Barefoot Horses pg. 3
April 15, 2009 Jan and I are continuing to go through the AANHCP (Association for the Advancement of Natural Hoof Care Practices) program. Pictures on this page are of our 3rd mentorship of the 1st string, which is basically just going a day with a "certified" practitioner and trimming with them and continue learning. The 3rd mentorship is the last in the 1st string, now we do an "independent study" as we continue to trim our own horses and others if we want to, for 4 months, then we start our 2nd string of 3 mentorships (going with 3 different "certified" practitioners on 3 different days.) After we have finished the 3rd day with the 3rd mentor, then we can take our final test and get "certified". Jan and I hope to finish and take our test in October. That will be exactly 1 year since we started. Jan and I had a wonderful time with our 3rd mentor as we have had with the previous 2 mentors in our 1st string.
Louetta Plumlee lives on 40 beautiful acres just outside Oak Grove Arkansas, about 10 miles north of Green Forest. She went to school to be a farrier and was practicing as a farrier when she heard about the natural trim concept as she was asked to look at a horses hooves on a trail ride. They had been riding all day at Devil's Den which is very rough and rocky (that's what everyone tells me, I have never been riding there) Louetta was VERY impressed when she looked at the horse and it was barefoot! That sparked her interest and the rest is, as they say.........history. She trimmed the natural trim for a couple years and continued to trim as she worked her way through the AANHCP program. She became certified in September of '08.
Louetta was the best "hostess" as she had homemade bread (just for us) and made us grilled sandwiches. She also had fresh homemade salsa and iced tea! What a treat, we sure didn't expect that!
We trimmed 3 of Louetta's horses (see pix below). We got so much more confident working with Louetta today, she was a very good "mentor". Thank you Louetta!! She got us all inspired to go home at trim, trim, trim. I still have 3 horses that I need to get out and trim. I hope to do at least 2 tomorrow!! I hope you enjoy the pictures!
Louetta is checking Jan trimming Susie's feet.
Susie is a Missouri Foxtrotter and is ridden barefoot, she doesn't need boots!
Jan is filing the hoof in this picture.
Here Jan is trying to hold Susie's
hoof between her legs as she uses her file. I tried it too and it just wasn't working for us. The horse has to be very cooperative too!
 Hobo an 8 year old Spotted Saddle horse. Here Louetta is checking Hobo's healing angle. It appears to be at 59* (degrees) by the Hoof Meter Reader.
Here Jan is using her hoof knife to trim the bars and frog and some sole from Liz's right rear hoof. Liz is a 22 year old Welch pony that Louetta's 2 boys learned to ride on. Louetta brings "city" children to ride Liz that have never ridden before.
Jan is using her file to bring down Liz'a heals to get the hoof in balance.
Here Jan is putting the finishing touches on the "mustang roll" and sanding the hoof wall for a perfect finish!
Now it's my turn. You can't see the hoof but I am cleaning Liz's back left hoof with my hoof knife.
Here is a picture of Liz's left hind hoof just after I cleaned it with my hoof pick and before I trim. Liz had not been trimmed for a year, but even at there was less than 1/2" of hoof wall that needed to be trimmed and that was only from behind the quarters back to the heals. She had naturally worn off the toe back to the quarter.
Starting to file to get Liz's hoof in "balance".
More filing and looking more finished, this is before the "mustang roll".
Here I am going to file the edges of Liz's hoof to smooth out the "mustang roll".
Liz and I after all her hooves have been trimmed.
Louetta is checking Hobo's hoof for balance. Jan is looking on.
~LIFE IS GOOD~HORSES MAKE IT BETTER~