Seeing results!

I am still really enjoying trimming our own feet.  Well, our horses that is.  It took me so long to have a go at it.  In fact I avidly avoided it!  Partly because I thought it would be 'hard' physically, but also because I wasn't confident to attempt it.  Having a masters degree in Analysis Paralysis with honours in procrastination, I just didn't think I had the knowledge to do it, and thought I might do damage to my horses.

But there were things I could see weren't right with their feet, and bodies, even to my 'uneducated' eye.  So I finally took the plunge and decided to get educated.  Now I am obsessed!  I pick up every foot on every unsuspecting horse I come across!

Their is still so much to learn.   I am only on my second round of trimming our horses (there are a lot of feet in my paddock!), and already I can see changes!  It is very satisfying to see frogs spreading and walls growing down.

I have Pete Ramey's Under The Horse Dvd series.  http://www.hoofrehab.com/  It is 16 hours long, and most of it theory, and I am watching it through for the second time.  Something to keep me entertained when I go to bed with my cup of tea at night...

The hoof trim debacle...aka perfectionism gets nothing done!

Oh my goodness, I haven't written a blog post since May 23!  That's terrible!  It means I haven't been spending time with the horses.  Unfortunately other things have been taking my attention, travelling, farm maintenance, raising children etc etc etc, but I am still trying to do as much as I can.

One thing I did yesterday was print out a set of self assesment sheets for each my horses and put them in a folder.  I can then keep track of where each horse is at with its development and where it is up to in the patterns.  I find that I when I have a short bit of time to go out and play, I get out there and don't know what to do with who!!  I thought this might help me have some ideas to go out and play with when I only have short amounts of time.  I tell lots of people who tell me they don't have enough time to play with their horses to do this, so I thought I should take my own advice!

I have also started a good winter feeding regime for the horses.  It has been cold, and the grass is running out rapidly, so I wanted to get in to a good routine before any of the horses started going down hill.

Another thing I have done is started trimming my own hooves!!!  I trimmed Roxy this week, my first victim, umm, I mean client!  One thing I know about myself is that I am a chronic sufferer of analysis paralysis.  I won't try anything until I have researched it thoroughly, believe I know everything I possibly can about the subject, then I might give it a go... so I have put off trimming feet for years, because I am sure I don't know enough about it, and that I am going to cripple my horses for life by doing one wrong trim. 

But enough is enough.  I just had to start somewhere.  So I started with Roxy.  Roxy has challenging feet at the best of times, having been chronically foundered as a young horse, so I figured I couldn't do too much more damage while learning...  And to start with I really just wanted to get comfortable with my tools.  Anyway, Roxy looks fine, and we both survived the experience with no blood from either of us, so I guess I have overcome the biggest hurdle, actually starting!

So now the fun really begins.  A new aspect of my horsemanship journey.  And I don't know where to go now!!!!  There is so much information out there, of course, like everything, everyone who is teaching is convinced that their way is the best way.  I guess I will just have to start somewhere and go with my own judgement.