. If he gives the wrong answer (yanking feet away, etc), then he "works" yielding the hindquarters. If he is REALLY bad, like tries to kick or something, then he gets backed up more severely and even will get a "bite" with the lead rope (like a boss mare would do).
This is my basic routine for most "difficult" horses. They are not beat on, and they get corrected right away if they give the wrong answer, but praised and get to relax if they give the correct answer. This leads to a calm, non-stressed horse, that as you can see in the trimming photos and video, results in a horse that stands untied and not held to be trimmed.

After the initial "training", which I had to repeat for picking up each of the four feet (which is why a half hour trim became a 3 hr trim, and it took a while to catch him from the outset, LOL), he was easy enough to work on. Here is his last foot, a back foot. Keep an eye out for the "pesky chicken"...it was pretty funny :)

New horse, long feet, very little human handling....

2010-01-21T10:15:00.000-08:00

......equals an interesting, but long trim. Took about 3 hours instead of half an hour.

Meet Boots. Boots is a 10yo Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse that my friend Terri just imported from Canada.
He was my Firestorm's old pasture buddy for many years, (these two pics are from then...see Storm in the left corner? :) ) before Storm was imported into the US as well. During his ten years, he lived mostly the life of a mustang...He got to roam many acres of the northern Canadian bush with little human handling beyond a hoof trim now and then or getting haltered or food thrown out for him in winter, etc. He learned to take good care of himself and watch out for predators (makes him a bit jumpy, LOL), and just be a horse. This is good in many ways, but it does make for a horse that is wary of humans and their "strange" environments, behaviors, objects and so on. He will make a good horse in the long run, but it is not like working with or training a horse that has been hand raised for ten years.

When Boots arrived off the truck (what a rig! We had to meet it at the local Park and Ride as it was not going to fit down Terri's driveway and get turned around), his feet were pretty long.

His owner has knee problems of late, so couldn't do any trimming on him, and he'd been in the lower pasture playing "guard horse" to the youngsters, instead of out in the rocky bush where his feet could wear down naturally.
So first things first, I set out to trim his feet. The trim itself was not too difficult, but since this horse had not been handled much, and then only by his owner, whom he trusted, but was really the only human he knew. So what normally be a 1/2hr trim, turned into a 3 hr training session of desensitization (esp his back end, which he was VERY protective of) and learning that human handling was ok and not going to hurt him. In the end, I got the job done, and once he figured out I was "ok", he stood just fine for his pedicure.

After getting him to settle and let me pick up his feet, I cleaned and inspected them.

Then out come the nippers to get the worst of the length off. He was wary of letting me stick his foot between my legs at first, so I worked with his foot in my hand instead. This is one of the reasons I like my smaller nippers, as they are easy to use one handed. The only downside, is on long feet like his, it takes several rounds of nipping to get the length down, as the hoof walls are often longer than the nipper mouth is high..

Once he settled a little more, I was able to get his leg between mine, which was good. Rasping (esp a foot like his that needed lots of work) with one hand is a major PITA and I was glad to be able to use two hands :)

And then we cleaned up the flare on the walls. Not using a stand yet, but hoping the next trim we'll graduate to that.

Before and after...the foot still needs more flare removal, but it will be done as the hoof grows down. But this is a good start :) The other front foot went much the same way.

Then I moved on to the hind feet. I had to be really careful picking them up, as he had a tendency to kick out. Not kick as in kick AT me, but he really wasn't handled much and to him, grabbing his feet meant he might die. He did get get better about it later.

Once he settled, we moved on to cleaning and nipping. On a horse like him, I start down low and let that leg be relaxed, instead of trying to put it in my lap (and a stand is too spooky right now). It is safer too, at least for me, as if he feels afraid and has to leave, he can take his foot away and do so. In my lap, he would have a harder time getting it away and possibly get us both in trouble that way...

Once he was calm and happy and felt like he wasn't going anywhere, I progressed to putting his foot on my lap. He is a short horse and I haven't had a horse that was afraid of a stand in some time! So this was quite the thigh workout, LOL...

"Hey! What are you doing back there?!"

