Did it!

Boo: one done, one not

Boo before

Boo after


We have been hearing about it for what... three years now? "I'm gonna do my own horses feet." "These freaking farriers are all so lame..blah blah blah!" Well, I did do it...FINALLY! I paid for a very nice, very smart ,very funny gal to come here for the day and hold my hand through the process( and take over when I wanted to cry from tiredness and anxiety). I want to clarify here that I did not become a farrier after one class, I became the principle hoof trimmer for my own horses feet to be checked and rechecked by people with way more experience than me. I have also been reading about and watching this process for years. Frankly to quote a well known reality TV personality "Its not rocket surgery." Back breaking hard work when left for 5.5 solid weeks at the peak of summer hoof growth...Yes! Rocket surgery ? No! I learned I have a decent eye for feet, so that's good and that I'm a total dork nose when it comes to handling tools. One rasped wrist, and two sweaty armpits while handling a very sharp hoof knife later, I was relieved to know that if I stick to the plan I wont have to handle the more lethal of hoof tools.

The run down? Well as far as technical difficulty everyone will be glad to know that with just 8 feet between two horses, I get beginner, intermediate and advanced levels to hone my skills on. Add to that the "little" trouble I have handling said sets of feet and well, Its a process that's for sure! Between learning what is white line, what is water line, what is live sole and the fact that flares aren't just on the sides of the horses feet, my head was fairly spinning with data. I was gently reminded that I wouldn't accept Boo's very rough behavior (even for her) in a horse in training and that gave me the impetus to really ask more from her. By the end she was standing with out hay calmly and fairly quietly while I labored over a back hoof. I didn't take pictures of Cuervos feet as they seemed less obviously in need but the biggest surprise being that it will take about a year to fix his issues. Lets just say that the widest part of his foot is not where it needs to be and leave it at that!

My recommendation after using my "Mattel/baby" tools and Lisa's "big girl" tools is: BUY THE BEST TOOLS AVAILABLE! You are not saving time, money or your back otherwise. I plan to continue posting pictures of our progress for my own records as well as to get in put from anyone wishing to comment. My new schedule for horse feet is simple and easy. one set of hind feet from the bottom only day one, day two bottoms of one set of front feet, day three, tops of one set of hind feet and day four tops of one set of front feet. The following week repeat on horse #two. No more four or five weeks for my horses feet to get out of shape. If you think about it, how much progress in the right direction can one possibly make if you are leaving the hoof to get itself pulled all out of whack? Seems to me you would be only able to get the hoof back to where you got it 5 weeks ago, that is if it didn't break off so badly that you couldn't trim as you needed. Boo is trying desperately to get a good foot, she has folded over parts of hoof, grown a callus and is battling a very badly stretched white line which has allowed a fungus to take hold. Cuervo on the other hand is making due but shows his lack of progress in his contracted heels and small frogs. I am now confident we will get there, and that I can do it! Its great to not be reliant on someone else for my horses hoof care. Saving the 90 bucks a month isn't bad either.

Marathon Musings

As I'm wrapping up my month long marathon end of this week, I wanted to share a bit about what I learned from my horse buds in all the time I spent with them. They are such cool creatures! First and foremost, I can't tell you the number of times I looked at them and it took my breath away. So different but both so beautiful. I had to pinch myself a few times to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I felt like , what I imagine, a new mom must feel like...... enamoured! I approached this experiment differently than I did oh so many years ago when I attended my certification. Back them there where time frames and expectations and ego. But this time, I wanted to get to know my critters on a deeper level and the skills we practiced where just secondary to the "knowing" that took place. Sure we improved on our buddy sour work(pics to follow), sure our foot handling got better(vid to follow), yes, I rode....but more importantly,I feel connected to my ponies. I learned what motivates Boo is rest, but also short stints of challenge. Way more challenge than my recollection of how her training went when she was younger. Cuervo is motivated by challenge but also and maybe more importantly by companionship...mine! Really an eye opener! It was a very ambitious endeavor that fell short logistically on more than one occasion, but it was a success in my book if only to rediscover the two amazing critters that I call my own.

