Heaven's Hoofbeats

Heaven's Hoofbeats Dedicated to providing excellent hoof care and patient handling. Experienced with donkeys and rescue

03/04/2025

This is my friends husband and he is absolutely amazing at what he does in the audiovisual world.
I love seeing people succeed at doing what they love. Like and Share his page, and while you're at it... subscribe and listen to The Humble Hoof Podcast!

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Offering audiovisual services across the US

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03/04/2025

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Eve has been here over a year.

We've tried to introduce her into a small group and to many individual horses, and she's had zero tolerance for it.

She would behave viciously and with a ton of anger.

We tried on and off for a long time, and we finally stopped. She seemed really content without a friend, but we know that's not typical horse behavior.

You know, though, when she came in, you could not catch her in a stall. She was skinny with awful feet and hurt. She had not been treated well by people, and perhaps, that was the case by the herds she'd travelled through.

Horses aren't always nice to disadvantaged herdmates because that, in a non-domesticated situation, puts the whole herd in danger. A skinny, slow, injured or sick old horse is a predator magnet. So I imagine, the herdmates she had before she was abandoned were hard on her.

And she took up for herself intensely.

As she has been with us, she's become, over many months, and especially due to the dedication of volunteer, Kelsie, easy to catch and extremely used to pampering.

But still, no horse friends were allowed, in her mind.

Today that changed, and it kind of both broke and warmed hearts across the rescue.

Recent arrival, Tally, an 17 year old Standardbred broodmare, became her instant buddy when we thought, "let's try and see." 🤣

You can never replace a horse friend to your equine buddy, no matter how you try.

And a sign of a horse's mind and body having healed is their ability to be in a herd and have a friend.

Eve has made it 💕😭💕 because of how our donors give and how much volunteers care. Please visit our website and become a monthly donor to allow this work to remain so strong.

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02/27/2025

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Story time

The name of the rescue,

it raises questions.

Mainly: "Are you in Arizona?"

No, in fact, we are not in Arizona. I've never even
been to Arizona.

One and half decades ago,
there was this paint mare from Lincoln County (that's also where I'm from) in West Virginia that needed help.

She was not the first horse I ever rescued. . .
but she was where the line ended up drawn in the sand.

I did not want to start a horse rescue. As awesome as it may sound in theory, this work is tough. It's actually awful. If one knew the price beforehand, no one would pay it.

You have to be tough as nails and be okay with playing a sounding board in order to succeed in it.

It is sad and hard, and it is usually done for free.

It eats up all of the spare time you could have. The price is too high.

People tire of hearing you ramble about horses pretty quick when it's not a happy story you have to tell.

You get asked why you do not spend your time saving people, instead (You can't save people, anyway, that's what Jesus did).

Some other rescues may work against you and malign you.

Previous owners threaten you, despise you and likely would murder you if given a get out of jail free card. Declined adopters revile you in emails and via phone calls.

Well meaning Horse People work against you while trying to work with you.

Rescue is 40% about animals and 60% about the people it takes to get the animal safe or the people you need to get out of the way to aid the horses.

The last part is the hardest.

There is no college degree to prepare you for this. No sociology or psychology class to give you enough insight. You learn as you go, and if you fail, you are aware animals pay the price with their lives. You depend on people to do what is right solely because it is in their heart to do so. There is too little money to be donated to make it easier.

You depend on qualified people to want to work for no pay when too often only those unable to accomplish the needed tasks are willing to help. And when you find someone willing and qualified, you will do anything but sell your first born to keep them because you KNOW the cost is too high to lose them.

And you. . .you remember your "self" cannot ever take priority.

I'm so getting off track here.

But that does a fair job of telling about what Animal rescue really is when done right and well.

So,

Back to the story of the Phoenix and the name.

Normal every day people do not end up champions of Animal rescue, generally.

Broken people with fortitude who can't be bullied do. That's not to say all people who feel they rescue are those things. I said champions of rescue, and I mean that.