And the almost finished hind foot... Much better than what they had looked like before.

Cob Feet continued...

2010-01-18T10:11:00.000-08:00

This is Arwen. She is a smokey black, sabino Welsh Cob (also section C I believe)..I think she and Auryn share the same sire (might be dam, at any rate, they are related)... She is a little older than Auryn and is almost the exact opposite in temperament. Where he is sensitive, she is dull and thick (you almost have to beat her with a 2X4 to get any response out of her :P) and where he is kind, she tends to be very pushy and looks for ways to aggravate you. But she is a fairly steady horse that you could do pretty much anything with and feel safe. She is my filly's surrogate mother and the two stick to each other like glue. Ari copies everything Arwen does (which has led to things like her learning to paw, stick her leg through gates, push ppl and horses around, etc...) and it is a hoot to see the broad, thick Cob next to a tall, lean and lanky KMSH :)
Arwen's feet are not as good as Auryn's, either. They chip up much easier and really tend to the long toe/low heel and flares. But she is sound and happy barefoot, so I suppose that is what really matters :) She only had one set of shoes in her life, and they lasted just about long enough for the farrier to leave, at which point she stuck her foot in a fence and pulled at least one of them off...I guess that was her opinion on being shod, and she has been barefoot ever since.

Here are her front feet...you can see the chipping and the long/low direction of her feet.....

Here we have her right front hoof. She displays much more of that heart shape on all fours, then Auryn, who has it more on his hinds. Very flat sole, but decent frog.

Doing a base nipping and cleanup, then finishing with the rasp. Flares mostly removed, toe brought back a little, and heels back where they should be.

The walls before final flare removal and roll..

And after...

Same routine for the other front hoof, and this is the finished product on the front end...

Here is her right hind hoof...her hind feet actually flare less and look better than the fronts.

Same hoof during and after the trim. Now she is all set again to go for a ride :)

Cob Feet

2010-01-16T17:51:00.000-08:00

I live in a rural town (McKinleyville, Ca...the town's motto still reads "Where horses still have the right of way", though many folks now tend to ignore that, and don't slow down when they see riders...the downside of growth and city imports...sighhh) and towards the even more rural end of it. There are a ton of horses out here and several boarding places, with access to trails and the beach not far away. I don't have enough room to keep horses (though I will occasionally bring one of mine over for a few days of backyard mowing), so they are spread all over the local tri-city area. My rising 2yo KMSH filly, Ari, lives just down the road from me at a nice little place called Mini Whinni (owner runs a daycare and pet sitting business). Though at one time it also was home to some real Minis, now it is home to Welsh Cobs and Welsh Mtn Ponies. In exchange for keeping the herd trimmed, I get to keep my filly in a wonderful pasture, with a stall when needed, and lots of horses for company. It works out great and I love bartering where possible with clients, when we both have something the other needs anyway. No point in me giving someone money for hay, then they give me the same amount of money for trims, and so on. Just cut out the money and trade straight across :)
Yesterday I went out and trimmed several of the larger Welsh Cobs (section C I think?), as well as my filly.
The first was Auryn (Welsh for gold), a recently gelded palomino. He is a wonderfully kind and sensitive boy and his owner started him under saddle last year and has been riding him out on trails with me. In the pictures you can see what I am now calling "Welsh feet" (not sure if all Welshes are all like this, but all the ones she has, have these feet...). They may look like ponies to some, but they also kept a lot of draft blood in their genetic makeup and the feet tell this. The feet tend to have a shallower and flatter sole, they like to flare out and get "bell shaped" (lots wider at the bottom of the feet, than the top), and they often have a heart shape to them (wide in the quarters, pointer in the toe, heels wide) to them as well. And they like to run towards low heels and longer toes. Some horses more so than others, but they all have these characteristics to one degree or other.

Here is Auryn. Not the best pictures since he isn't standing level or square, but they will have to do. You can kind of get an idea here of how his feet are shaped. This is about 6wks into a winter trim (slower growth and limited riding). In the warmer and drier times of the year and when he gets ridden a good bit, he'll go down to a 5 or even 4 week trim, or his feet tend to chip up quite a bit and flare more as well.

