Namaste Barefoot Trimming

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United States
Marquette, MI
Namaste Barefoot Trimming

Compassionate care for rehab cases and performance animals. Barefoot trims and composite shoeing

12/01/2025

This is Arie, a really nice young horse whose feet have come a long way. She has long pasterns and is also growing like a w**d, which led to some weird quarter flares and predisposed her to long toes and low heels. However when I first tried to correct this, she lacked the vertical depth and soft tissue development to comfortably bring her toes back. So I listened to her and worked more at her comfort level, and her feet went through some ugly duckling stages which led to some great conversations with her owner. Trusting the process is often necessary with hoofcare but I don't expect blind trust, owners have a right to know what I'm doing with their horses and why.

These photo collages are from her last 2 trims, in the first one she was overdue (about 8 weeks) however she finally had enough hoof under her to significantly bring her toes back. She was comfortable with this correction and she maintained it very well on her normal cycle (around 5 weeks or so this time of year).

Swipe for a nice picture of Arie learning to be an awesome trail horse, and crunching rocks barefoot 😊

11/30/2025

Just a little life update, I have been sick for the past 2 weeks, I caught a cold and developed complications including pneumonia. I did end up rescheduling a week's worth of clients and am still working on getting caught back up. I appreciated everyone's patience and understanding with me during this time, and the horses have been really lovely to work on. It's amazing how perceptive they are, they seem to sense that I'm not at 100% and stand extra still to help me out.

11/22/2025

The top photo shows a typical compensatory posture for Petra, the bottom photo was taken a few minutes after applying glue ons to her fronts. This is a moment in time and she won't necessarily hold this improved posture consistently right away, but the fact that she is offering it is a positive sign. She was also immediately more comfortable on hard surfaces and gravel.

11/11/2025

Zero has been doing really well in his EasyCare Speeds and making progress growing out some chronic infections that would cause his toes to painfully break off. Thanks to veterinary assistance we have found the right combination of meds to keep him relaxed for farrier appointments which has also been a struggle over the years. Today he was perfect and I was even able to resect a stubborn crack on his hind foot that turned out to be pretty deep and infected. So satisfying!

11/05/2025

Progress on a canker case (I will share a video in the comments from when the canker was first discovered).

Dove here has had quite a history of hoof problems and this summer her frogs began to present with a soft, squishy texture. Initially we treated them for thrush but upon my next visit it was clear that what we were dealing with was far from routine. With veterinary intervention, a dedicated owner providing daily care and a lot of brainstorming, Dove is feeling much better now.

Canker is a painful condition that typically invades the soft tissues first but can spread to other parts of the hoof. The cause is unknown but I believe there is a circulatory component in many cases including this one. Dove has contracted heels and tends to retain dead sole, essentially her hoof function has been compromised over time and I believe this contributed to her developing canker among some of the other hoof problems she has suffered from. The right front pictured was her worst foot, but she did ultimately develop canker in all four.

Treatment of canker involves applying a medicated powder and keeping the feet clean, dry, and wrapped in a boot, which unfortunately also leads to retention of dead material and a lack of circulation. Thankfully Dove's owner stepped up to the plate and learned to rasp her hooves in between appointments to simulate the wear she was lacking. This worked incredibly well and Dove is now exfoliating sole again and regaining her natural concavity. The canker has cleared up in 3 out of 4 feet (the last foot to develop it is still being treated for a few more weeks) and going forward we will continue trimming to encourage soft tissue development and her owner is also making modifications to her pen to encourage movement.

11/04/2025

EasyCare Speeds after 6 weeks. These particular shoes have lasted through multiple resets. This horse had one more reset with previously worn shoes today and has a fresh pair of kicks set aside for him in the spring!

11/02/2025

Carlos' foot is just about grown out! With the wet weather coming I opted to do a Hoof Armor application on this foot. True to donkey form, he didn't like the feeling of the epoxy, but was totally fine with the small torch I used to speed up the curing process 😆

10/31/2025

22 months of rehab work on Brownie, truly an incredible glow up from the inside out that I am so proud to have facilitated the hoof care for.

We recently got radiographs of her fronts and as suspected her RF does have significant bone loss. I didn't change much with her trim but was able to fine tune her balance a bit. These small adjustments caused her to immediately square up her fronts and she fully loaded her RF, really sinking into it, yawning and slow blinking. Then she took a nap for about 20 minutes "downloading" her new and improved posture.

This pony who was barely mobile when we started has always gotten around well through her rehab, but this really opened my eyes to how significant a small correction can be.

Her foot held the corrections beautifully and her improved loading has opened up her chronically contracted heels and allowed the frog to start expanding. I would say at this point she is at true maintenance. She has been and will remain on a 5 week cycle.

10/30/2025

Shire horse currently on a 3 week trim cycle. He was religiously on a 4 week cycle for years but recently I found that my trims were not keeping up with his growth rate. When growth far exceeds wear (or trimming intervention) not only is it detrimental to the hoof capsule, it also makes it harder or sometimes impossible to tell if the trimming corrections are helping or hindering. I put a lot of thought and care into tailoring trim cycles for each horse and sometimes we have to adjust things. I'm very glad that we were able to shorten this cycle and allow for fine tuning rather than just chasing distortion.

10/27/2025

The Humble Hoof Podiatry Clinic day 2, lectures by Pat Reilly and Ula Krzanowska. I focused my practical demo time on Ula's trimming and am leaving with new tools and techniques to evaluate and trim rotational deformities. So much that I still have to fully absorb, process and learn to apply I the real world but I am so glad for this experience.

10/25/2025

The Humble Hoof Podiatry Clinic day 1, an amazing day of lectures and demos by Dr Jenny Hagen and Celeste Lazaris

10/23/2025

Lots of progress in 2 4 week trim cycles for these little elderly donkeys. Lots of old compromised wall to grow down yet and I may need to open up more infection pockets as it grows out, but already seeing improved lamina connection and healthier frogs and soles.

Address

Marquette, MI

Telephone

+19062040771

Website

http://www.namastebarefoottrimming.com/

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