My name is Leah and I am a barefoot hoof care provider in the Kansas City area. My focus is on compassionate, animal focused barefoot hoof care.
https://fb.watch/iANIPV0Lql/?mibextid=v7YzmG
Check out Greenwalt Equine’s virtual classes on positive reinforcement training. I will be helping with the hoof handling class!
These would be great introductory classes if you are curious what positive reinforcement training is and how it might benefit you and your equine.
Finally got around to jumping on the hoof trimming social media bandwagon with a trim video 😂 more to come!
I’m so thankful for how this business has grown and the absolute amazing people and animals I’ve met along the way. After all, it’s all about the animals ❤️
16 Likes, 1 Comments - Leah Swindler () on Instagram: "My side gig with hoof trimming is growing more than I could have ever imagined. And I love the people and animals I meet. Some days are rough, physically and mentally, but I’m so grateful for every bit of it."
Please take a moment to vote for Emmiley. She and her husband want to start a vet equine therapy program and are wonderful people.
Who will win $25,000, a spread in STAR Magazine, and VIP access to the hottest events in country? You decide!
This is why I do this. A few weeks ago I met with a new client for the first time. The story was the one I hear most often. They’ve been looking for a farrier and can’t find anyone to call them back or show up, or else the farrier was super rough in how they handled their donkey.
Met this SUPER sweet little guy with very overgrown hooves. As per my usual I forgot to take “after” pics but my client sent me some this weekend and reported that he’s laying down less, moving more and even did a short gallop!
The hooves aren’t quite where I want them but we had a great first trim with zero restraint, and I stopped when I could tell he was getting tired from trying to stand on sore hooves. Our next trim is at the end of the month and I bet I’ll be able to take much more off now that he’s more comfortable. ❤️🥰
This 100%! Working with your animals to get them comfortable being handled not only keeps me safe and them less stressed, but it enables me to focus on the hoof and their natural posture, rather than hanging on or doing a dance around flying hooves!
There are a million things I think about when considering a trim for a horse.
Their movement, diet, posture, environment, conformation, past injuries, internal pathology, metabolic issues, their comfort level, their job expectations, hoof wear patterns, what their hoof distortion/pathology is suggesting, etc.
My focus when assessing these becomes giving the horse the best trim possible based on all those factors. Sometimes that means putting the foot down for a second look mid-trim, seeing how they adjust their stance and weightbearing, letting the foot "settle' under weightbearing before making a small change, or watching them move again to see changes in biomechanics or loading, the list goes on.
I can't stress this enough: when horses stand well - meaning they willingly pick their feet up, and hold them up comfortably for extended periods of time - it makes my job exponentially easier.. but not only that, the horse receives a more considerate trim.
If we are spending most of the hoofcare appointment focusing on how the horse stands - or isn't standing - to have its feet done, our focus shifts away from the minute details of the hoof and body and movement that might affect our trim, and instead is centered on keeping ourselves safe and the horse comfortable enough just to finish the trim.
There is a marked difference between giving the best trim possible for that horse's situation, and "making sure we just finish the trim."
Sometimes, for a horse that is unable to stand well, all it takes to make hoofcare appointments easier is the owner working in between trims, picking up the feet and holding them up comfortably. Sometimes, professional training help may be needed. And of course, there's always the possibility of a pain factor that requires some veterinary diagnostics and intervention.
If you're wondering if your hoofcare provider is giving your horse the best trim possible, one question to add into the mix is - is your horse standing as comfortably and willingly as possible? If not, then some work on that might make a drastic difference in the trim outcome.
For those who might need more help with how their horses stand for the farrier, I have two podcast episodes on this topic:
Making Hoofcare Appointments a Positive Experience with Adele Shaw:
https://thehumblehoof.libsyn.com/making-hoofcare-a-positive-experience-with-adele-shaw
Farrier Friendly with Kristin Thornberry:
https://thehumblehoof.libsyn.com/farrier-friendly-how-to-support-your-horse-to-stand-well-for-the-farrier-with-kristin-thornberry
Pictured is a horse who stands immaculately for her trim 🥰
Happiness is trimmed donkey hooves 🥰
I love this little herd. One is my former first donkey, one a client had to rehome and I knew she would fit in perfectly, and two are just over a year old and this was their second ever trim. We are still working with their fifth guy on being brave, it’s probably going to be a long time before I can get to his hooves but we will get him there. You can just see how happy this herd is!
Shared by a farrier friend, originally posted on a private farrier group. While I don’t shoe, I do drive a lot, and the cost of replacing equipment such as rasps does add up. But my worst fear is a client stops using my services due to pricing and then the animal suffers.
