Oh man oh man am I tired! The program was a successful one though. I am looking forward to recieving comments other than the ooos and ahhs of the owners who's horses I trimmed on Sat. and Sun. The Fri. night program went off without a hitch thanks to Lauren Kahn and Tony, the av guy. It was in a perfect location, easily accessible right on the main road with parking and a lit sign out front which said, "Hoof Lecture". There was a big screen to show my slide show and the timing was perfect with a break where people could grab a snack and look at my hoof boot and bone collection, and dissections. The slide show ended 20 minutes before nine allowing for questions. I had several people including a recent farrier school graduate who's comment was that he hadn't learned any of this anatomy of the hoof while in his farrier course. That's no surprise.
I crammed a three day program into three hours! I'm sure it was too much for some and not enough for others but that's always true of anything.
On Sat. I was not disappointed with a variety of hoof problems. The first two horses were unfortunate victims of a trim style that advocates leaving high heels and bars. The poor horses were in a very bad state of health as a result of necrotic rotting frog and digital cushions. The bad thing is that they were probably too unhealthy to recover from a rehabilitation program. the good thing is that the owners seemed to understand and the fact that they have other horses, younger horses, that could benefit from the knowledge they gained and me trimming them if they decide to call me.
I trimmed an Arab mare that has a club foot. I think the owner was sufficiently impressed with the little mare's movement afterwards!
Then I trimmed this big beautiful draft quarter horse cross. He and his owners should do great with a rehab program (see the last Case Study I just posted) They also have a Quarter horse that has very nice feet and should also do really well with his trim. I trimmed lots more feet and horses and owners were edjumacated. I am ticked off though about learning of a comment from a veterinarian(the one I use) made to one of the particpants that she thinks the barefoot stuff is a passing fad. Really pisses me off because this same vet looked right past the obvious causes for lameness in another horse I have and resorted to using the N word while describing a "questionable spot" on an xray. She wasn't possitive enough about it so she got the vet she is in practice with to pronounce the verdict. And she got plenty of money on that deal whichthe poor potential buyer of the horse shucked out only to be told the horse did not PASS the vet exam. What a rip-off! I should have suspected the rip-off nature of the whole deal with the questionable character of the woman trying to orchestrate the sale so that she would get a ridiculous amount of money in commission for a new car. She wrecked hers while in a drug or alcohol induced state right at the property where I keep my horses! Took out two trees and tossed her big dog out of the convertable which got killed on the highway out front.. I have sympathy because of the poor dog and this but I'm not entirely sure she didn't make some money from the vet on this horse deal as they seemed to be really good friends. I don't suppose either one of them will read this blog.