This is a very good page with lots of good links
http://www.barefoothorse.com/
This has been a public service announcement
http://www.barefoothorse.com/
This has been a public service announcement
Reading articles on barefoot trimming
- Thread starter Marty
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lvponies
Well-Known Member
I've been using a barefoot trimmer for the last several years. Here's a link to her site. http://www.ridebarefoot.com/home She has some additional links listed.
Marty, this was the first website I read before I got into barefoottrimming four years ago. I loved the experiences of people who had lame horses and they were able to get better. Don't see those experiences anymore. It convinced me to try it with my chronically foundered Saddlebred. I was amazed at the new hoof she grew. How she quit absessing and went from a bulging sole to a beautiful concave hoof.
So I entered the AANHCP training program. My schooling was awesome and expensive, but has been so worth it. I was able to train with Jaime Jackson, Pete Ramey, and eight other wonderful mentors. Attend lots of great clinics. Our family got lots of travel and saw neat states with beautiful scenery.
I really recommend the program to anyone wanting to learn to trim or maybe consider it for a career. The AANHCP training has greatly improved even since I started. Barefoot is growing in leaps and bounds. 3 years later I have too many clients. I want to stay part-time, with two children at home. I have 80 clients and I hate being that busy. I try to avoid advertising now, ie cancelled my sites. I am trying to give a few clients to qualified students. 150clients gives you a full time job able to make a living. It really is a great profession. There were tears and aches and pains. I nearly gave up a few times. I stay humble and know I don't know everything. I am always learning. But it is very rewarding to see your clients hooves improve. It is not about the trimmer , but because we are taking their hooves back to the wild model. It is also a very simple trim. The horse decides their angle, we don't. We just follow their natural lines. I wish some of the farriers would look at the wild horse and consider learning this trim for their clients who want it. I have had a farrier follow me around for the day and that is encouraging. It is simple why it works.
Also our wild horses run 20 to 30 miles a day on hard sharp terrain. The foals are following. Our domestic horses are capable of so much more. We baby their feet too much and our diets are way too rich. The rich diets cause inflamation and that is were I believe that most horses have sub-laminitis. The horses feet are inflamed inside and that with carving of soles and frogs causes sensitivity.
Barefoot is not for everyone, It takes work.
Emma
So I entered the AANHCP training program. My schooling was awesome and expensive, but has been so worth it. I was able to train with Jaime Jackson, Pete Ramey, and eight other wonderful mentors. Attend lots of great clinics. Our family got lots of travel and saw neat states with beautiful scenery.
I really recommend the program to anyone wanting to learn to trim or maybe consider it for a career. The AANHCP training has greatly improved even since I started. Barefoot is growing in leaps and bounds. 3 years later I have too many clients. I want to stay part-time, with two children at home. I have 80 clients and I hate being that busy. I try to avoid advertising now, ie cancelled my sites. I am trying to give a few clients to qualified students. 150clients gives you a full time job able to make a living. It really is a great profession. There were tears and aches and pains. I nearly gave up a few times. I stay humble and know I don't know everything. I am always learning. But it is very rewarding to see your clients hooves improve. It is not about the trimmer , but because we are taking their hooves back to the wild model. It is also a very simple trim. The horse decides their angle, we don't. We just follow their natural lines. I wish some of the farriers would look at the wild horse and consider learning this trim for their clients who want it. I have had a farrier follow me around for the day and that is encouraging. It is simple why it works.
Also our wild horses run 20 to 30 miles a day on hard sharp terrain. The foals are following. Our domestic horses are capable of so much more. We baby their feet too much and our diets are way too rich. The rich diets cause inflamation and that is were I believe that most horses have sub-laminitis. The horses feet are inflamed inside and that with carving of soles and frogs causes sensitivity.
Barefoot is not for everyone, It takes work.
Emma
Fred
Well-Known Member
Read the articles and most of these guys are farriers. It's just a new twist on trimming. When I first got out of shoeing school I did A LOT of trimming [far more than my husband realized when I got pregnant!] It's just PROPER TRIMMING thats all it is. As for that first year transition thingy I know a horse that is STILL lame being barefoot and she is following all the barefoot advice. Tony Gonzales started the proper balance and movement fad. Gene Omnivick is a full time farrier that also does lecture tours. Just like Pat Parelli and so on. I'm not saying its bad but it can be misleading. Linda
It's just a new twist on trimming.
