Emily's Equine Services LLC

09/25/2024

Daylight may be getting shorter but my work days are not!! Grateful for clients and horses that don't mind when the headlamp comes out 😅

07/25/2024

EasyCare shoes can be dyed! This was a fun application today 😍

07/12/2024

It's a scorcher out 🥵
I've had a few clients yesterday and today that had to get done (pathologies, acute issues, schedule, etc) so this is my solution to beat the heat. My clients have been awesome at squirting me down with the spray bottle while I work in front of the fan, some laughs included 🤣 the 18% humidity has made the cooling factor very efficient 👍🏻
Stay cool and safe y'all! ⛱️

07/09/2024

If you look close, there is a snazzy set of EasyCare Inc. Protective Hoofwear Speed shoes on his tootsies!! Go Louise and Johnny!

05/14/2024

Picture perfect application of a full set of EasyCare Inc. Protective Hoofwear Versa Octos shoe today 🤩

03/30/2024

Pretty excited to announce that I am now a dealer for Pure Sole Hoof Products! I stumbled across this brand not too long ago and I was incredibly impressed with their ingredients, and when I tried it I found an equally impressive performance against thrush.

Talk to me for any length of time and you'll know that I am a**l about preventing and treating thrush and the HUGE impact that will have on hoof health. I strongly believe that any thrush products that stain purple or green are caustic and will eat at live tissue as well. While they can kill the thrush with use, they however also kill live tissue and I never see healthy regrowth happen after use.

I think of it this way, if you wouldn't want to put a thrush treatment on your own split heel or athletes foot, then why put it in on your animal an area that is often eaten down to mere millimeters away from soft, sensitive tissues??

I currently have Pure Sole Hoof Mud and Thrush Dust available for my clients to purchase, both products I would readily use on my own body. I am trying out some other products they have before I offer them as well.

Interested? Shoot me a message or ask me about this at our next trimming appointment ☺️

03/16/2024

Full set today on a gorgeous Appaloosa gelding! One thing he struggles with is low palmar angles causing a broken back hoof-pastern angle, so this shoeing package utilized 2.5° wedges all around to correct alignment. The goal here was to get the bony column aligned, which will lead to better heel growth and support, sole growth, caudal support, and a functioning, healthy foot.

Best part today was that he happily trotted off after snoozing through his appointment 🥰

Products used:
EasyCare Inc. Protective Hoofwear's Versa Light Glue in Front and Hind patterns.
Hoof MD Fast Set Acrylic adhesive.
Equine Digit Support System, Inc.'s Soft impression material (DIM).
Pure Sole Hoof Products's Hoof Mud for thrush prevention.

Interested in seeing what a progressive shoeing package can do for your horse? I am taking clients and would love to discuss the benefits of glue-on shoeing with you!

03/08/2024

Check out this glow-up?
Jack has gone from long toes, broken back angles to a functioning foot 😍
This was achieved using the EasyCare Inc. Protective Hoofwear Versa shoe line that I modified by grinding a shallow wedge and additional breakover. Jack's owner says that he is feeling better than ever. Excited to see how he progresses this next year!

Also a big thank you to my mentor Epona who got Jack started on his journey and then connected his owner and I, and for the ongoing support, knowledge and feedback!

03/07/2024

Today I worked on a new client horse, I was there to trim his feet... This horse was absolutely not about to let me pick up his front feet. He either had them firmly planted, or would aggressively paw if I did get the foot off the ground. Apparently a previous farrier had decided it would be a good idea to tie a rope to this horse's front foot, and then hoist the foot up and run the rope over his back to either a helper or a fence.... 😳😩😭

No wonder this poor soul didn't want anything to do with me trimming his feet.

With the help of his owner, and lots of cookies, we got him to let me pick his foot up and run a rasp over it. We called it good there, and I'll go back every 3 weeks for a training/trim session. Try and undo this past trauma and get him to realize that getting his feet trimmed is a happy time.

This just resonated so strongly tonight with me.

And I promise, cross my heart, hope to die, to all my current and future clients, that I will never, ever, EVER force your horse to let me trim their feet. Hoof care is a partnership exercise, one built in trust, and I will do everything possible to make the trim for your horse a positive time.

Picture of my derpy Warmblood baby for tax, ain't he cute?

02/06/2024

One of my clients shared this, and it really struck me. I don't think I've ever heard my approach to working with horses summed up so well. Especially horses that are shut down, withdrawn, or "frozen" because they've been forced into helplessness. Not always intentionally done, either. It's always so emotionally thrilling to me to see the light and curiosity come back into their eyes when you reward the tiniest try. When they realize that their efforts are seen, that's when you start to see a true connection to your horse. And then the results start to come.

