Wild Soles Whole Pet Care

04/25/2025

There's sometimes a misconception that a horse is only due for a trim when it's hooves are long or starting to chip or crack. Waiting too long between trims to where hooves are chipping is not beneficial to your horse's hoof health. Just because I may only need to use my rasp for most of the trim and maybe not even touch my nippers doesn't mean your horse wasn't ready for a trim. This means that we caught the new growth in time to place the hoof right back at the angle it is most happy at. I base trim cycles off of hoof growth and pathology. The golden number is 4-6 weeks, shorter for rehab cases.

The clippings below are from a horse that is rehabbing from negative palmer angles in his front coffin bones. He gets trimmed every 4 weeks and I've only been taking toe off the fronts (leaving heel) and doing a basic trim on the rears. His owner was skeptical about a 4-week schedule at first, but was easily convinced after just 2 trims. Keeping him on this schedule and plan has made him go from completely lame on any terrain to sound in Easyboot Gloves to 100% sound barefoot doing parades and ranch work.

The takeaway here is that if you want to fix something, shorter trim cycles are key!

04/24/2025

Horses travel every day for a number of reasons—to be bought and sold, for competition, for breeding purposes, etc. Whatever the reason, horse owners should be aware of the complications that may occur due to transportation, including traumatic injuries, diarrhea, muscular problems, respiratory problems, overheating, colic, and even laminitis (in the case of overweight horses).

Following are a few tips to help your equine friend maintain good health and welfare during transport. This list is by no means complete and we encourage you to reach out to your veterinarian for additional advice when it comes to traveling with your horse!

• Be aware that inadequate management of feed and water intake during travel could cause colic, gastric ulceration and heat stress. Food and water should be provided prior to transport, during regular rest breaks and upon arrival at destination.

• Ensure your horse’s immunizations are up to date against respiratory pathogens to protect your animal from these diseases.

• The horse should be rested before the journey, given rest stops during travel, and have time to recover on arrival at the destination.

• The vehicle should be well-ventilated to help prevent respiratory problems or overheating.

• Drive slowly and carefully (NO TEXTING, avoid driving when fatigued or eating while driving, etc.) to provide a comfortable journey for the animal and reduce the risk of injury and fatigue.

Happy trails!

04/17/2025

Shimmy got another touch-up trim on our trip after 70 miles of riding. He grew a ton from all of the movement and needed to be rebalanced.

04/16/2025

Shimmy got a touch-up trim before we started our camping trip adventure!

03/07/2025

Just admiring Shimmy’s rock crunching feet from today’s ride. 😍 He’s been riding barefoot on the trails for the last few months and doing amazingly!

03/05/2025

Got to visit with an old client, Cash, today while Justin trimmed her. I sure miss it. 💜

03/04/2025

Diet is the biggest foundation of the foot that you can change!

03/03/2025

Considering taking your horse barefoot? Here is what 5 months of dedication looks like! This horse has been rehabbing and enjoying himself out in the pasture and it has done him good! Many owners are hesitant to go from shod to barefoot because of the time off. If your horse is in pain and needs a change, this is the best thing for your horse. If you have to sacrifice 6-12 months of riding for hoof rehabilitation, you won’t regret it! In hoof time, 6 months is a short time. Although your horse may be sound after a couple trims (couple months), the hoof capsules are still not 100%. As you can see with this horse, his hooves are still improving and will continue to improve over the next few months. So if your horse is in pain, ask yourself what's more important, neglecting to deal with hoof capsule pain, riding your horse causing more pain and increasing the problem? Or would giving your horse the rehab time and treatment it needs to grow out healthy hoof capsules be the better choice?

