01/18/2025
What is a Good Teacher?
Now, I am a mentor for my hoofcare organization, but I know I’m not the best hoofcare teacher. I have a lot to learn about teaching about hooves - as much as I have to continue to learn about hooves themselves! But I do have a Master’s Degree in Education, so this topic is a bit close to my heart.
In the hoofcare world, like most places, there are a lot of strong opinions.
When we are passionate about something, that can make us see things a bit more “black and white” than they really are in reality.
The best teachers and mentors I have had have been those that have nudged me to consider something different when I was so rigid in my thinking. Those that played a little bit of Devil’s Advocate or pushed me to think outside of the box.
And in terms of my mentors pushing me to not be so “rigid” in my hoofcare thinking, the more hoof rehab cases I saw, the more I realized that every single horse is an individual, and therefore there is no “one size fits all” in hoof rehab cases.
Yes, most rehab cases improve with the tenets of diet, movement, and good hoofcare- and of course, if you’re able to influence their daily management a bit more, “friends, forage, freedom.” But the more we see, the more we realize that some cases need some individual extra support and troubleshooting to become sound.
For example, 90% of laminitis is endocrinopathic - or caused by a metabolic disorder. When I first started in hoof rehab, every case I saw was metabolic, and therefore turned around fairly rapidly with the proper management, so I thought laminitis cases were pretty easy! Change the diet, check bloodwork, get them moving, get a proper trim and use therapy boots and they seemed to come sound quickly and even grow out rotation and reverse distal descent.
….And then I met my first SIRS (“Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome”) laminitis case who had me staying awake at night trying to find out how to stop his feet from completely falling apart. Because with SIRS laminitis, the circulating toxins are the enemy, and diet and metabolic management does nothing.
And once we figured him out, I had a supporting limb laminitis case that threw us all for a loop. Because with supporting limb laminitis, the inability to offweight the opposing limb of a severe injury leads to a lack of circulation/perfusion in that foot that causes laminitis. They NEED to move to prevent this, but often can’t due to intense pain.. a broken bone, a bad tendon tear, etc. The treatment for the injury was contraindicated for the treatment of the laminitis. It took a team and quite a while, but we got that case back to comfort - but it wasn’t just diet or trim or metabolic management.
And I so appreciated those mentors and teachers during those times who reminded me that I didn’t have all the answers and there’s always more to learn. My business name may be The “Humble” Hoof, but I’m not immune to letting my pride creep in when it comes to what I’m passionate about. We all can. What I learned from the amazing people who came alongside me and still walk with me in this hoofcare learning journey is that I don’t want to assume I have all the answers, or put others down or shame others for doing something differently than I do, because I haven’t seen every single case or every horse, and will always have more to learn.
Of course- a good teacher in this industry also educates on how to discern when something is helping or hurting, how to apply deductive and inductive reasoning, and teaches to continually pursue further education and latest research to make sure we are helping the horse to the best of our abilities.
And one thing I know for certain, no student effectively changes their mind through angry arguments, bullying, shaming, or constant aggressive challenging. The best growth I’ve seen in the hoofcare world has been through thoughtful conversations, collaborations, looking at cases together, and coming together with a common goal: to help the horse. Because (and I say this all the time) - no one wakes up in the morning thinking “man, I can’t wait to cripple some horses today.” We do the best we can with the knowledge we have at the time.
And on this journey, good teachers make it possible to change your position without shame.
Because no one ever knows it all.
