Every Horse has a Story

Sage, the horse who lead me to Barefoot Hoof Care, Part 1

In August of 1998, Me, my husband and our son were on our way to take care of the horses before we went to play music at a Benefit Concert to help raise money for some people who lost their home in a fire. On the way to the barn, a car turned out in front of us which resulted in a serious auto accident that changed the trajectory of our “planned” lives at the time. I’m going to skip over the years of surgeries and recovery details to the part where we received a settlement five years later.

With the opportunity to buy a farm of our own, that adventure ultimately took us from the Hudson Valley up to the Schoharie Valley, further upstate in NY. I had a horse named Rookie who was living at the farm I had managed for 17 years at the time of the accident. I had bought his Mom, Candy, a chestnut Arabian in 1978 knowing she was in foal. Obviously, that was yet another amazing adventure in my life that will find its place in a future story. Rookie, 20 at this time (with me below), had to be boarded down the road from where we lived while we recovered from our injuries. I knew I was going to have to get him a friend as our time to move upstate was fast approaching.

Me and Rookie at East Mountain Farm and Stables. He was one of my “Health Care Practitioners” with all those who helped me recover from the accident

I found a website called, “Dream Horse.com” and saw a horse that I couldn’t get off my mind. He was a 4 y/o Arabian/ Tri-Colored Tobiano Paint cross. I actually found this paper below that I printed out in a folder when the time was right for me to share his story. Or I should say that it found me! along with all the other relevant things that are also included.

So, I called and said I wanted to come and look at him. I went the first time by myself to take some pictures and take him for a ride.

I road him in a large outdoor arena and took him on a trail ride with Sally, who owned the boarding facility and was taking care of the sale. I really liked him. He had a great personality and moved nicely.

I came back for two more rides and my son came with me the third time. On that third day, he said to me, “Mom! Aren’t you going to take him home? He IS your Dream Horse!” Sally said, “your son is right!” Well, that clinched it so, I officially purchased him that day. We had a lot of work to do at our new place to get it ready for Rookie and Sage. So, I paid board to keep him at Sallys for 2 months and came to visit him as often as I could to get to know him better and ride on the trails.

Sage arrived before Rookie by a couple of weeks. They became fast friends. All was going well with the progress of the house, barn and fencing. I enjoyed riding them both. Then one morning, Rookie didn’t come in the from the field for his bucket. He was standing with a hind hoof unweighted while grazing and could not put any weight on it. I could see it was fractured. Before I knew it, the little foal who laid his head on my shoulder shortly after he was born 28 years before, was gone. (Part of his story is here).

Sage was alone for a few months. It was awful for both he and I. I had a couple of different horses here in training, or on trial, but of course their time with him was short. I heard about a Haflinger mare that needed a home. She had a need and so did we, so she came to live here with Sage. We named her Maizie, and her story will be in this series soon, because she too, became part of my hoof care journey and more.

Sage was shod during the summer riding months and around the beginning of each November, I would pull his shoes for the winter. In 2007 we had a warm stretch of weather that kept temperate Autumn conditions with us into December of 07 and the first 2 weeks of January 08. I really noticed how much better he was moving without shoes, and couldn’t shake it from my mind.

My Husband and Son went to Maryland to visit family, so I had the ranch to myself. I walked out to the mailbox to get the mail and as I walked back to the house I noticed a red banner on the top of my newly delivered Horse & Rider Magazine…

With a cup of coffee in front of me, I turned directly to the article described in the banner and immediately knew this was where my path was calling me. The trick was starting the journey. All we had for an internet connection was Dial-up! The article lead me to Pete Ramey’s website. It took hours to print out information. I was hungry for anything I could read on barefoot.

I was able to find someone who was offering the “Barefoot Trim” I was reading about. Her name was Amy Sheehy. She was in the process of attaining her certification with the IAEP. She didn’t have any clients in my area, but she came to spend a day with me at my place to get me up to speed and to trim my two horses. I was more than game to try it myself, and she was willing to help me. We became fast friends. I traveled down to the Hudson Valley, not far from where we lived before we bought the farm, to shadow her once or twice a week. She had been hearing about a new Barefoot Hoof Trimming School called The Equine Sciences Academy (ESA) and strongly encouraged me to enroll. I filled out my application, emailed it back and waited…

While I was waiting, I pulled a mason jar filled with dimes I had collected for years out of a cabinet. I rolled them all up and traded them in at the bank for dollars and went to the Farrier Supply Store in Greenville, NY a few towns south from where I live. I bought a pair of hoof nippers, a hoof knife, a rasp, handle and a pair of light leather chaps (the chaps I still use all these years later).

I received my Acceptance Letter from the ESA and immediately dove into my studies. The first class I was REQUIRED to take was “Critical Thinking”. That class alone really shifted my analysis of information. Every class I took taught me to be mindful of all information, even the information I didn’t necessarily agree with. The “Barefoot” movement was still very young and this foundation to the rest of my studies was so valuable. Not just for classes, but how to think about everything.

Before I knew it, I was on a plane headed for Eminence, MO for the ESA Orientation Week. We watched the Instructors trim horses, had the opportunity to trim a distal limb cadaver and to dissect it. There are bands of protected wild horses in Eminence that we had the opportunity to observe. There are no real good words to describe what that was like and how it made me feel. Absolute awe is the closest.

We all shared stories around the night fire, meals and enjoyed this commonality that brought us all together for a week. Looking back, it was an amazing start to what would become a large part of my life from then on, both personal and professional in just a few months.

I immediately dove into my studies when I returned home. All I had to “practice” my fledgling trimming skills on was Sage and Maizie. Then one morning, Sage came walking gingerly out of the pasture with what appeared to be a bout of laminitis! I had to move into the fast lane. I received help online from my Instructors, the student forum and from Amy.

Crash course…I learned about diet, grass, insulin resistance, pasture turn out, grazing muzzles (pros and cons), Paddock Paradise, hay nets, trimming guidelines to grow it out, EasyCare hoof boots and in a 11 months we were back to riding completely barefoot and on challenging terrain! And I never looked back…

Stay tuned for Part 2… and a quick Reader Poll.