Barefoot Consult

Firstly, the fabulous Nicku of The Polka Dot Periodical is having a contest!  Head on over there to check it out!

Time for a feetsies hoovsies toesies update!

Before the trim.

After the trim.

Hemie has been barefoot since early January, so we're going on 8 months sans iron. Overall he's been doing quite well, except for one very minor mystery "offness" a few months back which may or may not have been hoof-soreness. In any case, I'm very happy with his hoof quality (and so was our vet!).

However, the more I'd been researching and learning about healthy barefoot hooves, and the more that I attempted to perform some very minor farriery myself, I developed some concerns about how my farrier was doing some things.

I watched the other local barefoot eventer do her "touch-up" again, and came away with fresh eyes for Hemie's hooves.  And I didn't like what I saw.  I took this gal's advice and decided to consult with a barefoot trimmer specialist.

After researching and emailing a few barefoot trimmers, I set up a consultation with Sabine of Tri County Hoofcare. She was professional yet approachable. She confirmed some of the ideas I had and also brought other considerations to light. I liked her so much that I decided to become her client.

Toes nicely rolled. Sorry for annoying shadows.

Monday night was Hemie's first official barefoot trim. Even though it had been just over 8 weeks (yes, eight) since his last trim, no sole needed to be removed. I'm very happy that the amount of riding/turnout we do is enough to naturally wear down the hoof at about the same rate that he grows it. However, his toe had gotten too long and pointy and needed a strong roll to bring back the breakover. We're scheduling our next trim for 6 weeks from now, but my goal is to try and maintain the roll so that Sabine doesn't have very much to do at our next visit! We'll see how it goes.

In addition to some of the great bloggers I follow, we're in good company in terms of being barefoot: check out this article about Ravel, Steffen Peters' 2012 Olympic dressage mount, who is also barefoot. Who knew?