Marathon update 2

We are all tired. Nine hours a day is a bitch frankly and with temps in the 90s the past two days? 9 hours didn't happen. I remember these days a Johns, we usually ate peanut M&M's for dinner and collapsed into bed. NO JOKE! Cereal was to much trouble...grin. So I'm taking it easy and believe it or not had one of the best rides on Boo ~bareback and in halter no less~ that I have had all week. We have been practicing basics, and sometimes stringing it together to get a slow roll back change of direction, and side passing a few steps and backing switching to a turn on the forehand...playing in other words. Well between beating back swarms of mosquito's we had some great moments of advanced, strung together, movements. We where both smiling..Itchy , but smiling! It was a good day. Abridged but good.

Marathon update

After a late start the marathon is in full swing. The hardest part is the 9 hours! I have to keep reminding myself that at Johns, there was a good deal of lecture and watching fellow students. So I'm not kicking my own butt to much. In the times, like yesterday, when it got too buggy and hot, I grabbed one of my horse books(the twisted truths of modern dressage) and sat down for a read, outside of course with the ponies!
Changes noted on the horsey front: My babies are very attentive to my comings and goings, way more so than when I just emerge to feed them. That warms the cockles of my heart let me tell you! We are bonding on that horse and human level beyond the average "hay lady" status.

My second observation has to do with Amerika, several of you have asked if she has improved my riding skills and I'm going to say emphatically "YES!" To quote Mr. Parelli, I have had a "whoa" growing in my heart since I stopped riding Zee and began riding many untrained horses. Its not life threatening, but I really noticed it after my tumble off of Boo a while back,( the one where I had the hematoma from hell..) I reasoned it out. I self talked. I rode more, but it stubbornly had its little whoa tentacles firmly embedded. With my ability to focus on myself during my rides on Amerika, (like I would ordinarily focus on my horse during our rides) I am able to train me. The "whoa" is melting like the witch from Wizard of Oz. Its all good!

Sad to say...

What is it they say about the best laid plans? I promised to start my 9 hour-a-day, horse-heaven-marathon on Monday. Instead I spent most of Monday laying beside my toilet bowl. Three days of "really" sick followed by one day of "weak as a kitten" and today finds me at 90 percent. Go figure! I am happy to announce that I spent 8 hours with my ponies. Granted, 6 of them where with Amerika but lets not quibble shall we? She had her professional photo shoot and it went really well, pics to follow soon! I would rather talk about something that has been making me feel like Tevia in "Fiddler On The Roof". You remember, "on one hand..... but on the other hand...but on one hand...eh" Let me 'splain. Farrier came last week, it went poorly for him. He was yanked by one and kicked by the other. I experienced, mortification, indignance, whining, then honest examination of the whole event. Nothing is worse than being a trainer with ill behaved horses. In fact another farrier once said I have the "worst trained , best trained horse" in the world. BIG SIGH! So as I'm willing to admit to the entire planet this foot thing is an on going challenge for my horses. I have ridiculed my farriers behaviours which by the way, they are guilty of and I have looked honestly at my horses behaviours which they are just as guilty of. I squarely lay the blame on.......... myself. I have little trouble with my horses feet. That does not mean NO trouble that means that sometimes, I have a little trouble. Nothing that makes me want to reteach the lesson, which is the problem in a nut shell. I can hate the way a farrier relates to my babies, lament that if he had just taken his time here, released there, not creeped up to this one like that...blah! blah! blah! The truth, is my horses should at 10 and 14 years of age, stand for the flippin' farrier regardless of his/her moronic habits! In fact to quote John Lyons "If someone put a cigarette out on Zips butt the only problem he should have is with me...rest assured it would be a mighty big problem." Meaning in, that strange and wonderful way that most natural horsemanship teachers relate, ones horse should be trained for the lowest common denominator that he/she will come up against in their domestic horse lives. If you think about it, that is a huge challenge! For me it means that a great deal of my horse marathon will be devoted to skills that are much less glamorous than the side passing, lead changing, trail riding, fantasy I had imagined. I will have two horses that stand politely for the farrier though. I have often been heard saying, "practice the basics 'cause its all basics really" I think its time I took my own advice......