This is his right front foot. Btw, these horses live about a mile from the beach, as the crow flies. The pasture they live on is not as acidic as most the other areas here as there are very few Redwoods right here (though even one or two miles more inland will make a HUGE difference, or further north/south) and even though the soil has some organics in it, it is also very sandy. Not the difference in the frogs and soles to the horses in my previous posts. The same amount of rainfall, these horses also have mud (though the sand does drain a little better at times). But no pitting in the sole or frogs! It HAS to be the acidity...Very curious! Anyway, his front feet are less heart shaped than his backs, but still very wide at the quarters and heels (if he is not kept up on often trims, his Easyboot Gloves don't go on very well, as his quarters will block the application of them). You can see how there is not a lot of sole depth either. In the winter, he and one of the other cobs also like to peel the very outer layer of the wall, instead of chipping, this coincides with areas of flare, so I figure it is a way for the hoof to self trim..

The start of the trim...take of basic excess hoofwall, trim any tatters off the frog (some trimmers leave it to fall off on its own, but in our climate, ANY flaps/holes/etc are places for thrush to settle in...), take down excess bar. You can see I don't "cut pretty" like some more experienced farriers/trimmers, but I clean that all up with the rasp later :) And some days when I feel "fancy", I do try and make a nice, even cut all around. But most days I just nip away as you see it.

Here I have rasped down the hoof, cleaned it up, taken out most the flare, and brought back the toe (he tends to stumble more if I don't).

Here is his foot up on the toestand, before I take flares down from the top and give wall a finishing roll. you can kind of see the left over flare here. You shouldn't see "daylight" when you put a straight edge on a hoof like this...

And after flare removal and a roll applied to the bottom of the wall. Now you can no longer see daylight when setting a straight edge on the hoof. This is a great test you can do at home too! As seen in the above left "before" photo, the hoof "looks" fairly normal. But then I set my rasp on the hoof (from coronet down), and flare that was not very obvious to the eye before, is now much more visible. If you have flaring (on a shod OR barefoot horse) after a trim/shoeing, then you might want to ask you hoofcare professional about why it is there (some SEVERE flaring, like after major foundering, has to be taken away bit by bit or there is basically no hoofwall left. But in general, there should be NO flare on your horse's feet after a fresh trim/shoeing) and if they can't give you a sound reason for it, look around for a new one.

The left front went pretty much the same way, and here they are, after both feet were done. Again, not the best positioning for a good picture, but you get the idea :)

His right hind foot. Here you an see more of what I mean by a heart shaped foot. pointier toe, wider as it goes towards the heels. The side shot also shows how he peels that first layer of wall away...

Here it is again. It was short enough I didn't bother nippering, just rasped it down, and cleaned up the bars and frog. This frog was pretty good, I only had to trim a little of the "corners" that cover the lateral grooves. Again, some trimmers leave that alone, but here, if you let the frog overhang the grooves too much, it traps a lot of dirt and manure, leading to issues.

Flares cleaned up and toe rounded up a little. I still have a little of the wall hanging on the left photo. In the side view on the right, I have cleaned that up too. Again, you can see the relatively shallow sole on these horses...

And the finished rear foot. He really does not toe out this much. It is just my horrible photo skills and how he is standing again. :)

Next entry: Arwen, the Cob mare....

Firestorm's Feet: Humboldt vs Desert

2010-01-12T21:22:00.000-08:00

Meet Intrigue's Firestorm and your humble (or not so) host, me...Natalie Herman. Storm is a 10yo Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse stallion. He has never had shoes and has big, hard, and beautiful (well, for Humboldt!) feet. He is my first foray into gaited horses, and is the sweetest, most gentlemanly and expressive horse I have known. He is the light of my life and I look forward to many great years of endurance gaiting on him. He is just at the start of his career (in fact the Death Valley ride over the holidays was hi FIRST endurance ride ever...), but I for see he will be just as tough and mileage accumulating as Oliver.
Me....well, I am me! This is prob the only picture you will see of me in a dress...I usually find "clean jeans and shirt" my formal wear. Most the time I am in muckboots and mud spattered jeans and shirts or fleecies or flannel PJ bottoms...comfort is key! :)
Here are Storm's feet after a week in the desert....

