Happy Hooves Natural Hoofcare

28/11/2023

It’s been a busy couple of months so haven’t made any updates for a while.

At this point I am officially winding down my hoofcare practice, due to the physical demands on my body now getting to be harder as I am now closer to 60 than 55!

I will continue to service the clients I currently have, but will not be taking on any new clients, and instead I will be moving into my new venture with ErgoX2 of Sweden saddles, which I will be bringing to Australia with the first orders landing in the new year.

I hope to be able to still be running some owner trimming clinics in the future as well.

14/10/2023

I have been a bit busy in the last month or so, hence less posts than usual.

However this post is an excellent visual as to what happens INSIDE the hoof with a foundered hoof, compared to a healthy one.

This sort of damage takes an entire year, and sometimes more, to grow out, and the horse may never be fully ‘sound’ again for riding - depending on how much damage there is to the coffin bone.

Knowledge, patience and time, along with diligent care and management on the part of the owner, is what makes it possible to heal this level of damage.

Of the Hoof care professional is not skilled, it can’t be healed. If the owner who looks after the daily management of the horse, does not follow recommendations, the hoof will not recover. Both MUST do their part and work together to ensure maximum success.

The HCP must give a guarded prognosis and be truthful to the owner at the start of taking on a case like this, and cannot give recommendations with any certainty without seeing a full set of X-rays performed by a knowledgeable equine veterinary specialist.

Never get your horse’s feet x-rayed by someone who is not a specialist equine vet, and also I would not recommend using the services of a farrier with an imaging machine to perform this service either, as a full set of images of all angles is needed to show as much information as possible to the HCP.

As a HCP, my skill and knowledge is only as good as what the horse owner is prepared to support and take on my advice, and act on it.

If I say the horse needs to be restricted from grass, for example, you as the owner need to listen and take this on board. If I say there are body issues that need to be addressed because the horse has difficulty holding up feet comfortably for the trim, please take this on board before my next visit.

The consequences of laminitis to the hoof. The cadaver on the right shows rotation of the distal phalanx, convex sole, lamellar wedge, distorted hoof capsule. Compared to the left, looking inside a healthy hoof with the distal phalanx fitted snugly inside the hoof capsule. Healthy vs unhealthy

17/08/2023

Frost means we need to be extra careful about any metabolic horses.

16/08/2023

Very very well said.

I recently raised my trim price to $70. I always hate raising my prices, but cost of living is getting more every day.

I haven’t put up my fee for trimming and applying shoes, but I will have to do it soon.

Fuel is now on the rise again. Whenever I drive out to a client, it costs me a minimum of $20-40 just in fuel to attend.

18/07/2023

Report on our successful Basic Trimming for Horse Owners clinic I conducted over the weekend in the Mildura area.

Thanks to Michelle Rogers for so kindly hosting at her property, and who also was fabulous with not only organizing morning and afternoon teas, but also stepping in and assisting the attendees with trimming while I was helping out other participants. Michelle has been mentoring with me for around 2 years now so she can work on her gelding and keep his metabolically affected feet under control.

Thanks also to Michelle’s husband Shayne Rogers who put on a barbecue lunch for us all on Sunday, which was impromptu and very well received! 😃

Thank you also to the five lovely people who came along to learn a bit more about how to manage their own horses’ hooves.

One of our attendees is enrolled to attend a barefoot trimming course in Tasmania in January, so this was her first time taking tools to a hoof, and it was an important first step for Tash to learn how to handle her tools and use some technique as well as pick up some basic trim directions, along with basic anatomy.

Thank you so much to all participants, your enthusiasm and open mindedness, and willingness to learn, made for a really fun weekend and everyone made huge inroads over the two days in their skills and took use.

Brilliant job everyone, and I’m looking forward to returning to Mildura in a few months time, possibly early November, for another workshop.

27/06/2023

I have been trialing the 3D EasyShoes on my own horse now coming up for 8 weeks.

She had a reset at 4 weeks, and I will reset them again at the end of the week. The shoes are performing exceptionally well, there is minimal wear at the toe, and I am confident they will easily last 12 weeks.

I have all sizes on pre-order with EasyCare Downunder, and hope to have them in stock for my clients within 6-8 weeks, fingers crossed!

I have one pair available in a 130F and a pair of 126H that I purchased directly from 3D Hoofcare via Derek Poupard.

These shoes are exceptionally suited to performance horses who have fairly good feet and don’t need any extra caudal support.

10/05/2023

Hoping to have these available via EasyCare Down Under in a few months!

In the meantime I have one set available in 130F and 126H for my local clients.

