Carani Hoofcare & Horsemanship - Leanne Smith

09/07/2025

Ahh yes, one of those “hard to swallow” pills right here 💊

This is a journey I’ve been down the past few years and it’s a very humbling one.

The horse doesn’t lie. We can make up all the stories we like to try and feel better about ourselves, but at the end of the day the horse is the one telling the real story…

From issue No.111 There’s this thing about working with horses… it’s one of those things that is responsible for making working with horses difficult, soul-shattering hard work. And I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer here, but it’s one of those kind of hard-to-swallow universal truths abou...

09/07/2025

She’s a bit frosty out there this morning! ❄️

Remember, sugars in the grasses will be higher on frosty mornings. Keep an eye on your metabolic horses and ponies and if you’re at all concerned get them off the grass 🐴

08/07/2025

It can be challenging keeping metabolic type horses in the Wheatbelt, especially during winter/spring.

Our solution has been to fence off the non-arable parts of our property and plant lots of trees and shrubs, which helps reduce ground cover. The horses graze these paddocks, leaving our arable land for valuable cropping purposes.

With minimal ground cover we do have to be careful of sand ingestion. To help alleviate the risks we do regular sand flush treatments and the horses have 24/7 access to rhodes hay.

The pony wears a grazing muzzle and we keep a close eye on him to ensure he’s not at risk of laminitis. Horses that need extra nutrition (e.g. pregnant/nursing foals) get this through bucket supplementation.

It’s taken a lot of thought and a bit of time and effort but seems to be working well thus far. And it’s rewarding watching the trees grow that little bit more each year 😊

What solutions have you come up with to manage your metabolic horses?

05/07/2025

Give them good experiences and this is how they should end up 👌🏼

🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴

And… give a girl too much time away from civilisation and this is how her fashion choices end up 🤣

30/06/2025

So after finally getting ourselves “camera ready” 🙄😂

I wanted to show 10 month old Sunny getting a trim on a hind foot.

Things I’d like to point out:

1. Initially I want her to be a bit “dull” to picking up her hinds. As a professional trimmer it freaks me out when horses throw their hind legs at me. I can always get her more sensitive down the track but for now I want to physically pick up her foot, not have her sn**ch it off the ground. By taking my time I am also allowing her to consider her balance and preparedness to lift her foot.

2. I purposely am not balancing her over all four legs before I ask for her foot. I want the horse to take responsibility for finding their balance. If I do it for them, they will always rely on me to do it for them. You will see she initially balances herself and then loses her balance. This is something she will learn with time.

3. Eventually I do balance her up and ask her to take a step backwards. She was moving her foot around while I was rasping and it just felt like she needed a bit of help finding her balance. This is literally the first time I have ever asked her to take a step backwards so it takes her a moment to understand what I’m asking.

4. Every horse can be taught to stand quietly for a trim without someone holding the lead rope. In fact sometimes it is actually easier without someone holding them as the horse’s focus will be on the trimmer/farrier rather than the handler.

Any questions/comments just ask!

🐴☺️

29/06/2025

For anyone wondering why I don’t post more content on social media… 🤦🏼‍♀️🤣🤣🤣

27/06/2025

It was a chilly start this morning ❄️

But I’ll take a 2 degree minimum over a 45 degree maximum any day 😂

It’s shaping up to be a beautiful winter’s day here in the Central Wheatbelt 🌾

24/06/2025

Carani Hoofcare & Horsemanship guide to float training cattle:

1. Open up the back of the float
2. Make sure there’s a full hay net in the float
3. Go and catch your horse
4. Come back to the float.
5. Your heifer should be in the float and ready to go!

😂🐮🤠

22/06/2025

Possibly the world’s easiest muster 😂

13/06/2025

Horse riding through the Victorian High Country with Watsons Mountain Country Trail Rides 🐴❤️

Bucket list item ✅

This spot is where the cliff jump scene from The Man From Snowy River movie was filmed 😳

Lovely horses, wonderful guides and spectacular scenery, just a magic afternoon ☺️

And if you zoom in and look at the white stuff on the mountain in the background, that’s where we’re headed tomorrow ⛷️

11/06/2025

Level 2 of Equine Tensegrity Balancing Therapy with Tami Elkayam Equine Bodywork ✅

Another challenging but rewarding course, looking forward to putting it all into practice.

Now for a few days of fun ⛷️ before back to work next week 🐴

31/03/2025

Halter starting is coming along nicely ☺️