I take pictures of the hooves of the horses I trim. I try to make certain to take before and afters of the first trim on the horse, and then follow up afters of notable changes. I download my camera and file hundreds of hoof photos on a separate/external hard drive named with the horse and dated into folders under that horse. When I have time or questions on a particular horse, I can go back and review where we started, how far we've come, what's changed and what hasn't and what needs to change. When I have still more time, I try to load comparison photos to my website because I've had so much great feedback on how people enjoy the before/after pages of all different types of hooves. The problem with doing this is multi-part. It's really time consuming... sometimes I miss a shot - so I find a particularly good lateral view "after" - but somehow the "before" is missing, or it's a little blurry, or the angles are not the same enough to offer a fair comparison. I've had clients think they will get before/afters posted after every single trim, which I just can't do, I would need another day or two in the week at least. I've had repeated problems with my trimming cameras. Trimming is a bit hard on an auto everything digital camera... the dust, wind, dirt, dropping, and constant daily use tends to wear 'em out. I had one camera stolen. I just got one broken-screened camera back from the repair shop, when I had to send the back up one out for a similar problem. I lost a battery (Linx??) and had to order a new one... You get the picture.
Anyway, I spent a long time agonizing over the latest batches of photos last night. I didn't like what I was seeing... why didn't that horse's heels lower yet? why are those toes looking so long still? why didn't I trim off that bar right there? is that the same @#$* crack that we started with? Mario pulled up a chair to see what I was huffing and sighing over, and eventually found himself in the same situation... well, yeah, maybe you could have lowered that right there, or smoothed that off ... and next thing you know I am laying awake in my bed wishing I had done more or less with each horse and wondering if that would make them lame or make them sounder... And then I step back after a particularly intense round of obsessing, and think - this is HORSE FEET for God's sake! How did I get like this?? I am afraid my job is absolutely taking me over. But I don't know if I want it another way! So I am in a quandry.
I did have some good tool experiences recently. This will seem really odd to anyone that has no experience with tools other than the odd hammering in of a nail to hang a picture (which was me, BT - before trimming). I have used one type of rasp for several years now, after my initial explorations into rasps. Recent discussions on a barefoot list led me to try a few new brands of rasp - like seeing with new eyes, I was trying them with a totally different perspective than I had when starting out. To my delight I found a rasp that I quite like, it's a few dollars cheaper than my old brand, and seems to be holding its sharpness longer. So for now, it's good bye Save Edge, hello Heller Legend. I also tried a Bellota and while I really was excited about how super sharp it was - found I could not (not, at all) do a mustang roll with the aggressive side. It was just way too grippy, and unless you were going with the grain of the hoof - which is like strands of hair glued together, going the same direction - you were just kidding yourself. Hooves in SoCal right now are like concrete, so perhaps a softer hoof would push out of the 'way' more easily. I will experiment some more...
Then, I had the oddest thing happened where my 12" GE nippers rusted over night. They were stored in the same tupperware tub in the back of my VW Touareg (SUV) as they have been for a few years now. Why did they suddenly rust? It's been hot and dry, and nothing spilled on them. In any case they were just a mess, and my 14" GEs were suddenly not opening. They didn't rust, per se, but the jaws were very tight and made it almost impossible to trim with. Repeated spraying with Cool Lube was not really helping. On our way up to San Luis Obispo on Friday, we stopped at Lopez Tools... Mr. Lopez himself came out to greet us - we ended up getting an interesting education in the history of his farrier supply business, and went on our way 45 minutes later with a brand spanking new set of 14" race track nippers, and our rusted 12" GEs looking just as spanking. And, we had both nippers set up with nice black handle grips, something I've never worked with before. It was so exciting to get to the first stop and use all our new tools! The 12" are so called because the handles are 12" in length, and Mario uses these. I use the 14" because those few extra inches of leverage making nipping a little easier for me, since I am not as strong. The handles cushion your hands a little from the vibration when the nippers snap through the wall. The 'race tracks' have a slightly smaller biting surface, which means there is less material to push through the hoof - so you take a little smaller surface off with each bite, but smaller bites also make it a little bit easier. Trust me, with granite hooves, and lots of 'em, sharp tools that are designed to make your job even the teeniest bit easier are incredibly appreciated! And under those well oiled works of art, the hooves felt like buttah! Certainly made our jobs easier that day!
General update stuff - Mario and I got together for dinner with my friend Kristen, her husband Bill, and their toddler Nathan, for dinner tonite. I had not seen Kristen in about a year and a 1/2, and Nathan was just brand new. They stopped by to check out the house (I spent most of the day cleaning!) and then we went to dinner on the pier in Ventura. I wish I had snapped a picture of us all... It was really nice to catch up. Now I am way too full (grilled salmon and broccoli, mashed potatos and blood orange sorbet...) and ready for bed! Mario is golfing with his step dad and brothers tomorrow morning, maybe I can get him to write an update???? (guess he's waiting for the fountain to actually be done before he writes again!)
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