Barefoot hoof care clinic- Part two

Well, this weekend has left me with a lot to think about.
I am humbled.
I am grateful.
I am determined.
I am humbled by horses, who give us so much even though they are in pain and we don't know it.
I am grateful to the people who developed the ABC Hoofcare system that allows the average person to confidently map and trim their own horses, and for those who study in depth with them and bring their knowledge to share with us. I am grateful to Tara for agreeing to travel over 13 hours on winter roads to come to Creston to teach us.
I am determined to learn to recognize problems with my horses feet and to trim them properly to alleviate their discomfort and pain and to prevent escalation into major problems.

We were a diverse group, 7 ladies and one man, but we all wanted the best for our horses.

We worked together in pairs, sharing the tidbits we picked up from our classroom session on Friday; everyone remembered something that helped the other person, and teamwork was the order of the day.

Here, Tara is giving tips on how to use the wrist to get the best action out of the hoof knife.

This is the bay mare that Coyote Belle fell in love with. She was a real sweetheart, as kind and gentle as could be, letting us crawl around under her while she stood patiently for around 5 hours each day.

This is the sole of the black and white Gypsy Vanner horse you can see in the photo above. They had mapped the heels and rasped them down a little to prepare for further mapping. There is a lot of embedded bar, extending even out past the apex of the frog. Gussie had this same problem, but on her, the bar had actually overgrown over the tip of the frog.
The thing that I really took home from this clinic is the importance of trimming the bar. It is made of hard keratin, as compared to the soft keratin of the sole. If left unchecked, it can migrate over the sole, and being harder can push on the internal structures of the foot.

This is the same foot with the excess wall trimmed and some of the bar trimmed away. It's a work in progress, and her owner will keep doing a little at a time until she gets it right.

This is Gussie's foot. The bruising is from the embedded bars, which go all the way around  the toe. This foot had the bar growing on top of the apex of the frog. I wasn't confidant to trim that toe with the hoof knife so Tara did it.( Photo was taken just before she started.) Shortly after she did, the bar material that was left on actually flaked away from the sole in one spot, so tomorrow or Tuesday, I'll get in there and take a little more off where it is volunteering.
We were too busy for me to get a lot of photos. I have plenty of things to try to remember, and just getting in hands on with my horses while it's all fresh in my mind will help.All the mares got their front feet done, but like Tara said, go back in a day or two and check for changes and do touch ups.

We will be hosting another clinic in the late spring, so we have all winter to apply what we learned this weekend.
Hopefully, our horses will have better feet.