Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A video from my mentors

One of my mentors from the Oregon School of Natural Hoof Care, Nancy Ash, recently put together this little video (sorry, I can't get it to embed). The man doing the trimming, Dave Fitton, spent many hours with me going over exactly how to trim the bars. His knowledge and guidance were invaluable, so I'm very excited that I can share this with you:

"I've posted a new video. It will be one in a series of four taken with my Android telephone camera at the Klamath Falls Packing Clinic, where Oregon School of Natural Hoof Care had a booth. We go every year: Cheryl gives demonstrations and we invite people to bring their horses for a free consultation. This year April, one of our students who now trims professionally, trimmed a previously foundered pony, part of the pony ride string. We also helped the owner understand how trimming would help her little guys and comped her a book so that she can keep her 25 ponies in good shape.

"Dave Fitton helped a Klamath Falls roper whose beautiful paint gelding has been off and on lame for several years. He was advised to nerve the animal to relieve some of the pain created by his diagnosed "navicular syndrome." The roper trims his horses himself and was following the advice of his vet to keep the heels higher than we advise. The next step was nerving, which the owner was reluctant to do. He'd read up on barefoot trimming and decided to give it a try after talking to Dave.

"This video, the first of the series of four, gives a clear view of how to hold your knife when trimming bar and bar off sole. The entire series shows what we mean by the "whole horse trim" we teach at the school. Dave doesn't limit his advice to the hooves as he explains how the impacted bars are affecting the entire horse and how to proceed with getting the horse back to soundness and into mild competition after the trim.

"The video doesn't have the best lighting, as we were in direct sunlight with an audience and were more concerned with letting the owner see than in taking the video. But you get a good idea of what we teach and how we treat our horse and human clients at the school."

Happy viewing: http://youtu.be/Z4het037wl0.

The second video is here: http://youtu.be/flBq0XXjOeY.

15 comments:

  1. You can email me pictures if you want: radal16 (at) hotmail.com

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  2. Great video.

    I just videoed Val's last trim, and am going to review and compare. Will you be able to post the rest of the series? And where can I get one of those knives?!

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    1. He uses F Dick knives, Google them- they're available all over the place. I personally have two sets.

      If you're interested, go to the video page and take a look at all of Nancy's videos, she's nanlash on Youtube. She's an excellent teacher, which I'm sure you'll see quite quickly :)

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  3. That video was immensely interesting. Thanks for posting.

    Can you explain what he meant my defining the bar?

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    1. The bar is part of the wall so it has the same parts that the wall has: pigmented outer wall, white inner wall, and laminae. When you define the bar you make all three layers clearly visible- which often involves skinning off the bar that has grown forward over the sole.

      Take a look at the clubbed hooves photos I've got posted as a separate page. Those photos show defined bars.

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  4. I think if I trimmed my horses feet myself this would be a great teaching lesson. Let me just say I'm so happy to have a talented farrier so I don't have to worry about this. But you're doing good work.

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    1. Even if you're not going to use it, a little information never hurt :)

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  5. I appreciate these posts. Your research and presentation is great. I am still trying to get my head around the bar and I think I am starting to understand it. Thanks!

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  6. I love those videos. They are what keeps me questioning Laz's lameness, bar pooling over sole, etc etc.

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  7. I love your blog. We are on the same road of discovery in many ways and your blog keeps on popping up via google when I'm looking for stuff.

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  8. Man Shannon, these video's have begun to revolutionize my mind on trimming!!
    What a great dude, sitting down too! Smart! He has horse's that KNOW he's helping, they won't move!

    Thank-you so much! My mares sore shoulders are now NOT a mystery!

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  9. WOWEE, I am thrilled to watch these over and over before I go trim my mare's bars...that are hitting the ground , maybe even before the frog! I have been trying to address this issue with my trimmers and they NEED A REFRESHER COURSE I know now!

    Thanks you so much, my mare's health will be getting better now!
    KK

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