They are often those who have gone through enough to end up in a pile somewhere, a pile of ash, but decided they would rise out of it.

They are usually Broken people wandering in a life that seems to have lost purpose. They are people who have been to the brink and somehow did not go over the edge. They are those who have lost too much and want desperately to have meaning in the blankness left behind.

There are exceptions to everything, but they are few.

These people are fortunate, and they stumble into a calling and find a spark.

They probably didn't know they could even see or feel one, anymore.

So it is with me.

Life Long animal girl. My first word was "horse," I hear.

When circumstances wrecked my entire life, and then losses added up around me too high to see over, I found myself wandering. I couldn't find a way out of the sadness. So I just stopped being anything. I did all of the things regular people do to get by. Ate, drove, finished a degree, had more children, cooked and read books.

And still I was this pile of Ash, but I wasn't going to live there forever.

Then, at the time, I Felt sad or nothing.

But it began to change when I found a road to somewhere that made sense to me. And it helped saved me.

Like I said, there was this paint mare tied to a tree in Lincoln county, WV. People kept saying how I loved horses and should help her over and over and over. But I did nothing at first.

I was like everyone else who hears a sad story they feel powerless to change.

She wasn't the first, but the few others prior had been reactions, like seeing a kitten in the middle of the road you either have to swerve to go around or get out for.

This one was different.

I somehow knew she would lead to a journey. I did not want to take it. I knew there was no going back from it if I went to get her.

Hopeless and a lot like me, she was on a rope in the pouring rain. I imagine, could she have talked to me, she'd have said she felt sad or nothing at all, too.

And in a rainstorm, with vague permission, through a flooded creek. . .I got her and loaded her on a our little real colored trailer.

I never looked back.

We were too late for her, and only after she was buried on my farm 2 months later, could I give her a name.

The name, Phoenix, was, in a tragic way, about her and me and so many who came after, horse and human.

It still is.

The act of going for her, when I did not want to and when I was scared of what it would mean, what kind of road it would put me on, it helped me find a spark, a something out of the nothing.

Still, for long time after that, It was mechanical. And yet, that spark grew.

It helped heal.
It created change, but it wasn't overnight.

It was this evolution of knowing if I kept at it long enough, in time, I wouldn't only want to feel things, I WOULD feel things again. I'd believe in things again.

So I did; I do.

The name Heart of Phoenix seemed a simple thing then, but it is so much more than that now.

It tells you about those behind the name.

Not just me. . .But most everyone working to save the lives of those without any power of their own to change their existence, it tells you about those who did so when they personally felt finished and broken.

Rescue is empowering in a way that little else can be. It allows fragmented people to go in, pick up the nearly destroyed and entirely revolutionize lives for the better.

In that, there is so much healing for the rescuer, I cannot relay it sufficiently.

And so it is that "Phoenix" is so very fitting to all of us in rescue, both the creatures we rescue and to us, the rescuers. . .

02/22/2025

Have you ever thought about doing endurance? Join the Daniel Boone Distance Riders for a very fun filled and extremely informative weekend at the beautiful Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Harrodsburg, KY. Learn all you need to know, go on a mock endurance ride complete with a FREE photo from a professional photographer, meet new friends and get FREE SWAG! There will be some vendors onsite and several very awesome new items have been donated to raffle off to the participants! You don't want to miss out on this opportunity !!

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02/19/2025

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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.

02/16/2025

I know my posts haven't been showing up on many feeds in the last few months due to something fishy with the Facebook algorithm, but if you were going to share ONE post of mine - this one is it.. because we have all seen horses in pain where the rider or owner may be unaware.

I know we have all seen it or experienced it: the swish of a tail under saddle.. the horse fussing with their head while being ridden.. a pinned ear, a little bit more "white of the eye" than we usually see.. a horse opening their mouth when working.. Those behaviors that make for a "less than fun" ride, and can be frustrating for the horse and rider.

So often, trainers, riders, and competitors chalk things like this up to "behavioral" issues - a training issue or attitude problem with the horse. But what if something else is going on - what if the horse is actually conveying that they are in pain? How would we know if the issue was discomfort or training?

