CM Farrier and Training/Natural

We do what we have to do for the comfort of our clients 💞

The calluses though 😍

This is why I keep going, my knee, shoulders, and hands are struggling but I will continue for many more years bcz of this right here 🥰

I absolutely appreciate the clients that stay patient and understand progression takes time and the results are worth it 💯

Sometimes, this is what “MUST BE NICE” looks like…..

Just keep on keeping on 💪

I officially broke my career record today! 💪
13 hour day, 3 hours of drive time and 47 horses trimmed. 👌

Thanks for watching over me today Alera White your truly appreciated 🤍

Let me start by saying I don’t post much of my farrier success, I’ve been at it for 16 years and my wonderful clients spread the word for me. I don’t need to advertise.

This post is more for educational purposes.

I from the bottom of my heart want to give a big shout out to the clients who trust in me and let me do my job. They understand that results aren’t immediate and there will be what feels like set backs but it’s part of the process.
They refuse to give up on me or the horse when things aren’t getting better fast. A full hoof restoration can take years to accomplish. But with proper and CONSISTENT diet and trim cycles I can rest assure you it will happen.

Now, to other clients and future clients….

The worst thing you can do is get a second opinion bcz before you know it you’ll have 6 different farriers trimming 10 different ways 🤦‍♀️ also, don’t do the famous… let me call my vet and get their opinion, VETS ARE NOT HOOF CARE PROFESSIONALS! We communicate with the vet when we need meds or X-rays. I am not at all saying they don’t know anything about hoof care (so don’t get defensive) but they do not study it in their everyday lives like farriers do.

It takes consistency!!!!

For example, first pic on the left is a Percheron I started on several years ago who “they” said the horse would never be comfortable without shoes…. 🤔 wrong! The pictures right next to it are current. Huge Transformation!

2nd example, this is a horse I pulled shoes on just yesterday. This horse has a long way to go and thankfully her owner trust in me bcz this one has a lot of navicular soreness going on just due to how forward her heels and toe were “allowed” to grow.(Underrun heels) key factor in navicular horses.

This is just a few examples of why it’s so important to stick with a method long enough to let it work before you give up. I understand some farriers are 💩 (like the ones who shod these horses) and it’s hard to determine if you’re going the right direction but I’ve seen many horses put down when it wasn’t necessary because the owner wouldn’t trust the process.

This is my educational post for the day TRUST THE PROCESS, whether it be about hoof care or a situation in your life in general!!!! 

Just an FYI I absolutely love my personal vet and I love Sarasota Equine for praising me through their surrounding counties. They have seen me work miracles on many of their clients horses. So this is at no way downing any veterinarian. This is simply a post saying trust the process.

Hilarious 😂 (BUT TRUE)

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a farrier? Or maybe just how many times your farrier was p**ped on that morning before shaking your hand? Maybe you have thought to yourself “what’s that smell?” or “what is that green thing stuck to his ear?” or even “The dogs sure love them, I wonder what hoof trimmings taste like?” If 12 years of standing at the anvil have taught me anything it’s that the answer to such mysteries (at least the ones that can be answered in a few words) are: a lot of p**p; also p**p; and salted p**p…

As for what it’s like to be a farrier, let me try to explain. This job is not for the faint of heart or the mentally stable. You can’t be sane (or hope to stay that way long) if you wish to work with equestrians. You have to be insane to participate or work in a full-contact sport that lays under the line where rugby meets motor-cross and your only bit of protection is a hat made of the same material as a disposable coffee cup. Seriously, aside from crash test dummy, what other sport or job exists where someone can suffer massive blunt force trauma and is expected to get right back up and repeat whatever activity just about killed them a moment ago? “Horse or hospital!” is an expression I have heard more than once both as a horse rider and as a farrier (moving target) apprentice.

The ability to withstand impact aside, this is a job that requires the same attention to detail as an artist, the skill and steady hand of a surgeon, the patience of a saint, and the endurance/pain tolerance of a Navy Seal. For those who have never seen a farrier practice their trade and wants to walk in their shoes, try to imagine you are working in a stiflingly hot building, bent over and holding a 2×4 between your knees. On one end of the 2×4 is a small platform you are attempting to perform incredibly detailed work on. This table is incredibly valuable and the slightest mistake could cause it to explode; most of the tools you are given to work with are crude, bulky, and (like the table) also incredibly expensive considering they were invented sometime in the 14th century.

Meanwhile the Hulk is tugging on the other end of that 2×4, occasionally ripping it away from you and dragging small knife blades that are sticking out of this table through your hands and legs. Side note: Friction tape will become your new best friend as it makes holding on to the rusty and poo crusted tools (which are now covered in your own blood) much easier! From time to time the Hulk might let you have the 2×4, but he is going to sit on you while you toil away on your art project. Now, as you fuss over details and panic every few moments that the speck of blood you just saw might not be yours (and are incredibly relieved when it is,) imagine there is a bucket of excrement sitting above your head, which at any moment may tip over on you without warning. Depending on the time of year, that bucket of poo may be switched for a bucket of spit. (Ah, clover…) And I mean more spit than you might think any earthly critter would have the capacity to produce. You will also sweat so much you will drink two gallons of water by the end of the day and not need to p*e once. For this reason you will never leave the house with no less than nine extra shirts and just as many towels.

To make your task even more impossible imagine that there is this invisible crazy man wildly running around your work area swinging Gallagher’s hammer. At any moment he might run up and smash you like one of Gallagher’s ill-fated watermelons. If you are unlucky enough to find yourself on his pedestal of doom that day, you are going to be faced with one of those moments when where most rational people might question your sanity. Since you can’t give up on this ill behaved animal and call it a day with only three of the four 2x4s now complete (even though your a terrifying 4’11” 130lbs women who could body slammed a 1,300 pound Hanoverian into submission to cooperate, the owner would be very displeased if you did) you must trudge on despite the pain of what you are pretty sure is a broken leg and maybe a few pulverized ribs. It takes a special kind of stupid to keep working after the might of Thor’s hammer (a draft horse) knocks you through a barn wall. Fortunately you’re a farrier and you are just the kind of stupid needed to get back up and finish the job!

Now that you’re done with the first horse there are 12 more waiting…

When a farrier asks to reschedule or can’t get to you right away it’s not bcz we are lazy, it’s bcz it physically takes a toll on us…. 😣

A close friend of mine said, do me a favor and hug Jenna-the miracle donkey a little tighter tonight! 🫏🤍

This week I had the opportunity to pass on what I learned with Jenna to a dear friend of mine with her heart horse severally impacted.

It worked!!!! As she called me crying about to give up I told her to trust the process I have faith and IT WORKED! Another life saved bcz Jenna nor I would give up!

I’m a true believer in everything happens for a reason. I never understood why life put my precious donkey through complete hell fighting an impaction. But then I realized it’s bcz I don’t have a give up personality. We fought with everything we had and found what worked. Jenna nor I gave up. 💪

So tonight I hugged my sweet little donkey tighter bcz shes not only helping save lives she’s saving broken hearts ❤️‍🩹

For sure one of my favorites 🤍🤎

Just sitting on the job 😂

One of my favorite donkeys to trim 🤍