"Farrier pricing is generally downstream to inflation. Costs go up and the farrier absorbs the difference for some time before he or she comes to the realization that the expense has risen significantly. Many of us have experienced a discomfort and reluctance to tackle these conversations with owners and we allow our pricing model to become outdated. By the time we convince ourselves that we must raise our prices we raise them by an increment that does not make up for our loss. Most of us are inherently empathetic towards owners we've grown fond of and we take the bullet for them. We can always work harder right? We're tough. So many of us seem to be a little late to the party when we do raise our rates. The current fuel situation has the potential to run a good number of farriers out of business. Fuel is either our largest or second largest expense depending on the logistics of one's practice. With the mileage I drive I'm currently spending about 500.00 a week in diesel and I'm paying about 165 a week in gasoline for my wife's SUV to run around and do the necessary chauffeur duties of a mom. That is nearly 700.00 a week at the pump. But fuel prices affect supply costs as well. Supply costs are up 30% for farriers this year and groceries are up 25%. Stay with me here...... so consider how many of us were well overdue for a price increase before this Biden economy hit. If we were needing to increase our rates by 20% now we suddenly find ourselves in a situation in which that 20% is 60%. As a horse owner maybe you've grown accustomed to paying say 140.00 for shoes and hell you think that is high, you remember when it was 50 bucks. How are you going to respond when your farrier says it now has to be 240.00? A hundred dollar increase!!!??? Are you f-ing kidding me? That is the dilemma staring at us farriers as we continue to take that bullet for you and continue to work harder with less or nothing to show for it. Aaaand if this economy continues as it is currently trending farriers are just going to throw in the towel and look for other employment. Even with a dramatic pay cut, unburdening ourselves from the expenses make that option increasingly attractive. As it is, it is unsustainable. Farriers know many owners are more likely than not to throw a tantrum of sorts if they are hit with the type of rates that would bring us back to just where we were a few short years ago for the same work. So they'll quit. We have a serious farrier shortage in every state I have ever lived in. This could make that much worse. If fuel continues to skyrocket your farrier's longevity in the business may no longer be dependent on his back holding out but rather by how much room he has left on his credit card."
Fascinating read on the mechanics of hoof development in foals and environmental factors! Move those babies!
What we are going to post about here is Revolutionary.
Maybe some of you have already heard this...but we just had this knowledge imparted to us in the past couple of years.
When we learn better, then we do better...at least that is the hope. We certainly will change what we do from here on out.
Some of us have taken it upon themselves to learn more about hooves and the healthy keeping of them.
It is just so hard to find a knowledgeable farrier who improves the hooves on a horse.
Sometimes the best we can do is to find one who doesn't make things worse.
(and we aren't interested in debating shoes versus no shoes-just plain old information sharing here)
Some breeds in our rescue are especially hard to keep comfortable, and we always wonder why is that?
There are people out there who study horse hooves and how our husbandry practices affect them. . . How to help laminitis and navicular, and keep abcesses from forming.
In reading publications by one fella well known for this, we stumbled upon the following information, and we felt it was possibly an AH HA! moment that we have been searching for.
It is commonly thought that we are genetically breeding our horses into worse and worse feet, but what we are about to share may totally blow this theory out of the water.
Foals born in the wild must be ready and able to keep up with a herd moving 20 miles or so per day. Their hooves are hard wired to do this, and the foal hoof grows rapidly to keep up with the wear and tear of the nomadic lifestyle.
Foals born into domesticity have the same rapidly growing hooves, but not the ability to roam 20 miles per day. In fact, people (believing foals are delicate creatures) often keep them stalled until they are a bit older, turning them out at two weeks on a soft, "safe" pasture.
We are coming to find out that our foal keeping practices are setting the horse up to have crappy feet for the rest of its life.
Foals Need movement.
A lot of people know this already. But the following is where we at HOP have failed in the past. They Also need to have their hooves competently maintained from the very beginning. In other words, a farrier must keep up with the rapid growth of the baby hoof, and keep it in shape.
This is the key thing to remember and it is truly revolutionary....
"While in a horse's later years, the coffin bone shapes the hoof, in a horse's earlier years the hoof shapes the coffin bone."
Oh my gosh!
So if a baby horse's hoof is not kept in shape, the coffin bone will actually begin to distort. And after about the age of 3.5, the distortion is permanent. A horse's hooves continue to widen until about the age of 5 by the way. So the sturdiest hooves are the ones that are allowed to grow, and have good trims and no shoes until the age of 5. (And are exposed to a very diverse terrain)
Therefore in some performance horses, who stay out in the field at some farms not being trimmed until they are yearlings, and then many times having shoes put on at 18 months or sometimes earlier to begin their careers... you can see how this may lead to hooves being difficult later! Whatever shape that coffin bone has come to be as the foal grew, a shoe is slapped on it that holds it in that shape, and by 3.5 it is permanently set to an unnatural state of being.
So here is what Pete Ramey (who studied under Dr. Bowker) along with 2 other hoof experts have to say...
"Foals are born with perfect, tiny hooves. If they are given living conditions similar to what a wild horse has, their feet and legs will develop with no problems. But most foals in captivity live in conditions quite different from what their feet actually need.
It appears that the first hour of a foal's life is critical to hoof health. In the wild, the mare moves the foal quickly away from the place of birth, because predators are attracted to the afterbirth and of course to the foal as well. So the soft foal feet, consisting mostly of raggedy frog tissue with a lot of proprioceptive (tells the brain about limb position) nerve endings, get about an hour of movement on hard ground before the foal ever nurses. Gene Ovnicek believes that this hour of movement is a "window of opportunity" which gets the hoof started towards a lifetime of correct shape and function.