Dr. Sue Dyson, vet researcher and developer of the "Ridden Horse Pain Ethogram," spoke with me on this week's podcast episode about what the pain ethogram is, how to use it for horses in our care, how to distinguish a potential discomfort/lameness versus a "behavioral" problem, and what we can do about it as equine professionals and riders.

You can hear the entire conversation on any podcast app under "The Humble Hoof," or directly at this link: https://thehumblehoof.com/2025/02/14/pain-indicators-in-the-ridden-horse/

Thank you to our amazing sponsors:

Cavallo Hoof Boots is offering 15% off a pair of Trek hoof boots at cavallo-inc.com with code HRN

A special shout out to Grid as New, Mud Control Grids – they are a game changer for any mud issues, big or small! – mudcontrolgrids.com

Also be sure to check out HayBoss Feeders – haybossfeeders.com – for all your slow-feeding needs. I get my Hay Boss feeders from Mountain Lane Farm in NH!

This brings tears to my eyes 🩵
02/15/2025

This brings tears to my eyes 🩵

Here's looking at you kid.. 29 days since coming into Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue, INC and 15 days since being at Black Star Stables and Arena... has been on quite the journey!

Xrays, ulcer treatment thanks Boehringer Ingelheim , deworming, castration thanks ( Justine Huffman ) and Heckler Farrier Services magic and along with quite the glow up from balanced nutrition thanks to BUCKEYE Nutrition.

All the tangles are gone from his mane and tail (thanks Kelsie Kessick for starting his mane) the caked balls of p**p are off his sides, he is enjoying lots of turnout, comes to the fence to greet people and is getting more consistent every day in handling. No doubt his progress in handling his feet will shine like the rest of him.

This kid is sure to be on the shortlist of many during the Appalachian Trainer Face Off!








An illustration of just how fast the coronet band can relax back down to where it belongs. See how ruffled the hair is a...
02/15/2025

An illustration of just how fast the coronet band can relax back down to where it belongs. See how ruffled the hair is and pushed up through the quarters in the top photo?
Same day, after I finished the other three hooves and remembered to snag an "After" photo 😅
She had gone a bit too long with that set of shoes on, and I was able to do a really nice trim on her in one round.
Another thing to pay attention to is the length of the hoof overall. Photo comparisons like this are really telling about leverage forces and how much impact it has on your horses' joints, tendons, and ligaments.
We brought the weight bearing aspect of the heel buttress back underneath the horse and eliminated that long toe, pulling everything forward and causing extra strain.

Then I had the following day off, and we went riding 🤩😉 (Mare belongs to one of my neighbors)

It's pretty incredible just how dynamic the coronet band is on a hoof. This is the difference between 6 days. One thing ...
02/15/2025

It's pretty incredible just how dynamic the coronet band is on a hoof.
This is the difference between 6 days.
One thing that really stood out to me on first meeting him was how much the quarter pressure had influenced his hairline. A smooth hairline is a good thing, so when you see this, it should be a red flag 🚩🚩 that something is wrong.

The quarters are meant to function sorta like the arch of our own foot, to be able to flex slightly upon full weight bearing. When that isn't possible, then you will often see the coronet band reflect that disfunction.
Trimming his hoof and getting his hoof proportions (center of rotation) back underneath his skeleton was the key for that first trim...
We caught him yesterday and I was able to fine tune a couple things to make even more progress with his hoof health.
This guy has good feet, they just need the proper care and trim schedule to bring them back to full capacity 😊
I am looking forward to seeing what these hooves look like in the next few trim cycles. ❤️‍🔥🩵

Address

558 Macon Kessinger Road
Munfordville, KY
42765

Opening Hours

Monday 6am - 9pm
Tuesday 6am - 9pm
Wednesday 6am - 9pm
Thursday 6am - 9pm
Friday 6am - 9pm
Saturday 6am - 9pm
Sunday 6am - 9pm

Telephone

+12705056364

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