09/07/2024
Friday favorites featuring the best little half feral rescue mule who stands for her trims at liberty and even let me touch her ears today
Namaste Barefoot Trimming
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Compassionate care for rehab cases and performance animals. Barefoot trims and composite shoeing
(4)
09/05/2024
Shod up front to barefoot with boots as needed, 2 trim cycles
09/03/2024
Cruzanna got her first pair of shoes today, with the help of some Dorm the process went smoothly. She got a used pair of Speeds (cobblers kids get the reset shoes) applied with minimal prep just to see how she likes them. Now that I know how well the Dorm works for her I will add pads and DIM and do more prep next time.
Why the shoes? I had noticed some negative changes in her feet from the mud and bad fly season at our previous barn. She was flaring more and losing vertical depth and had gone from rock crunching to occasionally wincing on gravel. She also tends to have trouble standing still and often pulls her foot away during trims which can be signs of hoof pain. So she will get a couple cycles in the Speeds to recover.
08/30/2024
No more rotation and happier feet for this older gentleman! He had 2 cycles in a direct glue rehab package and a cycle in Speeds and with diet and weight controlled he's back to barefoot and will either get boots or composites for trail rides in the future.
08/29/2024
It's a beautiful sight when the founder rehab horse is sound and fresh off a trail ride at the appointment!
08/25/2024
I am often asked why composites are set further back on the hoof than we commonly see in metal shoes. This is why. But these mechanics apply whether steel or composites are used. I have set shoes too far forward as well! Everyone has their learning curve, but we need to be aware of what to work towards and always strive to do better.
08/23/2024
Direct glue experiment with Hoof-It composites and Sleipner casts on one of my favorite bois this afternoon 🩵 Frisco was a champ for his first experience with glue ons, now to see how this application suits him and what to tweak going forward
08/13/2024
This is Ralphie. Ralphie is the best boy and gets his hooves trimmed entirely at liberty. He's also super handsome and great at selfies.
08/12/2024
Over this past weekend I had the opportunity to do liberty demos with my horses at the Marquette County Fair. As always, I learned a lot, had fun and made many memories but this was the big finale and the highlight of the weekend for me. It has been a goal to perform a choreographed routine with no whips or props and performing to this song meant a lot to me. Riley has had many setbacks and challenges over the last 2 years and I have also learned many things that I wish I could go back and make better for him and my other horses. I think we can all relate to that on our journey of learning and healing. "The Night We Met" encompasses that feeling of wishing I could go back in time as well as the feeling of having almost lost him.
It's safe to say I now have a lot of inspiration for our performance at Fall Phantasm. Please come see us (plus all of the amazing dancers, musicians, immersive actors and fire performers!) on October 5th at Lakenenland.
08/05/2024
First pair of composites for this older lady who is dealing with a lack of soft tissue and sole depth due to long term compensatory issues.
07/30/2024
Lots of Versa Speeds lately! No power tools application on the left, and a used pair of Speeds on my personal gelding on the right.
07/20/2024
When you forget to order more Sleipner casts but your client's glue ons are still nicely balanced and we can easily get another week or two out of them 👌
07/18/2024
Beautiful changes for Dakota! 2 trim cycles
07/16/2024
From foundered to fabulous 🤍 Miss Opal
06/26/2024
If you knew something was wrong with your horse, would you fully commit to the rehab process?
It seems like an easy answer. We love our horses, and we would do anything for them.
Until we have to stop riding them. Or skip the show. Or put in a dry lot. Or have an uncomfortable conversation with a trainer, barn owner, or other professional about the changes that need to be made.
Fully committing to the rehab means accepting what is, accepting whatever happens along the way, and letting go of any plans or time lines we had. Those are legitimately hard things. It is easier and more palatable in the short term to be one foot in, one foot out in a process that is not linear and can be incredibly frustrating and humbling.
I'm going through that right now.