Inspired by Julie and Julia

This is one of the cutest movies I've seen in a while. Meryl Streep is the bomb as usual and the story itself was so sweet. For those of you not in the know, its the tale of a closeted writer who decides to cook her way through Julia Childs cook book and blog about it. It takes her a year, and changes her life in wonderful ways. While its a chick flick in every sense of the word, it has been enjoyed by several husbands and Dads I've talked to...wink wink. Darned if it didn't inspire me. NO, I'm not going to cook my way through recipes for horses, or anything like that, I'm going to so something better. My friend Teresa and I where lamenting an honest to goodness, intense, horse program, type experience like we have both had in the past. She with Harry Whitney and myself with John Lyons. We pined a 6 month stint at the spanish riding school in Jerez. A year riding andalusians and learning Garrocha. NOT barn slaves we, oh no! Riding students to be molded and nurtured and taught. Sigh , it gives me chills... BUT, reality strikes. We are poor little church mice with jobs, a husband,responsibilities and ponies at home to teach and learn with. That's where the inspiration comes in....Folks, on the 26th of April, I will endeavour to create my own version of pony boot camp, here, in my own back yard, with my own precious equines. My plan is to spend 9 hours a day with the ponies, around life, around work, around my own protestations! I will hang with, observe, ride, teach, play, and dote for 9 hours a day...and blog about it, for one month! It will be a fabulous ride, I'm sure. Stick with me and lets see what we learn!
*Donations of red wine, home made food and words of encouragement gladly accepted!

An honest to goodness, panties in a twist, RANT!

Hoof balance speaks for itself....

Hoof capsule sliding to the right.....

Heels badly sheered, no frog, small shoe placed at the end of the long toe....



I've gotten used to being humored. Deviant views like letting your horse tell you where it is you get to train that day, using treeless saddles and feeding bee pollen, among other "potions", raises more than a few eyebrows. So its never a surprise to me when asked about horse shoeing that I get the old eye roll since I am a huge proponent of the natural trim and Jaime Jackson. Ive had my horses living with the natural trim for several years now and it works for us. However, the first great, certified, corrective, shoer I asked about this told me my mare would never....NEVER.... be able to go with out front shoes. He said because of her breed, her foot quality, her foot conformation, I would ruin her. I respected this man and blindly went along for a few more years watching my mares feet slowly deteriorate. She pulled shoes, she lost hunks...huge hunks.... of hoof wall, she landed on the outside edge of one hoof and rolled to the inside edge as she traveled, her stride shortened and she began scuffling along so badly that she kicked cups of sand into my boots as I led her to and from the turn out . And yet, I did nothing. She wasn't lame per sea. I didn't want to chase away the only person who was willing to do draft feet, who showed up on time and who as a person, was a real sweet heart.
Eventually, though, as always happens it seems in the horse world, we parted ways and I was at square one with her feet again. After interviewing a few prospects who would dare face big, scary, draft horses(snort). I realized that I was going to have to take control of her hoof care myself. As with anything new, there where a few missteps along the way before I got it all worked out to our satisfaction. We haven't looked back. My horses are thriving shoeless. The point of this little tome is not to rub my success with this in any ones face, nor to bully anyone into following a path they do not wish. The point is that people make mistakes. People we pay good money too, whose opinion we trusted make mistakes. People with lots of fancy degrees on their walls, lots of schooling, lots of knowledge...make mistakes. The ones worth continuing to patronize and support with our hard earned dollars, can admit to these mistakes, apologize if necessary and help us right the wrong. The ones not worth it make us feel foolish. Don't hesitate to kick them to the curb. One of my clients recently experienced a similar tale and graciously shared pictures of her horses feet. The vet was called as this poor guy went very lame and had a bounding pulse on his cannon bone. I'll post updated pics as he recovers. WE are our horses voices! Let them be heard especially in the face of strong opposition.