Storm's Left Front in Desert Mode

Storm's Right Front in Desert Mode

Storm's Left Hind in Desert Mode

Storm's Right hind in Desert Mode.

Both Oli and Storm got a touch up trim at the ride site, a few days before the ride started. Storm's feet show the same change as Oli, the frog starting to harden up and the sole is nice and smooth and polished. The front frogs on his feet have some crevicing, but with no thrush evident. He came with these frogs (in July is when I got him here to Humboldt) and they have been growing out bit by bit (his feet were a good bit too long, with flaring, when I got him as well, so that might have had something to do with it). This is again, what I would LIKE to see in our horses' feet. Unfortunately they look like this instead:

His left front in Humboldt Mode. Sole and frog pitting, frog tattering and mushy heel bulbs. Soft soles that even the hoofpick scratches up. Yuck. Still no thrush (yet), even in the deep central groove, but it is a pocket waiting for habitation...

His Right Front in Humboldt Mode...you can see lots of pitting and tattering of the frog. Soft sole, bars starting to peel (on both horses actually)...

Left Hind..frog has a better central groove, but all of the foot shows the same issues as the others.

And his Right Hind. Again...this is only ONE WEEK....give it a little more time...

Curiously, Oli has a little less pitting and his frogs seem a tad better. I think that is because he is out on the "driveway" section of the property, where he can get on gravel and off the mud/soil. Storm has to be kept in his stud pasture, so has no where to get off the soil. He has non-mud areas, but even those are still damp and are acidic soil... I think one of these days I am going to figure out a way to do a good experiment, where I figure out some kind of concoction that is more alkaline and soak or spread it on two of four feet in varying intervals, and see if it makes any difference. I suppose I could also throw lime in the pasture, but that would be a much harder experiment to control and get ALL the pasture more neutral or whatnot... any ideas????

Oliver's Feet, Desert vs Humboldt

2010-01-12T20:31:00.001-08:00

Meet Oliver Twist and Terri Tinkham. Oli is a 14'2" Singlefooting Horse (technically he is half Standardbred and half Tennessee Walker) gelding. He gaits and trots up a storm when he wants and though he is not a top tenning horse, he has racked (literally, as one of his many gaits) up almost 5,000 endurance miles in just 3 or so years. Amongst his accomplishments, he has been in the AERC National Mileage Championship several times (tie-ing for second place last year with almost 2,000 miles that season), won the Easyboot Mileage Contest as well last year and got the XP Gold Medal. He is nearly unbreakable (with his pull for scratches this ride, he only has two pulls on his entire record I think) and in this picture, had just won the Grand Canyon XP 5-day, 250 mile ride Overall Best Condition for the 5 days.
Terri is a good friend of mine, and we discovered endurance together. We have been to rides together (oft heard are the phrases "Is that your mother?" and "Is that your daughter") for the last 7 (!!that long already?!) years and despite sounding like a married couple at times (try living in a tiny truck camper with someone for days and weeks at a time all year round..it will make or break your friendship!), we have great times together. We keep our horses in varying pastures and dry(mud) lots together at her place and in another town over.
Here are Oli's feet in desert mode and Humboldt mode....

Oli's Left Front in Desert Mode

Oli's Left Hind in Desert Mode...

Oli's Right Front in Desert Mode

Oli's Right Hind in Desert Mode

Now what do you think of that? He has hard frogs that are getting harder by the day, nice polished soles, and just in general the feet "look" relatively nice. This is much closer to what a foot should be "textbook" bare. If he were in the desert longer, the few cracks and flaps on the frog would close up and fall off and his heel bulbs would harden up even more than they are.
Now........For the Humboldt feet. Remember, just a week later...imagine 6mos or more of this!

Let's start with his Left Front again... the frog on this foot is not too bad, but the bulbs are getting a bit mushy and the sole is also starting to soften up and get that acidic "pitting" look.

