CKY Rasp Fairy Hoof Trimming Services

07/10/2024

As in most businesses, you have the right to refuse service. I don't feel like anyone is at fault is the situation in the article. Working around and with horses comes with many risks, even with well behaved animals. They are large and can hurt you with out meaning to. Even if the owners had been there this could have very well have happened. At the end of the day as a farrier I make the call on my safety, and if I feel like a client is being negligent or asking me to work in a bad situation I will ask for a change...and if they disagree I walk away. https://www.americanfarriers.com/blogs/1-from-the-desk-of-afj/post/6840-wrongful-death-ruling-empowers-farriers?fbclid=IwY2xjawFw0MFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHVJbRLWBKp11gldZJjRP2GtxJsJ4rMzO7S6CA7vzS1WfT10xSQN6a_L_WA_aem_4nZM6H63q01FUG-CDQxJOw

On a fall Southern California day in 2009, Pat Barrett set out to do what he had done thousands of times over more than 45 years — trim horses' hooves.

31/07/2024

If you have a good farrier who keeps your equine's feet in good shape and treats you and your animal with respect, let them know they are doing a good job. Truth is if they are in this business very long, they are going to have hard days. There will be hard cases. There will be hard clients. There will be animals that they can't convience to trust them, and it won't be any fault of their own...and in my experience its usually not the current owners fault either. They will get bruised, and tossed, and likely kicked at some point even if being safe. These are risks we are all aware of and on the hard days, it helps to hear that they are doing a good job.

25/07/2024

01/03/2024

Kissed 'em..... more like walked by lately.

Do you feel spring in the air 😅 ?
credits: The Muck Bucket

18/01/2024

Trimming hooves isn't a cookie cutter business. Every hoof grows differently because of many factors. My mentor follows Dr. Bowker and his studies and believes this is true and I agree.

We've followed Dr. Robert Bowker's advice for a couple decades now, and it has worked well for us. I don't wish to criticize those who practice differently, but I have always been shocked at how most of the hoofcare world has largely ignored Bowker's research, data, and advice. He has the receipts! He's a very kind person so not into arguing. In this current world, if you're not a loud mouth blabbing away, no one listens. But his information is spot on.

Want to debate the toes? How about THIS: "With the long toe, P3 is remodeling! The hoof wall grows LONGER and this elevates the periosteum off the coffin bone, and that space fills in with BONE (which elongates the coffin bone). The toes gets longer and longer. With a slipper toe, the periosteum goes out towards this slipper; the coffin bone will creep. The entire bone remodels forward. Everything is interactive. If the palmar process gets longer, the toes are too long."

Bowker is adamant: you MUST trim into the white line to shorten the toes to rehab a long-toed foot. "Horses will be sore when the semilunar line to tip of P3 is in excess of 40mm, and thus the toe is long. This happens because trimmers are afraid to come inside the white line! Farriers NEVER come inside the white line. And vets do not trim."

Conversations about this need to happen. The trimmers who put this into practice know that it works. Short toes are the best thing you can do for a horse's foot.

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Happy Hooves! - Yvonne Welz

17/11/2023

We live in a world of instant gratification. If a website takes more than 2 seconds to load a picture, we think the WiFi is down. So I'm not surprised that this desire to have everything right away can shift to hooves.

When our horses are lame with a hoof related issue, many owners want something that will fix them right away. A pain med, an injection, a new shoeing package, a new farrier, a new vet. Anything that will take away the pain and allow them to continue life as usual, right?

But how often do we stop to think about the state their feet are in, and how long it took to get that way? Months, years? Maybe we can do something to allow them to become comfortable instantly, but are we getting to the root issue and addressing the health of the hoof itself? Are we allowing the hoof the time it needs to become healthy, the horse the time it needs to relearn proper biomechanics and proprioception, and the internal structures the time they need to strengthen?

