Hoof Trimming Clinic for June!

The Hoof Trimming clinics are always a lot of fun and even though June's 3-day clinic happened to land on the hottest weekend of the summer, Sue Ann and Dan were both a pleasure to work with.

They kept their cool and their sense of humor as they labored over the many different hooves here at the center and in temps that reached into the 90s. Wow!

Sue Ann was here to learn to trim her minis. So she became well acquainted with the smaller hooves on the place, Harley provided the smallest hooves and we trimmed both donkey's Annie and Boomer.

Both Dan and Sue Ann worked themselves into a drenching sweat while trimming Big Forrest, the Clydesdale Cross. Forrest is NEVER easy on the students. His job is to make sure they are serious about learning to trim and he knows his job. He is aware that if you can get his hooves trimmed, you can trim any horse! Well, just about any horse!

Dan and Sue Ann got him done and his big ol' hooves looked just awesome. Way to go guys!!

I can't believe they were both still smiling after that job!

Dan with Cricket. One of our founder rehab cases he trimmed. Then we put equicasts on her front feet. She trotted off felling pretty spiffy!

Dan has been one of my favorite customers, but because he lives in Ravensdale, he's been hauling both his horses to me for their trims for over a year now! That's a trek every 5 weeks. Now he'll be able to trim his own horses and he won't have to haul them for an hour to get the job done. That's a very liberating feeling for horseowners. I know!

I'm proud to say that by the end of our third day, after trimming Dan's horses, I was impressed with their tool handling and trimming skills. All of us were hot and tired so we ventured off on a field trip to go see two mini-horses which had just received their pasture trims by a farrier. Seeing their hooves up close really brought home the difference in trimming methods, and we later discussed why natural trims just work better for horses.

We topped off our last day with the traditional "dinner-on-me, at the students choice of any restaurant in Yelm. Yeah, their choices are limited, but ALL GOOD! We had a great time eating at Peurto Vallarta.

All my students are welcome to contact me anytime they have questions, or concerns about how their horses' hooves are doing!

Thanks guys! And have a great summer! You two have earned it!

Sensei Pat

(I love that new title!:0)