Cindy Valoura - Cross Equine Consulting, LLC

11/12/2024

A reminder that it is not hoof dressings, glue, shoes, tar, paste, adhesives or any sort of ‘hoof armour’ that results in healthy hooves that can easily move over abrasive material such as those on the wild and free-roaming horses living naturally in the U.S. Great Basin. Get the diet, trim method, environment and lifestyle right and your horse can improve just as this one did. If you have questions about feeding any horse or pony in your care, go to AANHCP.net and explore the articles.

Photos by and trimming of Audrey (resulting in the ‘after photo’) by renowned hoof and horse care expert, author Jaime Jackson.

10/10/2024

Baby Ruth’s little baby donkey foot. She was great for her trim. ❤️

09/15/2024

What laminitis prevention looks like.

What the cure for laminitis looks like.

Keep your horse on a grass free Paddock Paradise to prevent suffering that doesn’t need to happen. To avoid vet bills that you don’t need. To avoid the costs and harms of horseshoes.

Your horse can be sound barefoot if managed according to the equine species’ needs instead of what’s cheapest and easiest momentarily for us humans.

Laminitis is one of the main reasons horses are euthanized. It’s time to take it seriously and find a place that offers species appropriate care.

We have space for a couple lucky horses. Get in touch if you’re interested in having the healthiest horse possible!

09/15/2024

08/27/2024

Horses losing weight and fat pads when they first go to a track system.

This is something very common in the track world and it can be very difficult for some owners to understand

I’m going to use Smokey as an example here

Smokey is 24 and also has cushings which in itself is a muscle wasting condition, he’s never going to look 100%.

Quite often we see the first winter as the most difficult for the laminitis rehab, they lose all their fat pads and look generally quite rough and poor.

By the 2nd winter they are usually much better.

Laminitis is a gut issue, what we see in the feet is secondary to what’s going on in the gut.

When feeding a horse we are actually feeding the bacteria in the gut, in laminitics (and most horses coming from a traditional set up) their gut biome is a mess and it can take a long long time for it to recover.

Pumping them full of feeds and supplements rarely does anything (I’ve tried).

What we’ve found to help these guys is putting them on our new triangle track over night with big holed hay nets.

The top image shows Smokey covered in fat pads as well as a very cresty hard neck.

These adipose fat pads would have been contributing to the metabolic crisis his body was in.

The only was to build muscle is by work NOT by feed alone.

Smokey is retired and won’t ever be ridden or worked again so the bottom image will probably be his body condition for the rest of his life although saying that … now he’s more comfortable on his feet we should see him putting more steps in and he may build more muscle that way.

Also his gut will continue to heal and become better and digesting and processing his forage as time goes on.

The main take away from this post is - Smokey is now free from all his fat pads, he’s lean and he’s HEALTHY.

08/15/2024

08/14/2024

08/14/2024

There is no “waiting” in a Paddock Paradise track system. And therefore, none of the anxiety and frustration that comes with being confined and isolated to a stall or small paddock. Increasingly, people are becoming aware that it is no more humane than keeping a child locked in a small room away from other children or worse, keeping a human in solitary confinement. Horses do not belong in storage.

Not only is this excruciatingly boring - and stressful - for all members of the species but simply unfair.

If they are not turned out with other equine pals in a species-appropriate environment when you are not around, it is only fair that you lose sleep worrying about them until you find a better solution. We have to do better for these animals by asking boarding facilities / livery yards to create a track or to allow you to create a track for your horses and those belonging to other like-minded people. Or lease property if you cannot become a land-owner. Share it with others so it costs less and you can take turns doing chores. Start as small as you your budget allows and let it grow/expand over time.

There is always a way. It may not happen overnight but it can happen. Best of luck! Jill

08/13/2024

08/12/2024

FYI

08/11/2024

Sweet Kit just wanted to keep his nose stuck to me for a while today. ❤️

07/13/2024

More baby Ruth ❤️ That fuzzy forehead!

07/12/2024

It’s a girl! Trudy finally had her baby last night and gave her humans a surprise this morning. I was there trimming others and got to meet the baby girl just hours old. Too cute! Congratulations Janet and Ted! Thanks for saving the lives of Trudy and her surprise baby.

07/05/2024

So if this living box is not strong and functional should we be asking the equine to be doing anything other than to recover and regain its functionality?.

06/28/2024

Everyone please join me in sending prayers and good wishes to my very pregnant rescued friend, Trudy, and her rescuer and guardian, Janet Roberts. I have been trimming Trudy for a while and she has been pregnant forever it seems. She is so kind and gentle. Baby donkey watch has begun. May all go smoothly and hopefully soon❤️🙏🏻