01/18/2024

A neat comparison of the improvements I've made on a hind foot of a mare with DSLD. Her weight bearing surface has come back under her limb and the heel is starting to stand up and become a functional weight bearing surface. I'm so excited for this horse! She's become noticeably easier to work on as well as her comfort level increases 😊

12/31/2023

An incredibly satisfying frog shed from a Percheron mare. Doesn't look like it but her feet were dinner plate sized!!

(Side note, yes I will trim drafts but only if they have good manners and know how to stand and hold their own feet.)

12/08/2023

I have some of the cutest clients! How can you not love this face? Bonus, he was perfect for getting his pedicure done ☺️

11/23/2023

Happy Thanksgiving to all my wonderful clients!! I am so grateful and appreciative of each and every horse and human 🙏🏻 🧡

11/20/2023

I'm terrible about updating my page 😆, but there have been lots of shoes I've been putting on lately! The nice thing about composite shoes is how customizable they are. This mare goes better in a more flexible heel, so I cut a keyhole in the back to allow more independent heel movement. Mesh grid to then hold in a soft DIM packing for frog and sole support.

10/14/2023

Eclipse lesson today! Was fun to take some time with my student, Sophie, to check out the moon passing in front of the sun.

09/14/2023

Pretty exciting news! I have been working this year on learning how to set and apply composite glue on shoes and have taken on several clients over the summer. This has been such a fun journey and I'm so pumped to add this to my skill set. Currently I am working primarily with the EasyCare Inc shoes line which has several versatile options. Reach out if you would like more information or to discuss if your horse would be a good candidate. These have benefits both for recreational and competitive riding as well as for therapeutic and rehab cases.

08/09/2023

Training thought 🤔 of the day:
A hot, spooky horse is a painful horse.
Not to be confused with sensitive and unconfident/scared. Although the two flirt a fine line of difference at times.

Cute ponies for bonus points 😊

05/22/2023

A pretty spectacular transformation on an overgrown/laminitic pony I have been working with this year!! When I first met Popcorn he was having a hard time balancing on his stilts for feet, his little tootsies are now balanced and an appropriate length and the massive laminar wedge is gone. I trimmed him every 2 weeks for two months in order to get his balance fixed, and he's now on a regular trim cycle with his pasture mate.

05/18/2023

Some wonderful words of wisdom

Inconvenienced
Kathleen Beckham

Years ago, I had a baby horse, and when he was about 18 months old, I had the opportunity to have an equine chiropractor work on him. He was wiggly and squirrelly, and I apologized to the chiropractor for that. “That’s okay,” she said, “Little babies haven’t learned how to be inconvenienced yet.”

That was big for me. So big. “Inconvenienced.” I hadn’t thought of that before, but it was the perfect word for it. We don’t want our horse to tolerate being hurt, or being treated unfairly, but he dang sure needs to be able to be inconvenienced.

From that day forward, “being inconvenienced” became a more thoughtful part of my horse work. I started to see some of the “issues” students were having with their horses as having to do with the horse’s inability to be “inconvenienced” without becoming very anxious. I also saw the stress that some of my students experienced when they knew they were going to inconvenience their horses. It turned out it was, indeed, a “thing.”

The ability to be inconvenienced and be resilient about it, it’s a skill. It’s a skill for people, it’s a skill in dogs, and it’s a skill in horses. It’s a skill that needs to be purposefully taught, and then carefully developed and expanded over time. It should be part of any training process for horses, because it’s something that they don’t necessarily come “from the factory” with, and it’s something they really need to succeed in the human world we insist they live in.

For a horse, “being inconvenienced” can be things like being asked to work while other horses are eating, standing tied, not being fed first, being turned out or brought in a “non-preferred” order, standing next to strange horses and not being allowed to socialize, having their feet picked up, going down the trail while other horses speed by, having veterinary work done, getting in a trailer or other small space, not being allowed to graze while working… I think you get the picture. Once I started thinking about my horse being “inconvenienced,” I saw it everywhere. Gosh, a LOT of a horse’s life in the human world is inconvenience. I also started to see how much stress a horse who had not learned to be resilient about being inconvenienced could experience.

It’s not always possible to remove the inconveniences in our horses’ lives, and I’m not sure that’s the way to go anyway. A horse who is resilient about being inconvenienced develops many other positive qualities because of his ability to be inconvenienced. He learns to self-soothe, he learns to think before he reacts. He learns patience and he learns to be flexible. He learns not to get stuck in patterns and expectations. He learns to be softer and more thoughtful. He learns to be calmer and quieter.

