Hometown Hoofcare

10/14/2026

After 25+ years of trimming horses, I've come to the conclusion that I went into the wrong toenail business. I should have been trimming Chihuahuas. 😂

People routinely pay $20–$40 to have their dog's toenails trimmed, and nobody bats an eye. Meanwhile, I have the absolute AUDACITY to charge $95 to crawl underneath a 1,000-pound animal that could turn me into a pancake because a butterfly farted three counties away.

THE GREED! THE OUTRAGE! SOMEBODY CALL THE AUTHORITIES! 😂

But seriously, let's do some math.

Dogs generally need their nails trimmed every 3–4 weeks. At $30 every four weeks, that's $390 a year.

The average farrier charges around $60 for a basic trim. At an eight-week schedule, that's ALSO $390 a year.

SIXTY DOLLARS to drive to someone's barn, trim and balance four hooves, and hope a suspicious-looking leaf doesn't send half a ton of horse into a complete meltdown.

And my scandalous $95? That's LESS THAN $12 A WEEK for 25+ years of experience and the privilege of hopefully going home with all my bones in their original positions. 😂

WHAT A SCAM!

Now, before the dog groomers come after me, I LOVE YOU GUYS! I'm not saying you're overcharging. I've met enough Chihuahuas to know some of you deserve combat pay.

I'm saying farriers have been undercharging for far too long.

Horses are a luxury. That doesn't mean their owners are wealthy. Believe me, I own enough hay-burning money pits to understand financial suffering on a deeply personal level. But why should farriers be expected to subsidize horse ownership with their own financial security?

Our bills aren't any cheaper than yours, and our bodies take a beating. We'd like to afford health insurance, save for retirement, and maybe even get there with a few functioning joints. 😂

So HUG YOUR FARRIER! TIP YOUR FARRIER! Have your horses caught and ready, and maybe offer them a cold drink. Or a hot one!

And if they look a little stiff when you go in for that hug, give them a minute. They may need help standing upright first. 😂

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go risk being flattened by an oversized grass-powered flight animal so I can afford to feed my own oversized grass-powered flight animals. 😂

And yes this is an AI-generated picture.

10/07/2026

10/07/2026

Always a pleasure working with vets who care about the details, listen, and stay up to date on the latest research. Dr. M is one of the best!

09/26/2026

Therapeutic farrier since 2012, graduate of Mission Farrier School, AFA Certified Farrier, IAPF credentials, Gait Biomechanics/locomotion certificate by Hoofbeat/Dr Hagan.

09/18/2026

At 30, I have destroyed my body from years of riding horses and I’m working to undo the damage.

My shoulders are shot from years of galloping racehorses and having my arms ripped on by strong gallopers.

My knees are sore from getting up and down off of 15-20+ horses on a daily basis during the peak of my career.

My fingers are crooked and have bumps from when I’ve broken them and continued to work with broken bones.

My wrist gets sore because I worked with a broken hand / wrist galloping racehorses because I couldn’t afford the time off.

My back gets sore and I have chronic SI pain. It’s from a combination of things, but there is one particular fall where I fell so hard that I thought I had broken my back.

I am still suffering with struggles from a severe concussion from years ago when I was bumped by a horse on the ground and fell backwards and hit my head on the fence.

The worst part?

Most of these things I was applaud for doing because it was “gritty.”

“Real equestrians always get back on.”

In the moment, it seems fun. It seems tough. But, in the long run when your body is paying for it, it really does suck.

Virtually every situation that injured my body was directly contributed to by horses being stressed due to unmet needs, underlying discomfort or anxiety and responding accordingly on the ground and under saddle.

Meaning that the vast majority, if not all, were completely avoidable.

On top of this, I could’ve avoided injury by slowing down and doing less but, at the time, I felt like doing so would set me far behind so I couldn’t stop.

Now, I’m young and living with chronic pain.

I have finally taken the time to slow down and to try to prioritize both my mental and physical well-being as well as that of the horses’.

And, in doing so, I have received quite the backlash from the equestrian community.

I have told that I have slowed down because I was “fired” or “not good enough to keep up” or “couldn’t get clients.”

All of these criticisms serve the purpose of undermining myself worth for finally putting my mental and physical health first.

Of course, I know that these statements are not true.

I was doing very well business wise, making more money and largely regarded more positively by these types of people when I was harming myself and horses much more.

But, their attitudes paint the picture of a broader issue.

People who choose to step back from the industry and show up in a new way are often made to feel like they have chosen to do so due to a lack of talent, a lack of work ethic or a lack of capability.

This attitude start to further push people to overwork, endanger themselves and continue to participate in a community mindset that is harmful and injures and kills horse people.

By the time I took more of a step back from how I showed up in the training business, I was completely mentally and physically depleted.

Getting out of bed in the morning was a chore. I had completely lost my love for working with horses and had no desire to work with my own horses.

Quite literally, the only thing keeping me getting up in the mornings and alive was the fact that the animals relied on me to care for them.

If it were not for them, I don’t think I would be here.

So, it is not lost on me witnessing the response that I have received regarding the shifts that I have made in my training practices, belief systems and how I show up in the industry.

Two wings of the same bird.

The attitudes and pressures that normalize working through injury, pushing chronically stressed horses to continue working and ignoring what our own minds and bodies are telling us.

This industry cannot claim, at any point, to be pro mental health while we maintain perspective like this.

So much of this industry is all about pressuring people to engage in practices, belief systems, and workplace environments that are harmful to them.

And when they finally say no, the response is often to try to make that person feel like they are simply too weak and incapable. That they are the problem.

Instead of reflecting and looking at the system that we have built.

A system that depletes the bodies of horses and humans and then discards them when they are no longer useful.

It is not sustainable. It is harmful and we all need to do better.

09/17/2026

09/17/2026

This poster is not suggesting horses are stressed all the time, which is THE most common response I get to this poster. Or that they are afraid or in pain all the time, that's impossible. It all depends on the situation they are in, as to what their behaviour means.

But if you see a lot of these behaviours, particularly a grouping of them together, that's a really big red flag! 🚩

All behaviour needs to be considered in the context/ environment in which the horse finds themselves when you see them.

Note that ourselves and OUR behaviour is also part of the horse’s environment. All behaviour needs to be considered in context ie. the current environment, what happened prior, during and after and what is the horse's history regarding training, health status/injury and experiences with humans, other horses and various environments, etc.

If your horse is snoozing under a tree and licks and chews or yawns, most likely the horse is not experiencing fear. (Although they could potentially be experiencing discomfort or pain.)

If you've just done or are doing some groundwork, round pen work, ridden work, gone for a hack, or dentistry, bodywork, worming or vaccinations, or even just tying up and brushing your horse, you MAY see these signs and more.

The more of these behaviours you see, the more likely that you are seeing a response to fear, stress pain, discomfort or frustration or a combination. They tend to come in groups.

We can change our behaviour, our training or handling style, or the environment, or lower our expectations and review our training plans in order to avoid seeing these behaviours in a training or handling context.

It's important to remember that all behaviour has a function for the animal, it has a purpose for the horse, even if we don’t know what it is or understand it, horses behave in certain ways for a reason. It's not them being "quirky" or "spicy" or "naughty" or "weird".

They are masters of subtle communication and we need to learn to read those subtle signs and the big signs as well, not brush them off.

Also consider that if you are absolutely confident that it is not fear, that these behaviours may be caused by the horse's internal environment such as pain or injury.

Photo credit: Pet Professional Guild Australia
Illustrations: Alize V. Muckensturm of Fairhorsemanship: Humane, science-based horse training