Ok, now we have the left hind. Heels definitely getting soft, frog "ok" still, but pitted. Sole too.

Now the Right Front...frog starting to look more "humboldty" and more pitting all around.

And the Right Hind. Getting closer to the Humboldt Frog and more pitting and scraggly look.

This is after one week. I will update the blog at one month (prob right before we leave for the Eastern Mojave Ride) and show the continued.......well......decline.....of the feet. As you can see, right now there is no thrush in there (whoo hoo!), though some crevices and pitting is starting, which will invite the buggers right in....
Ok, on to Firestorm's feet.....

Humboldt Feet vs. Desert Feet

2010-01-12T20:15:00.000-08:00

I have heard people tell me that I am not a "real" barefooter because I ride my horses 95% of the time in boots, vs in totally bare feet. I do this mainly because of the climate and terrain my horses live in. If I had thousands (most likely over the years it would move into the TEN thousands) of dollars to fix up all the property my horses live in with gravel, sand, etc, then maybe their feet would be better off. But I don't, and though I am sorry for it, it is just something I have to deal with. So I will never have a "gravel crunching" bare horse....so what? They live without boots most their lives, and only have boots on for the several hours I ride a week, if that.. The terrain here is mostly soft grass and soil, which turns into fetlock deep (and some places deeper) mud for 6-8mos of the year. The horses do have hills (in one pasture) or the gravel drive/under the trees to get out of the "mud", but even this terrain is still soft and wet. Add to that, we live in the coastal redwoods, or on pastures that USED to be coastal Redwoods. This makes for highly acidic soil. The only benefit: despite the constant mud and wet, the horses have yet to get scratches/mudfever on their pasterns while living here. The downside: the acidity literally eats away at the already moisture softened frogs and heel bulbs of the horses. This both softens/weakens these areas, as well as compromises them with cracks and divots that allow thrush to creep in and attack these areas even further. A never ending issue here...Sighhhhhhh...
Compare that to the desert (where it seems ppl can pull shoes one day, and ride barefoot that same day unless the feet were seriously compromised), where my, and my friend Terri's horse (we ride and keep our horses on the same property and I do all our combined feet as well), spent a week at an endurance ride near Death Valley, Ca over the holidays. In just a week, the feet went from wet and mushy, to hard, clean, and almost textbook "mustang" feet. What would they have looked like in a month there...a year?? It was sad having to bring them back to Humboldt, knowing what awaited those feet. The only downside: Terri's horse has three white legs. The alkalinity in the desert soil caused him scratches and always does :( She ended up having to pull him from the last day of riding because of them, and resulting rubs she got from boots when she wrapped his legs all up trying to prevent the scratches. That will be another topic though...And if anyone has good scratches remedies (or better yet, PREVENTATIVES) or protocols, let me know! We'll be going back to the desert for a ride in Eastern Mojave in February...
I will post a series of pictures of the horses' feet from both after a week in the desert, and a week back here in Humboldt. I will split it into two additional posts.

First Post....

2010-01-12T20:02:00.000-08:00

This is a usual response I get from my clients... most the horses love to thank me for my work...

Ok, about me. I am 31 and live in Humboldt County, Ca. That's up on the North Coast of California, almost in Oregon. We have quite an interesting time here, keeping horses barefoot and happy. It rains most the year, and when it doesn't, it is damp from fog. The footing is acidic soil from the great Redwood Trees and the pastures are sugar rich dairy cattle land...Not exactly the perfect situation for bare hooves. But it does make for interesting times, and if WE can make barefooting work, most "normal" climate horse owners should have little problems... :) I am starting this blog, so I can chronicle some of my trimming jobs (I have been a Barefoot Trimmer for about 4yrs now) and to help get information out there on Barefooting, Booting, and everything related to horse and hoof health. I also ride endurance, so my barefoot endurance adventures will be chronicled as well. Hopefully someone will find some useful information here, or at least some amusement if nothing else :) And please, if you ever want to do a guest post on an interesting topic, have a topic suggestion, or just want to leave helpful comments, please do! :)