That it is as someone finally put a name to just good plain sense trimming. And I'm pretty much sold on it because the theory just makes good sense. A lot of barefoot farriers have different mentors such as Pete Ramey, Gene etc. whose method includes the entire horse health which worked up here in a big way for my Sonny. But then there is that Strasser method out there which is just too scary for me, way too aggressive.
However, no matter which way you prefer the bottom line for me is that all farriers are not created equal and what works for one horse won't necessarily work for them all. Cases in point: I have two minis here that do not respond at all to my barefoot trimmer so she has had to modify/adjust to suit. So, here at my farm, we can't make a whole lot of blanket statements as each horse is an individual as well as each foot is different too.
That it is as someone finally put a name to just good plain sense trimming. And I'm pretty much sold on it because the theory just makes good sense. A lot of barefoot farriers have different mentors such as Pete Ramey, Gene etc. whose method includes the entire horse health which worked up here in a big way for my Sonny. But then there is that Strasser method out there which is just too scary for me, way too aggressive.
However, no matter which way you prefer the bottom line for me is that all farriers are not created equal and what works for one horse won't necessarily work for them all. Cases in point: I have two minis here that do not respond at all to my barefoot trimmer so she has had to modify/adjust to suit. So, here at my farm, we can't make a whole lot of blanket statements as each horse is an individual as well as each foot is different too.
JourneysEnd
Well-Known Member
That's it in a nutshell Marty. When you speak in absolutes, you're absolutely wrong.
and BTW, Strasser scares me too. Too many absolutes in that trim.
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Fred
Well-Known Member
Strasser has had several lawsuits due to the methods she uses. I just wish they didn't call it "barefoot" just "COMMON SENSE PROPER TRIMMING." And it SHOULD encompass the WHOLE horse and what its issues are and how it is used. That is one of the keys to making the horse happier. Linda
zacharyfarms
Well-Known Member
I (through 3 full herd trimminings now) switched to a "high performance natural trimmer" (most prefer this term nowinstead of
) and I can't tell you the difference that I have seen in how my horses and my neighbors quarterhorses respond to her. And it is just common sense trimming. She uses the "trimming from the top" method. I am a believer for sure and would not go back the other way .By the way, Marty, one of the people mentioned EquiPride in your other thread about vitamin supplements and my "trimmer" swears by this supplement. My trimmer and her partner have a rehab center here in East Tennessee also Lauren and her family moved here from Florida to open the center. Here is a link to their site.
Nexus Equine Rehab Center
Nexus Equine Rehab Center
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disneyhorse
Well-Known Member
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I was the one who mentioned Equi-Pride. Honestly I didn't expect it to do anything and the ingredients are odd but hey, it works so I use it! My farrier noted a difference and I don't discuss my feeding program with them.
Andrea
Andrea
OK i need to add one more thing to this thread and then I will shut up.
There is no way if I were riding my big horse say on pavement or hard or difficult surfaces I'd ever consider riding him barefoot. That is when I would throw barefoot out the window
and then use my common sense and protect his feet. If I didn't want him shod, then
I would invest in Easy Boots (which I have) and protect his feet that way.
There is no way if I were riding my big horse say on pavement or hard or difficult surfaces I'd ever consider riding him barefoot. That is when I would throw barefoot out the window
and then use my common sense and protect his feet. If I didn't want him shod, then
I would invest in Easy Boots (which I have) and protect his feet that way.
Margaret
Well-Known Member
I was able to gleen some goodness out of this site you posted Marty...
I only have a few moments each morning to read, so I wanted to bump this back up for tomarrow morning.
Thanks
I only have a few moments each morning to read, so I wanted to bump this back up for tomarrow morning.
Thanks
Fred
Well-Known Member
Actually Marty the carriage horses that work in Boston on all that pavement are REQUIRED to be shod and if they aren't you get fined big time, and they can take the horse. Linda
Being very very friendly. I want to ask ' How do shoes protect the horses feet on paved roads?' I really don't understand why people say that. Could someone explain. I promise I won't argue. But I am very interested to learn.
I resently was taught why (some, I think)farriers trim with angles and barefoot trim to the plane of the sole. I think that is a big reason why they don't call it good trimming. They call it natural or barefoot, or wild trim. Cause it is often different.
But the shoe thing . I really would love to hear peoples thoughts.
Emma
I resently was taught why (some, I think)farriers trim with angles and barefoot trim to the plane of the sole. I think that is a big reason why they don't call it good trimming. They call it natural or barefoot, or wild trim. Cause it is often different.
But the shoe thing . I really would love to hear peoples thoughts.
Emma
