Stars Aligned Equine

05/21/2026

As I'm rereading this book in preparation for my clinic coming up at the end of summer, I have realized what an easy to understand and excellent resource it is for horse owners. This book is short and to the point, with a really laid back tone, so easy to digest. If you're a horse owner looking to learn a little more, this one is a great place to start. 📑

Plus, Ida Hammer is a legendary instructor and resource. The reason I choose to learn from her is because she encourages her students to explore other avenues to learn and find a way that makes the information click for them. That's a huge green flag for me personally.

I'm so excited to continue to learn more, and be able to offer your equines the best possible service I can!

05/20/2026

I spent last Saturday, nerding out about hooves, learning, and supporting a great trimmer in our community. You can never stop learning and going back to the basics is a resource that shouldn't be overlooked at any point in your journey to learn anything, especially when it comes to horses!

05/08/2026

04/16/2026

Echo Chamber Knowledge in Hoof Care

One of the biggest problems in modern hoof care is not lack of intelligence.
It is not lack of passion.
It is not even lack of education.

It is the inability to realise when your entire understanding of hoof care has been built inside an echo chamber.

Many practitioners, owners, and professionals become convinced that the feet they regularly see are simply “what horse feet are.”

They assume their daily experience represents the whole population.

But it does not.

What many fail to appreciate is that hoof morphology, pathology, and management strategy vary enormously depending on

• discipline
• environment
• workload
• breed/type
• management system
• practitioner philosophy
• pathology present
• owner demographics
• referral bias
• regional trends

This creates a dangerous phenomenon where individuals become highly experienced within one narrow sample of horses, yet mistakenly believe that sample reflects universal reality.

For example:

Someone who primarily deals with chronic laminitic rehabilitation may repeatedly see feet with excessive heel length and chopped off toes.

They may then begin to perceive “farriery” as simply chopping toes off and leaving heels high, because that is the subset of corrective work they are constantly exposed to.

When in reality these are often certain individuals who don’t know how to treat laminitis or horses who have been less then ideally managed.

But what they fail to realise is they are observing a filtered demographic.

They are not seeing the full spectrum of performance horses, leisure horses, healthy horses, sport horses, conformational variations, discipline-specific requirements, or preventative farriery.

They are seeing one pathological subgroup.

Then, from that subgroup, they build an entire philosophy of hoof care.

Likewise, a practitioner working exclusively with endurance horses in dry climates may develop a completely different perception of “normal.”

A practitioner shoeing elite sport horses may see another.

A practitioner working predominantly in wet pasture environments may see another.

A practitioner in rehab referral centres may see another again.

Each may become convinced their sample is “truth.”

And when they encounter feet outside their normal exposure, they often default to

“I never see that.”

“That must be poor trimming.”

“You should just do X.”

“That only happens because of bad farriery.”

Without realising that their own recommendation may only work within the narrow demographic they themselves operate in.

This is called sampling bias.

More specifically, it is what happens when someone mistakes their limited exposure for universal reality.

It is no different to a doctor working only in intensive care beginning to believe all humans are critically ill.
Or a mechanic working only on race cars assuming every vehicle should be tuned like one.

Expertise in one environment does not automatically generalise to all environments.

True expertise requires understanding not just what you see, but why you see it, and recognising the limitations of your own sample population.

The most dangerous practitioner is not the one who knows little.

It is the one who has enough experience to become confident, but not enough breadth of exposure to realise their experience is narrow.

Because confidence without scope creates dogma.

And dogma is where science dies.

The best clinicians remain aware that their own experience is inherently biased by the population they serve.

They ask

“Am I seeing reality?”

Or merely

“The reality of the horses around me?”

Because if you cannot distinguish between those two things, you are not studying hoof care.

You are studying your own echo chamber.

And mistaking it for truth.

04/10/2026

Reminder to keep an eye on frogs this time of year, preventative treatments are a great idea for any horse but especially if you notice any cracking or pitting in frogs or if they seem to be losing mass or are waterlogged, get some Artimud and pack your horse's hooves as shown below.

03/31/2026

I love all of my donkey friends! I've got quite a few on my books and have learned so much from working with them. They all have different personalities, and definitely communicate pretty clearly if you learn to listen to them. They all have their unique personalities. 💜

If you don't like donkeys, don't work with them. They won't like you back, they'll let you know, and you'll traumatize them with rough treatment.

If you're interested in understanding donkeys, read on.

🫏Donkeys 101 for Farriers 🫏

Donkeys do not like sustained pressure. Do not snub them to anything. Do not rope and hold their leg until they stop kicking. Do not hobble them or tie a leg up. Do not ear twitch them.

If you do any of the above (with the exception of the rope around the leg, that can be done thoughtfully!), that donkey will never trust you and possibly other farriers that come behind you. You may get that one trim halfway done but you've caused so much damage, that donkey may never let you touch them again.

