Hometown Hoofcare

06/21/2025

It's easy to get hyper focused on the "fixing" - a stream of consciousness that can feel endless and heavy.

Sometimes I need to get out of nature's way.

Trim/shoe 'em like you ride 'em. Set them up and then get out of their way.

I want to take more time to appreciate how beautiful hooves are for simply what they are, imperfections and all.

06/21/2025

If it's going on a horse's foot, it should be pretty.

06/20/2025

Pretty exciting 🤩

Renegades going out to hit the trail!

If you know me, you probably know which ones I would pick for my personal horse.

06/20/2025

Matchy Freedoms because why not?

06/20/2025

This.

I was listening to a hoof podcast recently. Pete Ramey was talking about some of the boundaries he sets with his clients. He said -- to paraphrase -- if the client won't address the diet and management then he is not going to waste his time or their money because there are cheaper farriers they can fail with. I've been thinking about that a lot this week.

By and large, my clients are awesome. I am grateful for every one of them and I love getting to know them and their horses. Over the years, I have become more willing to walk away when a client is not ready to hear whatever it is. Situations are complex. I believe people do their best most of the time. I'm not always right, which is why I am a huge advocate for getting the vet involved when needed, and also for working as a team with the vet.

Addressing nutrition is tough, especially when clients have been given incorrect information. It's also really hard when horses are sugar sensitive or lacking in essential nutrition and owners don't want to implement the changes required for the horse's welfare.

Clients can get really stuck on horses needing grass, when unfortunately grass can be very harmful to horses with metabolic issues. Sometimes all it takes is the grass the horse can reach through the paddock fence, if the metabolic issue is serious enough. Hand grazing can also be enough to push a horse over the edge if they are already at the edge. What I usually say to clients who tell me that it's no life for the horse without grass is this: if the horse has a metabolic issue and you give them grass, you need to be ready to go through many months of potentially painful laminitis rehab or you need to prepare yourself to put them down if they founder. As horse owners, we all need to weigh these options and consider each horse's situation. The answer may be different for different animals. Laminitis is not necessarily a death sentence. In fact it is often possible to achieve a complete recovery from laminitis! But the horse owner has to be willing to implement the changes required. Of course it is ideal to make these changes before the horse founders, but it's an imperfect world.

Sugar sensitive horses require a diet that is low in starches and sugars. This means tested hay, careful selection of supplements, care taken around treats and extra feeds, etc. Generally it also means no grass or very restricted grass. Honestly, in my opinion, given all of the horses I have seen and worked on who have laminitis, grass is not worth the risk for a sugar sensitive horse. There are lots of ways to enrich their lives that do not involve playing Russian roulette with pasture induced laminitis.

The tougher cases for me are the ones where the horse suffers with low-grade laminitis but does not necessarily rotate or end up in severe pain. I struggle to call this sub clinical laminitis because there are symptoms! In these cases, it can be even tougher to get clients on board with making management changes, because the issue is chronic and less severe than acute laminitis with rotation so it is easier to sweep under the rug for the horse owner. Horses with this sort of low grade laminitis tend to have more subtle signs, such as:

- persistent flaring / capsular rotation
- poor hoof quality
- low grade foot soreness that tends to worsen after trims/shoeing
- thin soles
- Persistently underrun heels on most or all feet that will not correct with added heel and/or sole support
- Heels that don't seem to grow (because the horse is weighting the heel too much because they are avoiding the painful toes)
- cracks and/or seedy toe and white line disease (though these also happen independently of laminitis)
- exaggerated heel first landings, not the healthy type
- Most or all of these issues will often worsen in the summer months when the horse is on grass (or in the case of Cushings/PPID in late summer / early fall)
- slow hoof growth of poor quality, especially in Cushings horses who are not treated with Prascend/Pergolide. No you cannot treat Cushings with diet alone.

Not every nutritional issue is related to sugars. I also see horses suffering with a lack of sufficient protein, outright lack of calories can also be an issue in some cases, zinc and copper deficiencies, selenium deficiency in this area is also significant. It is not sufficient to just feed hay. Most horses do require mineral and vitamin supplementation in order to meet their basic needs. Horses that are lacking in these vitamins and minerals tend to have poor hoof quality, slow growth, I have seen peeling walls, cracking, feet that lack structural integrity without a huge amount of support, feet that wear excessively. I have told more than one client that they can either pay for a quality supplement or they can pay me for all of the extra support I will have to add to their shoe packages to keep their horses feet from collapsing. Even with that extra support these cases tend to be a losing battle until clients get on board with nutrition and management.

Again, I am reminded of what Pete Ramey said in that podcast: there are cheaper farriers you can fail with. I have a limited amount of time and although making money matters to me because that's how life works, there are much easier ways to make money. I do this job because I want to solve puzzles and help horses, so if the owner is not on board, I won't fight it. I used to, but I won't do it anymore, because it is a waste of energy that can be better spent elsewhere. I would prefer to spend my time solving puzzles where all of the pieces are available to me because that is the way I can help the most horses and solve the most puzzles ⭐️

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The usual commenting policy applies on this article. Honest questions and curious, open commentary are always welcome. You don't have to agree with me to have a safe place here to share your thoughts. You do, however, have to share them respectfully if you would like to continue to be welcome here. Snark of any description will not be tolerated and will result in an immediate delete and ban. Thank you 😊

I will also add that comments that promote harmful and incorrect information about laminitis will be deleted. There is a lot of misinformation going around right now and I don't want to turn this post into a platform for that misinformation because that misinformation is harming horses and I do not want that on my conscience. I have already deleted some of those comments and I will continue to do so. The fact that laminitis can be and most often is caused by metabolic disfunction is not up for debate here. There is a fine line between encouraging open discussion and letting my page turn into a circus.
Thanks 😊

06/19/2025

One thing I would argue with is that angles DO matter in the sense of boney column alignment.

