Clive Meers Rainger RSS and Mark Johnson Dip WCF will spend the day talking feet, of course feet! We are both farriers after all
Yet neither of us forget there's an entire horse attached to those feet and there's a lot to take into consideration before you fall in love with your new equine friend
🤔 How does the horse greet you
🤔 Where will you keep it and how
🤔 Who will you need around you to help you
🤔 Posture can it stand equally spaced with all 4 feet
🤔 how do gastric ulcers cause collapse in hind feet
Just a snippet of the titles we will be diving into so join us if you can and also please note! the day in no way replaces any veterinary exam or advice
For further details and to book visit https://loddingtonequine.care/loddington-events
The ever adaptable Scoot
This lovely horse has some interesting and quite extreme right fore conformation, an extreme outward deviation at the knee and somewhat inwards from the fetlock joint force him to present the outside of his foot and especially outside toe to the ground first. Lately he has been struggling a little with soundness, he is only comfortable having his right front foot trimmed from the opposite side making a comfortable shoeing process a challenge and then why would I? I have a scoot boot, with wedge pads tailored to each individual foot, the ground surface adapted to his movement as far as I was able and we now have a much better alignment, and a gentler take off and landing (though I doubt I can ever get this perfect I know he will be more comfortable and have a lot less shock going through his joints. Powered by https://www.hoofbootfarriers.com/ and an occasional oat milk latte 😁
Hoof Boot Farriers Scoot Boot Course
“Edit: as with all new ventures we are learning and evolving along the way, we know we have to make the website message clearer in that while we did begin with the thought of farriers specifically, hoofcare is truly global and en corporates many thoughts and approaches and if this course can help anyone help a horse then please dive in”
Hoof boot fitting services are on the rise and that’s good news for the equine world! Yet what do we expect and want from our fitted boot?
A boot which will serve the purpose of both horse and rider while maintaining comfort? That’s obvious and many boots do exactly that without problems
Now what happens when you begin to push the boundaries of what boots can offer, such as adding in bespoke orthotics, aiding joint alignment, assisting pathology and injury, replacing some instances where previously shoeing was the only option and challenging the problems such as twisting, rubbing, tripping, boot loss, can’t get the fit you need …..
HoofBoot Farriers happens! That’s what
Robbie Richardson RSS and Mark Johnson DipWCF both registered farriers and both with a dedicated passion for healthy horses and consequently healthy shoeless feet, have seen in the Scoot Boot, an opportunity to adapt this brand of boot way beyond anything previously and currently available in such a simple yet effective format
Taking the sized boot then tailoring or in other words optimizing it to the individual horse - leg - foot and all the corresponding forces and loading has become an all consuming interest and passion
To this end we have created HoofBoot Farriers, something we hope will build into a community of hoof care providers, dedicated to building on and adding to what we have begun and to kick the ball rolling, Robbie and Mark have created a 2 part course, the first part is the “how to’s” online and subsequently a 2 day in person practical course for those who want a hands on deep dive and to hone their new skills and thought
Balancing feet / balancing limb / balancing horse
This is such a cool model owned and generously shared around by The Hoof Architect I could probably write a book on my take on why (A) this conformation in horses exists and (B) why I see so much of it.
The knee rotates outwards, the fetlock and pasterns inwards and the outside toe of the foot presents towards the ground ahead of the rest .
I will have to make myself one to play with when I’m stationary in traffic 😉
Just working on other stuff and decided this extract was worth posting
For whatever reason, when a horses hoof moves away from its optimum clinical parameters the whole body and not just the feet are forced to compensate
If you follow a horse and are watching how the feet leave the ground (Yes some of us are that sad 🙂, if you see a "snapping" action at the fetlock as the hoof leaves the ground, almost like a whiplash the chances are that biomechanicaly the horse is struggling with its toe length and breakover and that flexor tendons are working too hard and forcing over use of the extensor tendons and muscles as they work harder to assist elevation
The situation will potentially not only cause soreness through the entire front of the horses body from the poll down through the extensor muscle chain, but it can have substantial RSI type trauma to the soft tissue fibres of commonly the flexor tendons, the distal intersessamoid ligaments (fetlock joint compression) and the dreaded damage to the navicular area
sleep patterns can also be interrupted depending on the severity of the leverage as the horse need to be able to lean forward into its body to engage its stay apparatus, crucial for being able to sleep while standing
Nothing at all just playing and sharing 😊
Good conformation, good diet and good movement
They do help a bit 👍🙂
I am NOT a horse trainer! I am NOT an equine behaviourist, psychologist nor anything else along those lines
Meet “Paint Drying” as I have for affectionate and for confidentiality reasons called him, he’s only a young horse and when I first met him (as he came out of his stable, his eyes were the classic out on stalks and nostrils flaring etc …..) in short a very apprehensive and tense chap and who could blame him, he was facing me! Oh, and I think “Men” might too have been an issue, hmm
When it all comes together and you have the time to spend and the trust of the owner fun things can happen, I wanted to give Mr P the space he needed, both for his emotional state and for myself, in hopes he might dash off in any direction other than over the top of me (I’m too old now to wear horses as neck cloths)
This for us both probably was a long session and I’ve cut the vid short as I ended up out of shot and asked the owner to come in for the last 7 mins or so
All ended happy and he’s a lovely chap to work with due to the diligence of his owner to who I am very grateful to for allowing me to share these special minutes
Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Mark Johnson Farrier - another way?, Leicester.