In order to develop healthy hooves, foals should not be on soft bedding at all. Instead, from "day one" they should get 10+ miles (15+ km.) of daily movement on hard, uneven ground (not pavement). They should follow along with their mother, who should also be going 10+ miles per day for her own health and hoof care. You can arrange that they move a lot in their 24-hour turnout -- see Jaime Jackson's book Paddock Paradise. If a "track layout" is not possible, riding the mare and ponying the foal is another possibility. (after her recovery of course)
Foal hooves are nearly cylindrical at birth. It takes a lot of concussion on hard ground (which horses are designed for) to spread the hooves out into the shock-absorbing cone shape of the adult horse. In soft footing, and especially in bedding, the feet just sink in without flexing. Some foals soon develop a very contracted foot where the base is actually smaller than the coronet -- the walls are "inside the vertical." This is extremely difficult to rehabilitate.
Wild foals run with the herd on hard and often rocky ground. Wild horses move 20 miles (30 km.) or more every day, just getting food and water. Foals are "precocious" young, which means they are born able to keep up with the herd (different from other animals' young which must be carried by adults or hidden from predators).
Bone alignment in the leg depends on having sufficient movement on firm terrain. The pasterns are nearly upright at birth. They need lots of movement so that the pastern bones align into the harmonic curve which gives shock absorption in the leg.
The ligaments and tendons in the legs, as well as in the upper body, can only become as strong as the work they do every day. The toughest ligaments and tendons come from plenty of daily movement on hard or rocky ground. A horse raised this way will be able to handle the athletic demands of an equine sport without breaking down.
Dr. Strasser and Gene Ovnicek both note that the "problem" legs that some foals are born with, generally align themselves correctly within 2 weeks, without veterinary intervention, if the foal gets sufficient movement and is not kept on soft footing. A foal at my friend's farm gained good alignment and leg strength in this way within about a week.
A horse's feet continue to get wider until the horse has reached its full adult weight, at about age 5. The hoof gets broader as the horse gets heavier. The coffin bone reaches its adult size and shape at age 5.
When a young horse is shod, generally at age 3 (or earlier in some cases) when training begins, it restricts the growth of the feet. The coffin bone is no longer able to grow into its correct shape, because the "wall of nails" around the edge of the shoe interferes with further widening. Shoes also begin to contract the heels. The coffin bone grows in a narrowed shape, and the heels curve in towards the frog.
I hope that people raising young horses will decide not to shoe them. The horse that stays barefoot will be more confident because, as it learns to do its job, it is able to feel the ground and know where its legs are. A horse raised barefoot is graceful. Its movement is glorious to behold. I believe that once we begin to see some adult horses, raised barefoot, we will realize what we've been missing in our athlete friends."
chrome-distiller://bb725c5c-ee20-4e0b-94af-62d9187b7ea0_815a2223e98a7a69196fbdf140eac322696de85954eef5ac67a1cae3787799e2/?title=Hoof+Development+in+Foals&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.edsshoofcare.com%2Fsingle-post%2F1997%2F06%2F20%2FHoof-Development-in-Foals
http://www.barefoothorse.com/barefoot_MoreTopics.html
So while we believe that genetics may play some role in the modern day hoof woes, truly, like so many other things about horse issues that are directly our husbandry practices, allowing and helping the hoof to shape itself early on will likely result in a much better foundation for the horse to function on.
For more in depth reading about the very fascinating information that these 3 have put together, please click on the links above.
(Of course we recognize that inappropriate feed, poor farrier care, lack of adequate minerals and some genetics factor in also but we can *ourselves* avoid majorly contributing to the other issues with this knowledge)
All clients please take note:
As someone who barely makes enough on this service to replace tools and cover gas, I consider what I do a hobby/service to animal lovers in the area and ask that clients refer to the photo below… please and thank you 🥰
I had a great time giving this little baby donkey his first trim last weekend. Isn’t he adorable?! 🥰 it’s so important to handle young equines frequently and get them used to hoof work from a young age so they become well behaved adults!
Hello!
My name is Leah and I am a barefoot hoof care provider in the Kansas City area. I started down this journey two years ago when I couldn’t find anyone to provide hoof care services to my donkeys. After taking a course with Megan Hensley “the donkey farrier”, and doing some in person training and shadowing I began trimming my own animals. After awhile I started trimming for other people who also were struggling to find hoof care.
My focus is on compassionate, animal focused barefoot hoof care. I want to build a relationship with both you and your animal and ensure that they have a positive experience with me. My main focus has been donkeys and mini horses/ponies but I am also happy to trim goats, horses, and anything else you may have with hooves!
Hoof care is a rabbit hole of information and I am continually asking advice of other providers, taking courses and pursuing further education so that I can provide the most informed care for your pet.
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I had a great time giving this little baby donkey his first trim last weekend. Isn’t he adorable?! 🥰 it’s so important to handle young equines frequently and get them used to hoof work from a young age so they become well behaved adults!
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