My Dream

My dream for my future is to build a Hoof Recovery Center right here on our modest little 10 acre farm. Purchasing the 40 acre parcel next door is also a part of that dream. When I can do that (thinking positively) I will build a very large facility/arena with indoor automatic walkers, stalls filled with sand for founder cases. Large paddocks and there will be a very natural environment set up on the property, like you see in some of the larger zoos, for the horses to live as the wild horses live.

I will invite students of Natural Hoof Care to come and reside on the property and work taking care of the horses, in exchange for learning. Am I concerned that there may not be enough horses with hoof pathology to keep the place going? Nope! The second leading cause of death for horses is hoof disease. (The first is colic, but hoof related issues must be over-taking colic as we educate ourselves about healthy feeding programs.)

I see so many problem hooves when I’m out in the field and I’ve spent some time in the rendering man’s back lot cutting the hooves off horses whose vet/farriers failed them with our traditional hoof treatment regimes. I cannot tell you how many of those fancy “natural balance” shoes I’ve removed from the hooves of dead horses.

Did you know that the average life span for a domestic horse is 12 years old? How sad is that? When we don’t interfere with the herds, wild horses live much longer than domestic horses. That’s likely because no one is screwing up their feet!