WE Found a Barefoot Trimmer!!!!!!!!!!!

[lalecl]

And he only lives 5 miles from us.

I have been searching for a long time trying to find someone close. Well Thanks to TrueStepPaso (sorry abby i said the wrong person please forgive me but i did correct it) she found the name of a guy in Gainesville , Florida which is about 35 miles from me. I called him and we spoke at length. By the end of the call we had an appointment set for this morning.

He arrived shortly after 10 am and was here until after 12pm.

Talk about gentle! If Fara was jumpy he spoke softly and waited till she calmed down. If he felt she was in pain he stopped and massaged her spine and man did things start happening!!!! She has gone so long with her poor back all humped up like a camel. When he started massage she unfloded like an accordian!

By the time he was done instead of walking on her tip toes stiff legged she was actually flexing her ankles as she walked .

He is setting me up with someone for some aggressvie therapy. He said as well as she is getting around right now and her digestive system is she needs special therapy so we are going that direction.

I will not go into detail about what has been done to this point but he feels sure we did what the situation called for at the time and did not rush her so she is doign pretty good. :)

I will ad more later. I trust this person because he has been a certified registered master farrier for 25 years before he started doing the barefoot trim. Also found out the person Jamie or whoever the guy was that started making it known just happened to be a friend of his from years ago. He says he attended the first conference this guy ever did and he was awesome.

WE also discussed the Strasser method which I will not go into right now.

But I am telling you I have never been so happy or hopeful for my little Fara.

I will also tell you i have done the vets , farriers, and yes even distance as well as hands on pshycics and let me tell you I will not back down now. The only way she has to go us forward.

[cowboy ed]

well, tell your barefoot trimmer that i suggest that he wear boots while trimming. if a horse steps on his feet, it is really gonna hurt! :lol:

[lalecl]

LOL ok will tell him

[TrueStepPaso]

Ha! Ed...ya slay me!!!

Leila....I am so happy for you and your mare. It feels nice to know I may have helped someone...no matter how small. I'm very glad you like him so far, and I truly hope it will work out for everyone......especially, of course, Fara ;-) I've got my fingers crossed for her.

PLEASE....keep us posted!

-Abbie

[lalecl]

I will certainly do that Abbie

[Pam M]

Leila that's such good news! I think if anyone meets Fara, she kind of sticks with them so I'm so happy that you've found someone to work with her. And...kudos to you and Ellis...not many people would do what you two have done for that mare.

On the subject of massage...one of my boarders just had a chiropractor work on her gelding. Wow! He was a new horse. She's coming this weekend for another treatment and to evaluate some of the others. I couldn't believe the difference some "hands on" work made!

[Terry Wallace]

Um...actually...ALL farriers are "bare foot trimmers".....I have never trimmed a SHOD horse!!

Just some Saturday mornin' humor for ya Leila... :D

[lalecl]

LOL works for me Terry :D

[CarolU]

ROFL...I like Ed's comment. I have a rule about 'shoes' around horses, just read my safety articles and you'll KNOW about it. LOL

[Minouri]

Ok, I'm going to ask a potentially very stupid question that has been bouncing around in my head.

What is a barefoot trimmer? I have two horses that are always barefoot and I have a farrier who trims them. Is he a barefoot trimmer or do they do something different?

[CarolU]

I have two horses that are always barefoot and I have a farrier who trims them. Is he a barefoot trimmer or do they do something different?

Not if they're any good! A good trim is a good trim is a good trim. JMHO

[Mellifluous]

Ok, I'm going to ask a potentially very stupid question that has been bouncing around in my head.

What is a barefoot trimmer? I have two horses that are always barefoot and I have a farrier who trims them. Is he a barefoot trimmer or do they do something different?

I have a farrier that trims my horses (which, for the moment are all barefoot). I do not think that he would qualify as a barefoot trimmer as he does put shoes on horses that need it. I will ask him if how he would define a barefoot trimmer when he is out to trim mine this week.

My definition of a barefoot trimmer is some one who specializes in trimming horse's feet with the goal of keeping them shoe free to the greatest extent possible - their niche is with the barefoot horse. If the horse did need shoes, you would then need to call a farrier.

