Hello all you lovely people.
ME, ME, ME!
Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Debs. I’m an Equine Podiatrist and Health Care Practitioner from the South of England. That’s just details really, to find out who I really am and what I stand for you’ll have to read more of the blog. It’s going to take some time to get to know the important bits.
This blog is for you, not for me, but if you’d like more of the details of who I am and what I do, you can find them on my business website at www.JustHorseSense.co.uk
YOU, YOU, YOU!!
It’s probably more important to talk about why I’ve created HoofGeek.com It’s for you! Seriously, I’m not quite crazy enough to be doing this as an elaborate and public way of talking to myself! It’s all for you. I’d very much like this blog to be a place where you can find the answers to your questions, support for your concerns and solutions to your problems.
With that in mind, I’m going to need your help. I know it seems a bit rude to be asking you for help from the get go, but bear with me just a moment. While I have a mind full of all sorts of information, some of it useful, some of it less so, I’m not a mind reader. I need you to get involved so more of the useful things than the strange and random things come out.
Ask Questions… Please
I’ll do my best to answer as many of your questions as I can, either in the form of an article or a downloadable guide, depending on how deep the answer to your question really is. Please bear in mind that some questions may only take a minute to ask, but the answer could be a whole book! An answer of a few sentences isn’t really going to cut it most of the time.
The point is, most answers will be fairly swift, but for meatier subjects it may take a little longer to do your questions justice, so please be patient. If you need help urgently, then say so and I’ll do whatever I can for you.
All Input Welcome – Get Involved
Give me your feedback and input. The more you can tell me about what you want out of this blog, what format you want information in, what your concerns are, and whether the information given here is helpful or not, the better!
Use Social Media Invite All Your Friends
Ask your friends to join too. Hoof Geek is on Twitter and Facebook so you can share as much as you like. The more people asking questions and giving their opinion the better!
Comment on the Blog Posts
At the end of every blog post is a comments section for you to tell me what you think (good bad or indifferent!) Use it at will to further any discussion on a topic, clarify anything you’re pondering, or give any sort of feedback you fancy. I’d like to hear from you.
I’ll be doing all I can to keep trolls and troublemakers out. When you comment on a post you’re asked for your email address for this reason, it’s not published, only I see it. I promise I’m never going to pass on your details to anyone. I hate spam and sales emails just as much as you do. It does however allow me to keep trouble makers to a minimum.
Sign Up
Sign up for the free Hoof Geek Guide using the box at the top right and receive email updates of interesting articles. You can unsubscribe from the mailing list at any time by simply clicking the unsubscribe button on the bottom of each email.
Support and Guidance
There’s so much information out there on the internet, you can often find yourself becoming more confused when looking for an answer. A wise fella said that people are drowning in information yet thirsting for knowledge. There is just so much information out there, unless you know the answer before you look, how do you ever tell if the answer is sound, or just convincing.
Understanding isn’t the only thing in short supply. Genuine support and guidance can be hard to come by. I hope you can find this here at Hoof Geek. If you can’t, let me know! It means I’m doing something wrong and I’d be very interested to put it right.
Main Page
You’ll always find the most recent blog posts at the top of the home page. Notifications of new blog posts will be given on Facebook and Twitter, and if social media isn’t your thing then make sure you’ve subscribed to receive emails to notify you of new blog posts and free giveaways.
Categories
If you’re after information on a specific subject, then use the category search. If you can’t find the answer you’re looking for, use the ‘Ask the Hoof Geek’ feature and I’ll do my best to cover whatever subject you’re researching.
Free Reports
From time to time I’ll be posting new reports and Hoof Geek Guides for you to download on hot topics and common areas of concern or inquiry. Keep an eye out for them on the resources page, notifications will be posted on Facebook and Twitter, and if you’re subscriber, you’ll get an email to keep you posted. To access all the free resources, join the Hoof Geek Academy
I hope you enjoy this blog.
Debs
great, thanks
no problem
glad you liked it
Thank you Debs, firstly for taking the iniative to start this web-site, and secondly for including me.
I have one home bred Oldenburg gelding, now 8 years old. he has had the benefit of podiatry care for most of his life but on moving house almost 4 years ago, from the south of England to rural Lincolnshire, I couldn’t afford the expense of ‘importing’ a Podiatrist (non in reasonable distance and cost £45 in travel cost alone) and during a two year period I had a sympathetic local farrier to simply rebalance his feet each 6 weeks. Evenso, because the hooves were so strong and healthy this worked quite well.
Then a year ago I was going to sell my horse and sent him away to a super dressage trainer to find the right ‘new mum’ for him. I was persueded to have front shoes put on…..to improve his movement(!) As it happens, I chickened out of selling him and he came home 2 months later.
I kept the shoes on as he seemed fine and the same farrier that had trimmed him, shod him. within 3 months he appeared lame, only on the left rein, when I was lunging him. I’m experienced enough to be able to investigate this sort of problem up to a certain point. There was no obvious injury, I had his back checked, and actually the problem was very slight….. but I knew it was there! It seemed to me that it was imbalance rather than pain.
I had veterinary advice and his conclusion was the same as mine, the off fore/near hind diagonal in trot…walk was fine. I had xrays taken and they were clear. Diagnossis inconclusive…… a course of Bute was offered!!
Then I had a stroke of luck. I read an article in the Horse and Hound by the wonderful Farrier Hadyn Price. It explained the concept of shoeing horses with assymetric front feet. The answer was clear, I had noticed from an early age that my young horse was slightly more upright on his off fore foot. My Podiatrists had balanced the feet with this in mind, so the feet had gradually become more symetrical, therefore no problems; but not enough to be able to accept the complete alteration of balance when large amounts of hoof were removed to accommodate front shoes. Over several months this had thrown the horses natural way of placing his front feet and caused an unlevel way of going.
Shoes off, and within 2 weeks the problem was lessening dramatically. Then the second bit of luck happened. The livery yard has holiday accommodation and a lady from south Lincolnshire came to stay for a weekend. She is an Equine Podiatrist! I told her my story and she said she could come up and trim my horse for me.
That was last summer and Chris has been trimming my horse ever since. She has addressed a number of issues with flair and heel length, and now I even have visiting farriers congratulating me on my horse fine feet.
So, I am one of the converted and I only wish more people would be patient enough to try there horse barefoot…..before a problem rears it’s ugly head, that’s the secret!!
Hey Susie,
I’m glad you’ve joined me. Sounds like your horse has been an interesting case. Sometimes things just don’t work the way text books say they should do they!
Debs
Well Deb, that’s horses for you! Unless there is a disfigurement of some sort, all horses start out sound and without foot problems. Then we humans take over and mess the whole thing up!
It’s part of our charm 🙂