Think about it this way. If you want to gain muscle and get stronger, do you expect one day at the gym will let you compete in a competition tomorrow? No! You can spend months working up slowly and strengthening different areas of your body, adjusting to aches and pains and noticing improvement as your muscles learn to handle more difficult tasks. The internal structures of the hoof take time to strengthen, too!

It can take 9 months to grow a healthy hoof capsule and internal structures, double that if the soft tissue has been damaged, and a myriad of factors influence this. Good mineral balancing, good diet, good movement, good environment, and good hoofcare, to name a few. We want the hoof to heal from the inside, out. Does this often delay our gratification and mean we have to patiently wait and watch for changes? Yes. Does this often mean the horse might need time off, or a change in diet, or a change in environment in order to get better results? Yes. But in turn, does this mean we often end up with a sounder horse that has strong feet for the long haul? Yes.

Distortion and pathology doesn't happen overnight, and 99% of the time can't be fixed overnight. If you're looking for the "quick fix," I encourage you to consider if that's the healthiest option, and the steps you might need to take to strengthen your horse's feet for long term soundness.

01/11/2023

01/11/2023

Long read but explains how photographs can be deceiving. I was once told by a client I should photograph my trims and share to this page, I explained that getting a good shot is epically important and easy to make a good trim look bad or vise versa.

Incorrectly taken hoof photographs can lead to terribly wrong conclusions.

It has been over a year since I've created this article, but the problem is still up to date.

I believe it's equally important to learn how to take hoof pictures in a proper, repeatable way as it is to learn how to recognize the ways in which photos may distort reality - to at least be able to know when not to believe them.

https://thehoofarchitect.blogspot.com/2022/09/why-do-photos-lie-and-how-not-to-get.html

26/10/2023

So true.

04/10/2023

"He was always so sound, I don't know what happened!"

"She was fine, and then just foundered out of nowhere."

"I swear the feet didn't look this bad a few days ago!"

As hoofcare providers, we hear a lot of statements like this. A horse "suddenly" has navicular issues, or "randomly" comes up lame. The horse always had nice feet and then "suddenly" they have all kinds of issues and are a mess.

The truth is, subtle symptoms of issues are usually present long before we might recognize distortion or pathology.

That navicular diagnosis? It likely came after months or years of subtle improper biomechanics or hoof landings, and weak heels and frogs giving clues to an impending issue.

The "sudden" laminitis? Probably happened after months or years of unnoticed metabolic concerns or dietary imbalances and sugar and starch excess, with maybe some footsoreness on stones giving clues along the way.

Sometimes we just don't know enough to realize when our horse's feet and movement are giving us warning signs.

And yes, sometimes our horses experience a trauma that causes issue in their feet or lameness. But more often than not, soundness issues are more like a repetitive strain injury- little insults building up over time until it's finally impossible to ignore.

We can educate ourselves to be aware of healthy movement and hoof appearance, so it doesn't progress to something that's unhealthy.

Are you watching for what your horse's feet and movement might be telling you?

22/09/2023

I get asked a lot how long a set of glue ons will last. There are a lot of factors that play into that equation.... terrain, work load, weather... here is one example.

EasyCare offers a wide selection hoof boots and composite horseshoes for therapy and performance.

22/09/2023

26/07/2023

I am no advocate for sedation, but there are sitchuations that call for it, for both your farrier and your animals safety. I have had two clients who have chosen to use this to help during appointments and it made a world of difference and had no side effects once it wore off.

Contact your veterinarian today

21/07/2023

https://thegroomslist.co.uk/how-to-maintain-a-good-relationship-with-the-yard-farrier/?fbclid=IwAR0238m5Pms2S64OziBOHFO3siLs4Li2KncMwJaRty-OKqRRsg5WVaPcnk8

If there's one equine professional you need onside at the yard, it's your Farrier! Read our tips on maintaining a good relationship with the yard Farrier

29/06/2023

29/06/2023

Many times we think of thrush as a nasty smelling infection of the frog, but just yesterday I trimmed a horse that had no thrushy smell but definitely had a cleft in the frog so I treated for thrush.