06/19/2025

Big shout out to Sam Erdman, who is a horse trainer by profession, started off as a client, and then decided she wanted to learn to trim her own herd. Well, Sam is wicked smart, handy, and determined, and dedicated herself in full force. Now, she has her own trimming clientele and offers a unique "train and trim" service that makes other farriers' jobs a heck of a lot easier (plus, trimming the feet a little a time, very frequently, results in insanely fast, amazing results). I don't know that there is a horse Sam and I haven't been able to get trimmed together and there are a couple still on my books that I literally cannot get done without her. 100°+ temps, long work days into the night, keeping me alive with reminders to take care of myself when I'm hyper focused, pathologic cement feet, harvesting cadaver limbs for educational dissections, and even brainstorming how to make my crazy farrier/mom schedule work... That's a good friend! My hope is that anyone I help teach becomes better than I am, and I think Sam is well on her way. This photo was an accident, and I'm not mad about it.

06/18/2025

Louie failed his last farrier appointment!!
Impressive 30 day digital cushion deterioration!

Do you document ?
We do
His feet have actually been deteriorating for a few months but we were not paying attention because clinically he seemed to be doing well. I just ‘assumed’ the feet were ‘ok’

Why the deterioration?

I have a theory that I will put into practice but ultimately I feel he is too ‘heavy’ for his feet. They cannot support him if the conditions become less than ideal or he is out of balance and he starts to crush them.

The fix ?

I usually work multiple angles

Boots and maybe a few months of glue ons or some composite package to provide support yet maintain flexibility
Therapy to the legs and feet - shockwave and manual
Re visit nutrition

It can be super frustrating losing ground with feet ! But I have come to appreciate there is a lot more possibility for change and restoration of structures than I was taught and there can be a learning curve to managing horses barefoot - patience and faith in nature 💫😊

06/16/2025

Individuals

06/15/2025

I hold my tongue. A lot.

It's a fine balance between seeing the writing on the wall and upsetting a client in a business that's reliant on referrals, and there are mouths to feed.

I see the signs. Constantly. Every time. I've never been wrong. They're all around. I'm not special. Most of us farriers see them.

Most clients think that they can handle it.

That I won't sound controlling or critical.

That they won't take it personally.

That they'll trust that I'm current on the latest research.

But it's hard hearing that your horse is obese.

It's hard hearing that once a laminitic episode occurs, there is permanent damage to the lamina and often the bone if it's gone on long enough.

It's hard to hear that you need to change what you're doing.

That lamintis is a medical emergency.

That you don't have time to see if the herbal route works first.

That their diet isn't balanced appropriately to support the feet because you're hooked on the marketing or what your neighbor is feeding.

That you haven't identified the trigger for your horse's lamintis or they wouldn't still be having episodes.

That you're killing them with food and lack of appropriate treatments.

That you're going to have to manage ice, drugs, diet, footing, exercise, weight, vet appointments, farrier appointments, and boots or shoes (often times both depending on the stage). And it's a long haul.

That you have to set aside your personal beliefs on pharmaceuticals for the sake of your horse.

That the pound of rice bran that you're feeding that you thought was "no big deal", IS.

That just changing the diet isn't enough.

That you're going to need to learn about the seasonal rise and be prepared for it.

Believing that stress from not eating constantly will kill them, but laminitis and obesity won't, because it will.

That you have to educate yourself enough to advocate for your horse when vets are taking the "wait and see approach".

That your farrier is only part of the equation. It doesn't matter what we do to or put on the feet if the trigger isn't identified, whether that's something you're feeding, obesity, or uncontrolled metabolic disorder.

That your horse may need hoof protection, whether that falls in line with your preference or not.

That a mostly stalled horse is not likely to be happy or have healthy hooves.

That having a laminitic horse is expensive.

That if any one of the factors that come into play are not managed appropriately, my hands are tied. No one wins.

That you have to set aside your personal opinions on someone and need to work with a different vet.

That ultimately, your horse recovering from laminitis is YOU.

It's hard to take radical accountability.

Often, I day dream about going to vet school just so clients will take me seriously, because the truth? I'm sick of seeing horses suffer when there is a way to help. I'm tired of caring more.

Laminitis is the collective failure of the horse's care team.

And for the clients who believed me... The most immeasurable thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Imagine you're standing right on the edge of a cliff.
There is no breeze.
The sky is calm.
The footing underneath your feet feels stable.
You could exist in this time and space for a few moments or for a long time.
But remember, you're right at the edge.

A few clouds roll in.
Eventually, a slight wind picks up.
You can see the tops of trees dancing on the ridge across from you.
You can see the rain coming but it's still far off.
You shift your weight and a few pebbles roll over the edge.
You lean forward to see where they landed and

Suddenly your foot slips, the ground disappearing from underneath you and you're falling.

Such is laminitis and founder.
The warning signs are there.
But do you feel the crash coming?
Your horse could be on the edge of that cliff for weeks, months, or years.
But they're still on the edge and it only takes one small shift, one minor transition to set the fall in motion.

I worry that I have been too nice, that I've held people's hands too much for too long when it comes to this. The warning signs are obvious to me so I do my best to educate people. No professional enjoys sounding like a broken record, having the same conversations over and over again. Ultimately, it's in the owners hands to make decisions for their horse.

But unless you've been through a founder episode before, you likely don't know how painful they are - for everyone involved.

06/11/2025