Hoof Care...and why secret santa is so important to CWER...
Please allow me to ramble a bit (I always do) to provide context....
My husband is a trained barefoot farrier (and our full time unpaid farm manager). We sent him to school b/c we couldn't find ONE farrier locally who had all the things we needed -- patience, reliability, quality work, as well as willing to handle rescues and particularly rescue drafts. We had several who had one or more of the traits, but none had them all together.
OK...so...next piece of background. Because Mike is a farrier, we take hoof care VERY seriously. All our adoptables learn to be trimmed, standing at liberty in the center of a round pen, with no handler at their head. They don't go home until those lessons are settled and secured. We also do the same with any horse that comes in for training for a client. We know that the old adage "no hoof no horse" is all too true, and we know that, especially with any larger horse, managable hoof care can be a deal breaker in getting a horse adopted, and can make a good horse into a useless one in a fairly short time period if hoof problems cannot be managed easily.
For the past several years we have been discussing building a set of adjustable-up-to-draft-sized stocks. We've yet to have a draft come into our facility who have hooves in good condition and who are used to 'normal' farrier care, so we have to teach every one. We begin this process early, but sometimes the condition they are in means we REALLY need to get 'triage work' done before we have the time to teach them all of the fine points of, well, standing with a hoof off the ground without attempting to crush the farrier.
We've had a hard year financially, so we were putting off our stock building project to 2010, but one of our residents has changed that plan.
Valiant is an 18.1hh 6yo blue-eyed belgian gelding who arrived with hooves in "not ideal" condition but not life threatening, and no idea why we would want to pick his feet off the ground, and no interest in learning to do so. Over the past weeks, he's learned to allow us to lift and pick, but hasn't yet settled into the idea of tools, cradles, etc. He has been mildly unsound on a hind hoof -- enough that using exercise as a deterrent to refusing to lift his hooves is not an option, so we have gone slowly (he also has had other critical lessons these past weeks).
Now, the big fellow almost certainly has an abscess trying to vent in his right front - complete with heat spots, rapid pulse, etc. He is rapidly approaching 3 legged lame. He has allowed us to pick the hoof -- barely, taking roughly 15 minutes simply to do that task - -but there is no possibility of hoof testers let alone a hoof knife working toward clearing an abscess.
So, we have had to go forward and use 'emergency vet credit card' to purchase materials to build stocks to help Val. We have spent $315 on the heavy wood supplies needed to build something secure enough and safe enough to ensure that a draft his size, or larger, will not get hurt or hurt his caregivers in the process.
Programs like secret santa help us back fill these sort of larger projects, as well as normal vet expenses that we've not had covered by general donations.
This type of project will help not only Val (we could spend about $250 and take him to the university to have their farrier use their stocks and let him vent the abscess), but also other horses of all sizes and breeds that arrive here with hoof issues or other urgent triage needs.
If you would like to get to 'meet' this gentle giant, we hope you'll visit his page http://www.crosswindseqresq.org/val.html
He is the most gorgeous blue eyed belgian I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, and I cannot wait until he is again resting comfortably in the pasture with his friends.
Sincerely,
AnnMarie Cross
Crosswinds Equine Rescue, Inc.
www.cwer.org
paypal gratefully accepted via info (at) cwer.org
My husband is a trained barefoot farrier (and our full time unpaid farm manager). We sent him to school b/c we couldn't find ONE farrier locally who had all the things we needed -- patience, reliability, quality work, as well as willing to handle rescues and particularly rescue drafts. We had several who had one or more of the traits, but none had them all together.
OK...so...next piece of background. Because Mike is a farrier, we take hoof care VERY seriously. All our adoptables learn to be trimmed, standing at liberty in the center of a round pen, with no handler at their head. They don't go home until those lessons are settled and secured. We also do the same with any horse that comes in for training for a client. We know that the old adage "no hoof no horse" is all too true, and we know that, especially with any larger horse, managable hoof care can be a deal breaker in getting a horse adopted, and can make a good horse into a useless one in a fairly short time period if hoof problems cannot be managed easily.
For the past several years we have been discussing building a set of adjustable-up-to-draft-sized stocks. We've yet to have a draft come into our facility who have hooves in good condition and who are used to 'normal' farrier care, so we have to teach every one. We begin this process early, but sometimes the condition they are in means we REALLY need to get 'triage work' done before we have the time to teach them all of the fine points of, well, standing with a hoof off the ground without attempting to crush the farrier.
We've had a hard year financially, so we were putting off our stock building project to 2010, but one of our residents has changed that plan.
Valiant is an 18.1hh 6yo blue-eyed belgian gelding who arrived with hooves in "not ideal" condition but not life threatening, and no idea why we would want to pick his feet off the ground, and no interest in learning to do so. Over the past weeks, he's learned to allow us to lift and pick, but hasn't yet settled into the idea of tools, cradles, etc. He has been mildly unsound on a hind hoof -- enough that using exercise as a deterrent to refusing to lift his hooves is not an option, so we have gone slowly (he also has had other critical lessons these past weeks).
Now, the big fellow almost certainly has an abscess trying to vent in his right front - complete with heat spots, rapid pulse, etc. He is rapidly approaching 3 legged lame. He has allowed us to pick the hoof -- barely, taking roughly 15 minutes simply to do that task - -but there is no possibility of hoof testers let alone a hoof knife working toward clearing an abscess.
So, we have had to go forward and use 'emergency vet credit card' to purchase materials to build stocks to help Val. We have spent $315 on the heavy wood supplies needed to build something secure enough and safe enough to ensure that a draft his size, or larger, will not get hurt or hurt his caregivers in the process.
Programs like secret santa help us back fill these sort of larger projects, as well as normal vet expenses that we've not had covered by general donations.
This type of project will help not only Val (we could spend about $250 and take him to the university to have their farrier use their stocks and let him vent the abscess), but also other horses of all sizes and breeds that arrive here with hoof issues or other urgent triage needs.If you would like to get to 'meet' this gentle giant, we hope you'll visit his page http://www.crosswindseqresq.org/val.html
He is the most gorgeous blue eyed belgian I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, and I cannot wait until he is again resting comfortably in the pasture with his friends.
Sincerely,
AnnMarie Cross
Crosswinds Equine Rescue, Inc.
www.cwer.org
paypal gratefully accepted via info (at) cwer.org
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