Gidget is wearing 126F and 122H here.

08/05/2023

Magnesium is not a treatment for EMS, but by correcting a deficiency, it helps promote normal response to insulin. More information about balancing the diet here: https://bit.ly/3oIB92U

07/05/2023

Now, I don’t want to see ANY horses being difficult with holding their feet up ever again!

If this giraffe can, then my horse, and your horse can too 🤩

04/05/2023

A bit of information from EasyCare about using superglue to apply poly shoes.

https://blog.easycareinc.com/true-or-false-can-a-horse-be-successfully-shod-with-super-glue/?fbclid=IwAR1DJvU4dBzqExMhzGDYT4pJ6TqGL7qNUzRnZemA-qHGi7pMRTLkD6WmT6g

Shoeing a horse with super glue instead of nails seems silly. Most people will say, “No way! Super glue isn’t enough to hold a shoe on the hoof.” I thought the same thing! But after a couple years of testing, we are finding that super glue, or cyanoacrylate, is a quick and cost effective way [...

12/04/2023

When I take on new clients, I always ask, “Do they stand quietly for trims/shoes?”

Why is this important?

As you can see from the photo below, I’m not a big person. I have to be mindful that I have to be careful of my body. Like all of us who have horses and have worked with them for decades, I carry old injuries.

I cannot afford to be injured. While I’m fit and quite strong for my size, when I’m under your horse I am vulnerable. I am focused on making sure I do the best job to get your horse’s feet balanced correctly, and when fitting shoes, I am also focused on making sure the application is exactly where it needs to be so the shoe is balanced and stays straight. While I am always mindful of the horse, it doesn’t take much for a snatched front leg to strain my shoulder, or a pulled hindleg to twist my back and strain my knee.

As an owner, you can help me by ensuring your horse is happy to pick the hoof up, and hold it up while it’s being worked on. Pain can sometimes be an issue when a horse doesn’t want to stand or pulls a leg away, and I am always understanding of that, but this is not always the case, sometimes it’s bad manners and sometimes the horse just doesn’t want to stand still.

Huge shout out to Amy and her beautiful, lovely patient Rem, who stood and dozed while I trimmed and prepped his feet a couple of weeks ago, and Amy plaited him up for his competition the next morning. Refitting his Octos was a breeze because he was so patient and obliging.

Rem gets a great big Gold Star! 🌟

29/03/2023

With the autumn break, we are now moving into what will sometimes be damp and wet conditions.

For those interested in having the EasyCare Octos fitted, it’s important to be aware of a couple of things.

The most important thing in a successful application, is preparation of the hoof wall, closely followed by the fit of the shoe.

The area where the horse is being worked on must be clean and dry, so that during the application process the hooves stay clean after they have been trimmed. This prevents any inadvertent contamination of the wall during the gluing process.

The hoof wall must be completely dry for the superglue to bond. That means that it may be necessary to use a heat gun (or a small butane torch when power isn’t available) to ensure moisture levels are minimal.

The horse needs to be patient and stand quietly while the glue is applied to the tabs and the hoof is wrapped to set the glue. This process is as important as the preparation, as if the horse fidgets and the shoe moves during the wrapping process, the tabs will set in the wrong position and the shoe may need to be removed and reapplied.

The EasyCare Octos, when applied correctly, are extremely durable with all weather conditions. They have been tested in dry summer conditions, wet sloppy mud, and also snow.

I recommend no longer than 4 weeks between resets due to the amount of growth we usually see once these shoes are applied, and it’s important not to let the growth get away too much before trimming so as to keep on top of balance and correct hoof function.

So far I have observed some extremely quick and very marked improvements in horses with NPA (negative palmer angle, which means too low in the heels, crushed and underslung heels), and surprisingly, marked improvements in digital cushion of these horses.

In my own horse I have been able to correct flares and compensatory posture in front feet in a very short time.

I allow 2-2.5 hours to trim and apply/reset a full set of Octos.

28/03/2023

This is an excellent little 6 minute video of what happens to coffin bones inside the hoof, related to hoof balance.

Whether high heels, low, crushed heels, overgrown bars, flared wall, over trimmed hooves rasped flat to be weight bearing in the sole…. All of these have consequences to the vital structures inside the hoof.

A positive palmer angle, which is becoming quite popular these days, is NOT healthy for the coffin bone, and when we look at a healthy, I damaged coffin bone, we can see why this is. Nature does not make mistakes.

I hope you take the time to watch this little video, it is extremely valuable. Also consider joining the webinar, if you have questions about what goes on inside your horse’s hoof.