Donkeys DO like being taught to accept appropriate, limited pressure. They do like going at their own pace as they trust you more. They do like treats and scratches. They do like you observing and respecting their threshold. They do like to be trimmed near their donkey friends. They do like praise and affection.

If you meet a donkey, and they've been trained for the farrier, and they like you - great, congratulations, trim away.

If you meet a donkey and the owner can't catch them, they shy away when you reach to touch them, they turn their butt to you like they got goosed, they flinch away from your touch, or they walk away, they are not ready for a full trim.

It's not uncommon for my first trim appointment with a donkey to be a meet and great. I'll bring treats, I'll see what they'll offer me *without pressure* and then that's our baseline to work from.

Next steps - discuss sedation and hiring a trainer.

If the feet are extremely overgrown, schedule a joint vet/farrier appointment and have the vet sedate to get their feet done safely. Then the training begins.

If their feet can wait, start with the training.

If they're in the middle, and/or the owner can successfully sedate, then trim, train, and wean off the sedation over time.

While the donkey is sedated, keep your energy aware but very quiet. Whisper with the owner and the vet/trainer. Limit your touch of the donkey other than lifting/holding the legs and feet. Work quickly. Watch their balance and let them have a break if they need to readjust.

If you get a tail swish, an attempted kick, they drag their mouth on the ground, or they try to bite you, pay attention. They may not be as sedated as you hoped or they're waking up. End your trim before they show too many signs of distress. Walk away early!

If you think any of the above is bu****it, then consider this. Donkeys can kick with their hind legs hard in pretty much any direction including at your head while you're holding up a front hoof. Their aim is good. They will bite if provoked. They are not domesticated horses with the tolerance for poking and prodding and pushing. They hold a grudge. They remember and never forget.

So for your safety and theirs, be smart.

If a donkey tells you to f**k off, listen the first time.

If you have to heavily sedate AND restrain a donkey to get them trimmed, they may not recover their trust in you or the vet.

If the owner will not sedate or train, do not trim for them.

If the donkey really doesn't trust you but loves their owner, teach their owner to trim.

If a donkey likes you, you'll find your heart absolutely melted with how soft and sweet they are. Holding up their feet is like working on air. They rest their head on you while you work on them or a friend. They nose your pockets for treats. They stand nearby, eyes closed, meditating. Donkeys have such a special energy and presence.

What else have you learned about working with our donkey friends?

03/30/2026

*Update*
I have switched to a closer location, but that means I won't be attending classes until August. I'm still totally looking forward to learning what I can to be able to offer the best possible trims for your equines!

Here's to continuing education in 2026! 🎉 I will be participating in a week long trimming clinic with Ida Hammer in May! I've taken her online classes and now I'm repeating in person to refresh and further my understanding. I want to be able to offer your horse my absolute best. Definitely a great way to kick off spring. Here's Atlas and I looking forward to sunny days ahead! 🌞

I'd love to see a wintery photo of your equine/s in the comments!

03/06/2026

Communication, The Most Neglected Element of Hoofcare

The longer I am in this trade, the more I look at hoofcare as a complex organism, a puzzle with different pieces for every case. In every poor outcome there is a breakdown of one or more of those pieces, either all at once or gradually over time.

There is a great degree of mental math that goes into every decision we make with our tools. We are doing our best to read anatomical markers that are often distorted, but that alone isn't enough for a favorable result. The alchemy of trimming includes everything else that isn't under our control.

One horse I trim is an elderly pasture puff apart from an occasional outing. They don't ride hard by any means but they do ride on some rocks. Last fall he had a toe crack that I opted to resect, and it just happened to be right before their annual camping trip. The owner trusts me implicitly, so she never brought it up, and I never thought to ask. Once he was ridden on hard ground, he was lame on the rocks, and we also uncovered a mediolateral imbalance. There was no lasting harm done, but she lost out on precious rides with her old boy, and it stuck with me.

There's a lot of backlash against farriers online, a lot of "fire your farrier" comments on a lot of trim photos with very little context. I've been fired before. There's also times I would have probably fired myself, but the owner believed in me and I promise you I have learned from each one of those circumstances, whether I was fired or not.

If you have given your farrier feedback about what is or is not working, if you have raised concerns and they can't explain what they are doing or why, if they cannot or will not try something else that may work better, then yes, you can and probably should fire your farrier.

If you yourself have not communicated, if you expect your farrier to not only have x-ray vision but to also read your mind, YOU are part of the problem.

We need to do better. Owners need to realize that their feedback is invaluable. YOU are your horse's first line of defense. You see and interact with them far more often than we professionals do, especially if you are providing their daily care. We need you to tell us if their diet has changed, if they seem more or less comfortable, if they had an injury or a medical event, if you have a big ride coming up, even if something seems insignificant, please, please always tell us. It might be the missing piece in something we've been banging our heads against a wall for months trying to pinpoint the root cause of.

We are better when we work together.

03/05/2026

Fronts with long term mediolateral imbalance. Making some progress.