A horse who develops the ability to be inconvenienced as a principle of his training/life is less likely to be herdbound, gate sour or barn sour. They’re more likely to trailer load easily, to tie quietly and to learn whatever we are trying to teach them. It’s kind of the “secret sauce” of horse training, if you know about it.

Being inconvenienced might start very small. The first time one of our youngsters is inconvenienced might be the first time we have him on a lead rope and he wants to go left and I want to go right. Or he wants to eat grass and I want to take him for a walk or take him over to get his feet trimmed. So it might start very small at first. But I’m aware of it. I’m aware of when he’s inconvenienced, and I’m aware of how much inconvenience he’s able to take, for his stage of development. I am carefully and thoughtfully, methodically building his “fitness” to be inconvenienced.

Those little, fleeting inconveniences will turn into bigger ones eventually, like being left outside or in the barn by himself, or standing tied to the trailer all day, or working in the rain, or working while the farm is being fed. Those are much bigger inconveniences than being asked to turn left when you want to turn right. A working horse, or a horse we want to be able to take places and do things with, he’s really got to be able to be inconvenienced. That makes him much safer and more fun to be with.

Being inconvenienced is also about a horse being practiced at changing his mind. So he can practice thinking about one thing (“I want to go sniff that horse over there”) and change what he’s thinking about (“Hey horse, let’s go over here, away from that horse, and do a stop/back/bring our front end around.”). To do that, we have to be able to decipher what our horse is thinking about, and then become proficient at causing him to change his thoughts. Horses who can’t change their thoughts do not deal with inconvenience very well, while horses who are good at changing their thoughts will be much better at being inconvenienced.

This is different from “desensitization,” and it’s not about getting the horse “shut down. It’s not about hurting him, or flooding him, or setting him up to fail. It is literally about building the horse’s mental flexibility, by degrees. It’s methodical and progressive. It’s sometimes a delicate balance, and it can be something that takes some awareness and skill on the human’s part. It’s no different than building a horse’s physical fitness and abilities, it’s about choosing the right size steps for that horse’s fitness level.

A horse whose ability to be inconvenienced has been well-developed will be quieter, less anxious, less ulcery, and more physically and mentally balanced. They will have more brain-space available for things of our choosing.

This ability to be inconvenienced, it’s a gift to the horse. It’s a gift to him, so he doesn’t have to suffer the unnecessary stress and anxiety caused by his lack of mental flexibility. Done mindfully, it doesn’t have to be scary or dangerous. And done earlier, it’s easier. And older horse who has never been inconvenienced, that’s going to be more difficult than a younger horse with no preconceived ideas about things.

At the end of the day, this is a practical thing. We choose to have our horses live in our human world, so if they can be inconvenienced, that makes living in our world a lot easier for them. It’s a gift, not a burden to them.

Coming soon... The Attention Course: an online learning opportunity that will help you get, keep and direct your horse’s attention (thought), and in the process, become worthy of it. This is part of being inconvenienced, because it is not always convenient for our horse to pay attention to us (or for us to have to ask for his attention). If you’d like to be eligible for a discount on The Attention Course when it goes live soon, sign up for your discount here: https://www.ethosequine.com/courses

04/14/2023

God bless the saintly old lesson ponies who will stand like a statue and happily eat hay from a net while a small person drags milk crates around in the dirt to groom them better 🥰❤️

04/11/2023

Happy kid and the best mare in the world!! Spring-like weather today and it's a pleasure to be outside teaching lessons ☀️🌷. Contact me if you want to get your kiddo (or you! We are all kids at heart, right?) signed up for lessons. I teach all ages, no pressure to show, just come enjoy horses and learn in a low key, relaxed environment ☺️

03/17/2023

Check out the improvement that fixing balance can make on posture!
These photos were taken only one hour apart. This sweet mare was very uncomfortable with long toes and shallow heels. She was having trouble picking up her hind feet due to the excessive strain on her support structures. Corrected her balance via an appropriate trim and she was instantly more comfortable, showing licking, chewing, eye blinking and a marked improvement in her gait and stance. She also was picking up her hind feet for me with ease 🙌🏼

01/19/2023

I've been neglecting my social media! Will try to get things updated more often this year. I'm staying busy, lots of lessons, trims and training rides on my schedule... When it's warm enough anyway, sitting inside enjoying a snow day today. Nelly here, my newest lesson pony, was a frosty one the other morning after dense fog ❄️

10/27/2022

Miss Tank is up for a new 🏠, please write me a 📨 for details 😊 incredibly sweet girl who aims to please!