Many people complain that their horse isn’t sound right after the shoes are pulled and insist that they will never be able to go barefoot. Not all horses have a perfect, care-free shod-to-barefoot transition. Many blow abscesses after shoes are pulled. Many have thin soles and are very tender. Some have navicular issues. Removing shoes from a horse that has always been shod can be a very different feeling for them since their soles haven’t touched the ground in months, sometimes years. This is to be expected and booting should be considered for most rehabs. Consider the scenario of wearing a pair of heels 24/7 (if your horse has wedged shoes) for 6-8 weeks straight while going about your normal activities. When you finally take those heels off after 6 weeks, your tendons, muscles, cartilage, etc. are going to be in pain once your foot hits the ground at a natural angle. This is what your horse feels after getting shoes pulled, but add on 1,000 more pounds to that discomfort and you’re set. Sometimes what worked for one horse, doesn’t work for another. This is why it is important to follow the instructions set by your trimmer so we can know exactly what isn’t working and we can try something else right away.

Diet is an important component to a successful rehab and many owners don’t want to stop the grain/sweet feed or their “special feed that keeps weight on them”. Sometimes what you’re feeding your horse can cause the hooves to be unhealthy. Many times after I suggest a simple diet change or addition of loose minerals, the hooves improve within a few trims. They are just that sensitive!

Your horse is ready to go barefoot, but are you??

02/25/2025

02/20/2025

People think this is normal but it sure should not be. If you don't want to have your farrier out more often, then you need to be adding more movement and hoof enrichment to your environment.

Horse owners need to understand

A 6-8 week (or more) trim cycle will very Rarely fix a problem.

If you've got a horse with flares, the cycle needs to be shortened under 6 weeks.

If you've got a horse with under run heels, you need to shorten that trim cycle.

If you've got a horse with folded bars, shorten your cycle.

If your horse is getting toe abscesses, you likely need to shorten your cycle.

If you have a laminitic horse with rotation, the cycle needs shortened. That coffin bone drops because the laminae are stretched and so very often the issue really began because the toes were allowed to get too long, which was the first insult, and then the metabolism changed which compounded things and tipped it over.

If things are not optimum, they cannot be put back into optimum without getting ahead of the issue instead of chasing it.

Shorten your trim cycle and put things back to Best instead of okay.

Optimum hooves make for disappointed dogs.

02/08/2025

PLEASE STOP RIDING BABIES. The science is right there.

02/05/2025

You can’t tell me horses don’t understand what’s going on. Shimmy wanted a pedicure too. 🥰

02/05/2025

Full trim video: 7 minutes. 🐴🖤Gambler has been getting some miles in on the trails, so he was due for a 2-week touch-up. Just focused on bringing his toes back and rebalancing his heels.

02/02/2025

If I’m watching your puppy, it’ll know a new trick when you come home. 🤷🏼‍♀️🤣

01/15/2025

PLEASE tie your rope halters correctly or don’t use them at all. There is a safety reason for why you need to tie these correctly. If you’ve had a horse pull back, you know what I’m talking about! This picture doesn’t show it, but there’s a correct spot the nose band should be too.

01/11/2025

The biggest piece of advice I frequently quote to baby trimmers (ok all trimmers) is a very simple phrase.

If it doesn't spark joy, get rid of it - Marie Kondo

MEANING - if you dread going go the client (ie - horses that jerk and rip on you(to the point where your side goes numb), unsafe setup, people who dont pay in a timely fashion, people who dont set their horses up for success, bad energy, etc) DO NOT KEEP GOING. If it feels like every single muscle in your body locks up when you step out of the vehicle, because you know you are about to get a good jerk around, DO NOT KEEP GOING. If the animal has a propensity to bite or kick or strike, and the owner has not addressed it and done everything you can to keep you safe, DO NOT KEEP GOING.

FULL STOP

It is not worth your peace. It is not worth the wear and tear on your body. It is not worth your time to work for people who do not care enough to keep you as safe as possible. It is not worth your time to work for people who think you are interchangeable. PERIOD.

Yes, things happen. Spooks happen. Body problems happen. Bad moods happen. But that needs to not be the norm.

You want to build your books with the best clients. The ones who are a great fit, who value your time and expertise, who do everything they can to set the horse and you up for a great trim experience.

If you aren't there yet with the clients on your books - do not be afraid to work towards a LEVEL UP. Advocate for yourself. You only have so many trims in your body, and no one knows what that number is.

(Photo of the actual quote I paraphrase stolen from Google)