Kissing Frogs Barefoot Hoofcare

This is Donkey, Percy, and Loki- 3 very lovely children. Donkey is a mammoth mule and a tank. He walks thru or over anyone he doesn't care for. Luckily, we are friends. Percy is a very nice older ottb. Loki was a rescue with some serious fear issues. They have all decided that cookies are worth compromise and now we have very peaceful and relaxing trims.

This is Bunker. Another little on my list. Bunker unfortunately suffered from the same issues as Waffles, which was being roped/drug/etc as a handling method. Just because you can rope and subdue a little doesn't mean you should. They hold a grudge. He was very wary about being trimmed initially and was stressed enough he wouldn't take a cookie. Today he was totally relaxed for all 4 feet and even let me approach him after in the yard once his halter was off. People tend to forget that all their choices and behaviors with animals have a cumulative effect. Luckily we can accumulate good feelings as well. Little ones are definitely very sensitive to how you approach them and whether or not they feel safe. Bunker has now decided I'm a friend 😀

This is waffles, one of my favorite littles. I posted last December about him being afraid of being haltered and his front right foot being touched. I have trimmed him regularly for about 1.5 years now. Today was special because none of his regular handlers were there to halter him ( he has about 3 people he will allow), and I decided to just see how he felt about things. I went to halter his girlfriend poppy first and he walked right over and put his face in her bright pink halter. I was so proud of him. I have never haltered him before since he's so resistant to it and I already work through so many feet fears with him. He stood there like a little champ and I laughed as I realized we had started with the right front hoof and worked our way around just like a real boy. It may have been a long road, but he is 100% relaxed and comfortable with his entire experience now. He 1000% deserved that.

This is a foot from one of my favorite children. He came to me as a mental rehab(profound farriery fear)as well as a physical one. We have finally found his feet in the bottom of that mess, and he is very happy and relaxed during his trims.

I went to a podiatry clinic this weekend at the lovely Alicia Harlov/ The Humble Hoof rehab facility in Massachusetts. Hanging out with all my fellow hoof nerds, and just absorbing all the brilliance around me was lovely. Four different perspectives on how to affect the feet were given. Some themes overlapping, some contradicting. It just reminds me how hard this job is on a daily basis when you are trying to maintain/shape/affect a living creature whilst you have so many forces you can control and so many out of your control. The track system there was beautiful (also very easy to walk since we had dropped about 4500 plus feet in elevation compared to home). I watch people with a lifetime of experience struggle to get horses healthy while fighting the diet/movement/injury/conformation/etc battle that just keeps it more ever-changing. I love my PHCP group and the constant information and conversations we have. I love being able to meet with experts and push my brain boundaries of what we can do and whether or not we should. It was a great weekend of thought provoking ideas, people who truly live and breath horses, and some beautiful scenery.

Good information. Know your horse's feet and save them this pain.

Healing a foot is just as much about trimming correctly as it is healing the internal damage. The top picture on each shows quite a few things going wrong. Rebuilding the internal structures takes so much longer than just taking off some foot. This horse had a pr*****ed frog and his whole foot was jammed up at the quarters. Although we are not a 100% there, the changes in shape and structure have been very lovely to watch.

High heels can be sexy, but definitely not as your everyday wear.

One of my favorite Littles getting a manicure.

I have a client that isn't financially profitable. But the horses are dolls and the drive is relaxing. Sometimes your choices are made by how they feed your soul rather than your wallet.