A post I thought I'd never have to make

About bad hooves.

Beauty, blessed with Morgan-tough foot genetics, has never had an issue with her hooves. They are rock hard little bastards (I would know - I've been kicked by one!) that rarely get thrush, cracks, bruises, whatever. Her heels are perfect and the only issue the farrier has ever seen is a little flare in her hinds (due to wonky hind end conformation). Gravel, rocks, asphalt, you name it, never caused her to take a short step. She'll never need shoes. Basically, it is awesome.

Well, blessed as I am, I sometimes forget that her hooves are not indestructible, just very hard to damage. And we've found a farrier capable of damaging her feet...

I've only had one farrier ever do her feet and I've never been disappointed - he is pretty experienced with barefoot trimming and always produces a balanced hoof with good length all around. But since I decided to move my horse 500 miles away from this farrier, I had to find a new one. I chose to go with the one that the barn uses, since they highly recommended him and it would be easy to just stick her on the rotation with their horses.

Well, Beauty got trimmed yesterday and got the day off. I came out today to ride and was not pleased with what I saw. First, the farrier took WAY too much off and tried to round the toe, so the hoof wall wasn't even touching the ground, all her weight was on the sole of her toe. He did not take enough off the heel. He didn't touch the bars of the hoof, but shaved away a lot of frog. And my horse minced and winced her way across the gravel driveway.

-___-

Great.

I lunged her outside where the footing is softer to see if she was ouchy on that surface, and she wasn't bad, but taking shorter strides than usual. I got on and it was obvious - she'd take nice steps in the deep sand, but anywhere that was more packed down, she took careful, short steps.

So. Looks like we're looking for a new farrier, someone who specializes in barefoot trimming.

Two point challenge

Since I have been starting to train Beauty to jump, I've been working on my two point position and stamina lately. If I expect to be any help to a green horse, I better be pretty secure in my riding. But self-motivation isn't really my thing, so I tend to let it slide a little.

Well, what better way to get motivated than a contest? L. Williams from Viva Carlos is doing a two point challenge. You start by taking a baseline and then reporting weekly times, to see how long you can stay in your jumping position and how much you improve over a month. And there is a nifty prize!

I can feel my legs/core burning already!