I thought I had done a pretty good job of rehabbing my gelding's body since our bout with Lyme. We had gotten back into riding and I had all sorts of hopes and dreams. But we had an opportunity recently to work with a professional who specializes in nerve compression issues, and she showed me that his body needs significantly more help than I was aware of.
I left with my homework and my new knowledge, and my thoughts and feelings that weren't quite on board. Thoughts like:
Maybe if we only do a couple rides a month, it will be okay
If this isn't our big comeback year, he's going to be 24 next year and I'm afraid we will run out of time
We've come so far and overcome so much and I feel like this isn't fair
It's important to allow yourself the short term pity party and it's okay to acknowledge that you wish it could be different. It's also okay to admit that the process sucks sometimes.
We both struggled initially with the nerve release work. It was physically hard for him to unwind the dysfunction that had been years in the making, and it turned out to be mentally tough for me to provide the safe space in which to do so. Instead I brought an air of desperation to our initial sessions that easily bubbled into frustration.
At the same time, he was allowing me to put my hands on places he normally guards. And as I started to explore these places of restriction and nerve entrapment, I could feel how tight and gritty the fascia was. But I could also feel and see the changes as his body learned to let go, layer by tiny layer. And emotionally, we both shed another layer of armor and found our way back to being one.
So now this is my view for the majority of our sessions, and will be for some time. I have found the joy in this process, but not without first experiencing all the other emotions that come along with starting over.
Committing to the process requires showing up, and letting go. The first part is easy for me. The letting go, not so much.
In horses, as in life, sometimes when you don't get what you wanted, you are actually getting what you need.
This horse who has been my rock and already come back from the dead once deserves the best I can give him, and I cannot unsee what I now know.
Committing to the rehab is not a guarantee of success but a lack of commitment will usually lead to failure, maybe not of the catastrophic sort, but certainly a failure to thrive, a life lived at a reduced capacity.
If we know better and we don't do better, we need to clearly and objectively examine the reasons why, and be prepared to sit with the answers.
06/18/2024
Tank did great in his 3D EasyShoes. Now to see how the acrylic performs as the tabs stretch with multiple uses.
06/18/2024
Much improved HPA on a young donkey in one trim, and progress on a foundered mare. Long but good day today with lots of good clients & horses.
06/15/2024
Second cycle in the rehab package for this older gentleman
06/13/2024
Thank you to each and every one of you who have supported me in taking steps toward better self care. I truly appreciate you from the bottom of my heart and soul.
I am starting to get July's schedule sorted out. I will be on vacation July 6th-15th so things will be a bit busy on either side of that but I'm looking forward to some much needed downtime.
📷 sweet gentlemen Patrick's adorable moustache
06/12/2024
This sweet girl got some modified Versa Glues to try out today! Opal has made huge progress in her recovery from laminitis and founder thanks to strict management changes by her dedicated owners and great work by True Balance Trimming/Composite Shoeing LLC 💜
06/10/2024
Over these recent weeks I have been battling with some nerve impingement from overuse. Essentially from not listening to my body. I love what I do and I want it to be sustainable. I do not want to become a statistic, another farrier that ends up quitting from physical and mental burnout. So I will be making some changes going forward.
Effective immediately, I will no longer be working through problems that are not my responsibility to fix. Horses must pick up their feet and stand quietly, no excuses. If there are underlying issues that prevent them from allowing me to work on them without undue stress or risk to my body, they must be addressed with sedation, training, or veterinary attention or they will be dropped from my schedule.
I absolutely love working on the rehabs and geriatrics and will continue to do so for the animals that cooperate. I am more than happy to allow for breaks or meet them where they are comfortable if they have limited range of motion. But there is a difference between gently negotiating for a break or a different position and flat out jerking me around. Even being under well behaved horses takes a toll on the body. Every wiggle, every lean, every time a horse pulls against me my body takes a hit, and I can no longer brush it off.
Animals are animals, and I realize they have bad days. I don't expect perfection from anyone, I am certainly not perfect. All I ask is that you try, and if I bring up an issue, that you listen and work with me on a solution. I have to advocate for myself like I advocate for the horses or my career will be cut short and I don't want that to happen.
