Wow...talk about a blow out!

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

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....

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

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....

......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.