Based in Krum, Texas – trimming for proper hoof balance, mechanism and performance.

Trimming Service –

• Within a 20 mile distance $40.00
• 20-40 mile distance $45.00
• 40-60 mile distance $50.00
• Shoe pulling - $10.00
• Consultations: $35.00
• Draft Horses - $75.00

As recently as February of 2008, I had my farrier put shoes on my previously barefoot and completely sound Arabian gelding Deacon, so that I could condition him for a Competitive Trail Ride.  I had to condition part of the time on pretty aggressive gravel roads and while he had great feet, I didn’t want him to turn up stone-bruised before the ride.  In talking about him on a riding list I subscribe to, one of my women friends said, “So, he doesn’t have a problem, you’re shoeing him to prevent a problem”.  I said, “Yes”, and didn’t think any more about it.  Figured I was just doing the smart thing, and being pro-active about the health of my horse.  She certainly didn’t say anything more, and I’m glad she didn’t at that time, because I wouldn’t have been able to accept it. 

I finished the ride, my horse won his division, and I came home and had the shoes pulled.  It took months to get his feet back into the previously hard and tough shape they were in before I had him shod, and the wheels started turning (finally) in my head. 

I’d heard plenty over the past few years about “barefoot trimming”, “the mustang roll”, and other terms, but most of it seemed to be coming from the fringe group – you know, the tree-hugging, fish kissing advocates of like, you know, na-ture.  Then I remembered a woman rider who I knew and respected had gone barefoot 10 years earlier with her Champion Competitive Trail Horse – in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. 

So, you know how it is when something piques your interest – you talk about it with everyone, you Google everything, you join Yahoo groups on the subject and follow every link.  I spent hours, literally, days in front of the computer reading everything I could get my hands on.  At about that same time, Kirk and I are leading a small group at church and it’s the first night.  I catch a couple of women at the door and say “we’re the group voted most likely to get into trouble if you want to sit with us”, and they grinned at each other and came to join us.  What a coincidence that one of them is a BAREFOOT TRIMMER…

Don’t ever think that God doesn’t have a sense of humor.

The months pass, and I change from my farrier to my new friend to do my horses.  She comes out carrying two hoof knives, a rasp, her hoofjack and a camera.  She watches my horses move, and asks me what I observe.  Then she tells me what she observes – and it was a couple of interesting things.  Lucy, the little mare was landing toe first.  She’s always been a beautiful mover, but there was something just a little off and I couldn’t verbalize what it was.  That was it.  Not that a typical horse will land heel-first, but more that with a balanced foot, the horse will land bearing weight flatly.  Her toe first landings indicated heel height in excess of a balanced foot.

She said several things about Deacon, the 6 year old gelding.   First, he had some indication of bony changes above the coronet band, he was cow-hocked (I’m thinking, so what?  He’s an Arab…), and his heel height was excessive.  Both horses had separation of the hoof capsule in the quarters.  (WHAT????).  Not only WHAT, but WHY - and why hadn’t I known anything about it?

I made her promise not to hurt my horses, and after lying with her face on the ground taking pictures of their feet, she started her trim.

Three hours later, there was a little pile of hoof shavings on the floor of my barn, we’d done before and after pictures and had both horses trot out and circle.

Lucy was landing flat footed; Deacon’s hind legs were no longer cow-hocked.  Both horses were sound although hoof angles had been changed slightly.  Now, some 8 months later, their feet have grown out firmly attached to the hoof wall,  the separation is gone – because the quarters of their feet are no longer bearing weight.

The bony changes in Deacon’s legs are gone.

I’ve done about 9 months of independent study with  AANHCP materials  as well as studying Pete Ramey’s videos and books, and have segued that training into a certification program with Liberated Horsemanship.  I’ll be doing different mentorships across the United States while working on my certification which could happen as early as the end of this year.  I’m fortunate to have as my mentor a terrific trimmer – Tami Davis of www.goodhoofkeeping.com who with her mentor Randy Hensley, have guided me every step of the way through this new journey.

Pete Ramey says that there is no reason why he would ever nail another shoe onto a horse’s foot.  I completely agree.  We are saving horses – navicular, foundered, laminitic – that would otherwise have to be destroyed.  Shoeing these horses doesn’t fix them; they continue to go downhill until they are euthanized.

Maya Angelou says “when people know better, they do better”.   Shoeing destroys the amazing pumping action that provides mechanism for our horses feet, and for their overall health.  If a horse can’t feel his feet, he might look sound.  If you look at the thermographics of a horse with one shoe on, and the other three feet bare, you’ll see that the blood flow to the foot with the steel shoe is severely compromised. 

Shoeing prevents the mechanism of the foot from activating.  The foot CANNOT contract.  The frog of the foot cannot contact the ground.  The higher the heel, the steeper the angle of the coffin bone.  Instead of being ground parallel when heel height is low, the coffin bone on our domestic shod horses is rotated many degrees – likening that horse to walking in high heel shoes all its life.  Try running and staying sound in high heels. 

O.K., now  we’re stopping the mechanism in the horse’s foot, keeping it in a thickly bedded stall, with insufficient exercise, wrong diet and too much/too little/wrong timing of it, separation from the herd, trailering, showing – all of which is our right as horse owners to do, right?

Literally, the monkeys and tigers in the zoo have to have an enriched environment by law.  Our horses get no such thing.  Think about it.

I’m not advocating that we throw out everything and join the fish-kissin’, tree huggers. What I AM saying is that we can do better by our horses.  If you think your horse can’t go barefoot, try another argument.  Some horses may take a year to transition and have to wear boots while on different terrain – others transition immediately and are never booted.  Is it easier for us to keep our horses in stalls?  Absolutely, I’ve done it.  Is it good for them on any level – absolutely not.  Is it good to feed our horses alfalfa because it’s pretty and green – absolutely not – go to www.safergrass.org and read awhile.  But, we need to grain our horses, right?  The big name feed producers tell us that we do.  No, your horse can get MORE than his required caloric intake in good grass hay.  For an elderly horse or one in hard work, I’d soak WHOLE oats and Black Oil Sunflower Seeds (fat source, since horses don’t have gallbladders and don’t utilize oils), and feed that to them. I’d also use Beet Pulp.  Soaking the oats and the seeds removes the Phytates (Google that), just as we need to soak the whole grains in our own diet.  It also makes the grain more like the live grain head that the horse would intake as it walked across the land browsing for food.  If you are graining your horses because you want them to get the vitamins and minerals that they need, free-choice minerals and chelated vitamins are available.  I don’t care if you buy the ones I use, there are several available.

One last note.  Boots for horses today are not the ugly option that they were 20 years ago when I was first exposed to them.  It takes me 5 minutes per horse to boot them after they are tacked up, and after the first few conditioning rides, I don’t use them again unless we’re in extreme terrain.  Think about rubber soles on slick rock, versus steel….hmmm.  Ever think you might want better traction?

I used to take every word my farrier said as gospel, mainly because I was too lazy to do any research, and anyway, why should I? I had sound horses.

What I had was a 6 year old light-of-my life horse with changes in his bony column that would have resulted in his lameness at an early age.

Check out the resources on my links page, and feel free to call me with any questions.  I may not know the answer, but I will do all I can to point you in the right direction.

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