[Minouri]

Thanks for the clarification :)

[Terri]

Ruth, Abbey is a barefoot trimmer and she can probably explain the difference better than me. I do know there is a bit of a "tension" sometimes between barefoot trimmers and the regular farriers. Don't think there should be, but there is.

[Minouri]

ok, Abbie.....can you explain it to me......lol I AM curious.

[GeorgeGuns]

My definition of a barefoot trimmer is some one who specializes in trimming horse's feet with the goal of keeping them shoe free to the greatest extent possible - their niche is with the barefoot horse. If the horse did need shoes, you would then need to call a farrier.

Minouri - that right there is a pretty good explanation. Farriers are taught primarily how to shoe a horse, and the trim for prepping for a shoe is different from a "natural" trim. If you put a good mustang roll on a hoof, you wouldn't be able to nail a shoe on, or (depending on what the horse likes for maintainance) it would be quite difficult.

Ideally, a NT is as Terry puts it - a horse that self trims naturally without the aid of man's tools. Us NTers use the rasp to fill in for nature where the horse is not getting self trimmed. Most of us go one step further and use what we have learned about healthy hooves in the wild (who really do use what Ma Nature intended how its intended) as a model to rehabilitate hooves without shoes. We have found that the hoof is amazingly responsive to not just a good trim, but lifestyle changes to approximate a more naturalistic environment. The trim alone is usually useless, or can only accomplish so much. Skilled NTers have literally beat the insustry standard (I think it Gene Ovnicek who mentions this) for fixing founders - the industry standard for getting a bad founder pasture sound is about 18 mos, and riding sound is a huge maybe. NT industry standard for riding sound is around 6 mos. Natural hoofcare involves specialized study of how a bare hoof functions, and why, and its information a LOT of farriers don't get in school. ie: a farrier I got to talk to several months ago was astounded to hear, from me, that circulation is a funciton of the hoof, its the primary function after locomotion. He told me they didn't even talk about this in the school he went to - supposed to be one of the better schools too. He was taught that the function was expansion and contraction, but that's not even a function, its an activity FOR a function.

Yes, any horse that gets a trim and not shod is essentially getting a barefoot trim (kind of redundant). How that hoof is trimmed though, and how (or if) the other lifestyle factors are addressed is what makes the difference between a barefoot/pasture/farrier trim and a "natural" trim.

[TrueStepPaso]

Um.....yeah that. Coreen did a great job..... :D

[Minouri]

Wow, thanks for the detailed explanation. Now I'm glad I asked.

Abbie, next time we ride together I'll have to have you look at Scooter's feet. Just to see what you think of the trim I'm getting.

I'd be afraid to change too much. Scooter has had the same farrier for 5 years and the same trim and he has always been sound and happy. When my farrier had a back operation we used a couple of other farriers and had real problems with Scooter's hooves cracking, chipping, or him being very sore on the bottom. I was so glad when my farrier said his back was ok again!

I get Scooter trimmed every 6-7 weeks (sometimes 8 in the winter) and I can ride him pretty much anywhere the same day without him being sensitive.

I don't know too much about what my farrier believes or studied at school. I do know that when we got our Appy he came with several shoeing issues....and an absess that was growing out. His hooves were pretty nasty. Our farrier suggested that we try going barefoot....then played around with angles and rounding off the toe (I think I'm remembering this right) so that Snowy would trip less. Everything he suggested worked. Snowy has been barefoot for two years now and (knock on wood) no problems.

I don't know what I'd do in case of a founder. If what you're saying is true I guess I'd have to find a NT to consult with.

[TrueStepPaso]

Minouri...it sounds to me like your Farrier is an angel! He's doing a great job with Scooter.....Scooter knows what he needs better than I do, and if the trim he is receiving was "lacking", then it certainly would've caused issues in the last five yrs :D . I'll be happy to look, but it sounds to me like he's doing a wonderful job already! ;-)

[GeorgeGuns]

Yeah, what Abbie said! If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Founder.. the F word, lol. Honestly, there are a lot worse things that scare me now.