trim your horses y'all

[barefoothooves]

🤏🏼🤏🏼🤏🏼

[barefoothooves]

first appointment this morning was a doozy 🥴

[todaysbird]

after a collision with a car, this red-tailed hawk was brought to the chintimini wildlife center. the bird wasn’t abnormal in appearance, other than its feet- it has an extra toe on each foot. the ‘polydactyl’ mutation, where extra toes or sometimes an ‘extra foot’ are developed, is common in cats but can sometimes be found on birds, mainly chickens.

[barefoothooves]

hello there, did you ever get the hoof questions q&a vidoe uploaded? i really cant tell if youre active anymore either bc tumblr is whack but if you are, awesome! (and if you arent then just disregard this ask)

hey there! yeah I did actually film that and start editing captions in but then one of my horses (who is in one of the clips) died and then everything went to shit. but at some point I will try to get it up. i actually kinda forgot about it and I don't even remember the questions I answered in it 😂

[barefoothooves]

dang i was working fast today (ft orion 🐾)

[barefoothooves]

So I now own one of these electric hoof trimmers by Hoof Boss! It's a mobile unit that runs off a dewalt 20V battery and has several different disc attachments. Later this week I'll be practicing on wood, and then I will try it out on one of my personal horses 😁

also cw for a loudish noise in the video when i turn on the device

transcript to come as well

[barefoothooves]

Toe extension with a thick polyurethane pad and Vettec Adhere for Skipper, a donkey who has contracted flexor tendons in his front legs. The right one is the worst, he's usually completely knuckled over and standing on his dorsal wall. The desired effect was immediate, and now we rub some time on it. Hopefully we won't have to do the same with the other foot, as he wasn't super thrilled about it all (thus the aesthetically lacking glue job 🤣).

[barefoothooves]

engulfed by mini donkeys, the perfect way to die 😂

[barefoothooves]

Happy Mule Appreciation Day. This one celebrated by kicking me in the neck while I was trying to help her out with those horrible feet 🤣

[barefoothooves]

just making sure i did it right 😂

[barefoothooves]

This laminitic mare has her clogs on and is ready to dance her way into recovery 🤞🏼💃🏾

Laminitis season is already upon us (honestly, it's been happening all year 🥴). If you have a sugar sensitive horse, whether it's from PPID/Cushings or EMS/IR, it's time to pull them off the pasture, or at the very least put them in a grazing muzzle whenever they are out. Greenguard and Thinline are excellent lightweight grazing muzzle choices that come in a variety of sizes.

The greatest risk is going to be when the weather becomes milder or sometimes after sustained rainfall, like in this mare's case. Temps above 60°F during the day but near or below 40°F at night are HIGH RISK times for laminitis, even in "normal" horses. Under those conditions, grass utilizes the sun to produce sugars for growth, but the cold night temperatures do not allow the plants to use the sugars effectively. Sugar levels continue to build if there are several of those days in a row, and even if the temperatures increase or decrease out of that zone, the sugar content can stay high for several days.

The warning signs of laminitis can be very subtle. As prey animals, equines often mask this pain until it is unbearable. Keep an eye out for slow/stiff turns, shortened strides on flat ground, constant shifting of weight on the front feet, increased digital pulse, and of course the classic "rocked back" founder stance.

If you suspect your horse has laminitis, take the following action immediately:

1. Call your vet

2. Call your farrier

3. Cold hose or ice the feet if they are warm

4. Pull the horse off of pasture entirely

5. Soak hay for 30 minutes and drain off excess water before feeding to reduce sugar content

The sooner you catch laminitis and begin to treat it, the better chance your horse will have a good recovery. Clogs like the ones below are a great way to help laterally stabilize the foot, offer support over the heels/bars/frog, and ease breakover to reduce stress on the laminae.

[pleasespellchimerical]

Oh this is really interesting because I always thought of spring as laminitis season, but autumn has the same warm days and cool nights. Thanks so much for this writeup <3

[barefoothooves]

Yep! It's much more likely for horses that are already experiencing PPID/EMS to have laminitis in the fall than just your one-off acute case in a normal horse, but it can happen!

[barefoothooves]

This laminitic mare has her clogs on and is ready to dance her way into recovery 🤞🏼💃🏾

Laminitis season is already upon us (honestly, it's been happening all year 🥴). If you have a sugar sensitive horse, whether it's from PPID/Cushings or EMS/IR, it's time to pull them off the pasture, or at the very least put them in a grazing muzzle whenever they are out. Greenguard and Thinline are excellent lightweight grazing muzzle choices that come in a variety of sizes.

The greatest risk is going to be when the weather becomes milder or sometimes after sustained rainfall, like in this mare's case. Temps above 60°F during the day but near or below 40°F at night are HIGH RISK times for laminitis, even in "normal" horses. Under those conditions, grass utilizes the sun to produce sugars for growth, but the cold night temperatures do not allow the plants to use the sugars effectively. Sugar levels continue to build if there are several of those days in a row, and even if the temperatures increase or decrease out of that zone, the sugar content can stay high for several days.

The warning signs of laminitis can be very subtle. As prey animals, equines often mask this pain until it is unbearable. Keep an eye out for slow/stiff turns, shortened strides on flat ground, constant shifting of weight on the front feet, increased digital pulse, and of course the classic "rocked back" founder stance.

If you suspect your horse has laminitis, take the following action immediately:

1. Call your vet

2. Call your farrier

3. Cold hose or ice the feet if they are warm

4. Pull the horse off of pasture entirely

5. Soak hay for 30 minutes and drain off excess water before feeding to reduce sugar content

The sooner you catch laminitis and begin to treat it, the better chance your horse will have a good recovery. Clogs like the ones below are a great way to help laterally stabilize the foot, offer support over the heels/bars/frog, and ease breakover to reduce stress on the laminae.

[welcometofigtown]

shortly after i got on this afternoon my watch buzzed. I thought it was a text from a client, but it was david from inside:

"You look like Vladimir Putin" 🤣🤣🤣

[welcometofigtown]

love this moose. he'll never be the bombproof trail horse I wish he was, but he'll still calmly cart my ass around the fields bareback in a halter after not being ridden in ?? years??? 💜

[barefoothooves]

i was half an hour late with breakfast. my punishment was Porch Horse.

[barefoothooves]

WEAR 👏🏽 A 👏🏽 MASK 👏🏽

[barefoothooves]

🖤🤎🖤🤎🖤🤎🖤🤎🖤🤎🖤🤎🖤🤎🖤🤎