If I no longer meet your needs with these requirements, I understand and there will be no hard feelings on my end. Boundary setting is hard and I appreciate those of you who have done everything in your power to help me help your horse without having to be asked.
📷 of a recent sunset on the way back from my route in the Soo
06/04/2024
The Versa Speeds worked very well for Dreamer over the past 6 weeks. I pulled them today, trimmed and reset them for another cycle. My personal horses Cruzanna and Riley got trimmed today as well.
05/30/2024
Barefoot trim on a 1/2 draft and the new Versa Speeds on a QH with suspected distal descent
05/16/2024
Tank is one of my test horses this year. Here he is helping me practice my application of the 3D EasyShoes with acrylic glue. I haven't trimmed him for 8 months but we picked right back up where we left off with the power tools and he was a good boy for his first ever experience with glue ons 💜 glad to have this sweet guy back on my route
05/15/2024
Update on Brownie pony 🤎 she still has and will always have some twist in her most pathological foot (pictured) but we have drastically reduced distortion, achieved flat landings and she has gone from almost immobile and very depressed to bright, alert and able to run. I'm so glad she was given a chance and I'm proud to have played a role in her new lease on life.
05/14/2024
Casts with DIM for a recovering laminitic
05/13/2024
This guy is being leased by a client, he is currently a pasture companion but hopefully will be doing some light riding if we can get him sound 🙂 Caudal failure all around and suspected navicular.
05/10/2024
My goal this year has been to gain more confidence in fitting and applying the EasyCare line of composites and all the different tab and cuff options they offer. This is my friend's mare Raven who is one of my test horses. She is helping me fine tune my application of Versa shoes with Stealth cuffs.
After fitting the shoes I marked exactly where the cuffs needed to go to be flush with her hoof wall. I then plastic welded the cuffs to the shoes, applied super glue and stretch wrap until dry, then a top coat of super glue and insta set. Super glue applications are much more cost effective than other glues but super glue is not a gap filling glue so the fit must be very accurate.
Raven can be hard on her shoes so she is a great one to test my skills on. She also puts in lots of trail miles and appreciates the added support 👟
05/09/2024
First full day back at work today! A mix of my clients and my mentor's clients including a recovering founder case. Everyone was well behaved and I even got a client's young horse started with the grinder. Great day!
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Over this past weekend I had the opportunity to do liberty demos with my horses at the Marquette County Fair. As always, I learned a lot, had fun and made many memories but this was the big finale and the highlight of the weekend for me. It has been a goal to perform a choreographed routine with no whips or props and performing to this song meant a lot to me. Riley has had many setbacks and challenges over the last 2 years and I have also learned many things that I wish I could go back and make better for him and my other horses. I think we can all relate to that on our journey of learning and healing. "The Night We Met" encompasses that feeling of wishing I could go back in time as well as the feeling of having almost lost him. It's safe to say I now have a lot of inspiration for our performance at Fall Phantasm. Please come see us (plus all of the amazing dancers, musicians, immersive actors and fire performers!) on October 5th at Lakenenland.
Rehab isn't a linear process. At times it can be discouraging. Rehab cases will make you second guess yourself ten times over and keep you awake at night. It can be incredibly hard as an empath to watch an animal in pain, knowing you are trying your hardest to help, but still feeling like you are failing them. Today I got to watch this mare who could barely walk when I started trimming her in the spring of 2022 take her first canter steps with a lesson kid. Not only able to move, but loving it. Her feet are stable and her body is healing and getting stronger. She has a great team on her side and the lessons I continue to learn from her will last a lifetime. Thank you, Dreamer, for all of your gifts. May this be the start of great things for you.
Super glue application of the 3D EasyShoes on my gelding. I was able to do the full trim, prep and application with him loose in a stall, very thankful for how good he is. I love these shoes and am very impressed with them for fairly non distorted feet that require a little support.
Some more pretty jewel tones 😍
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