Barefootin' Revisited

[Darolyn Butler-Dial <darolyn@swbell.net>]

Hi everyone,
Hope it was a Merry Xmas for you'all.  Never have a white one in Houston, so
Mark & I were lucky enough to zip up to Boulder via Denver & see daughter
Rima in her new home town.  CeCi flew up too, so we had the whole family
together far from home.

It was a strange Xmas as we never got a tree up, nor actually went Xmas
shopping.  I just kept telling everyone that our Xmas present to the world
was the new (but old) method of "barefoot" horses.  We had Ms. Martha Olivo
of "UNITED HORSEMANSHIP" as a guest and clinician in my home for the whole
week preceding Xmas.  We were absolutely enthralled and fascinated by the
personal contact of an "almost" Strasser Certified Whole Horse Trim
Specialist".  Whew... is that a mouthful.

Explanation....  She will be certified by next spring.  It is a year long
program under Dr. Hiltrud Strasser (Germany) who developed (after 20 years
of research) this particular trim.  Whole horse means it affects the whole
horse & the whole horse or rather "Natural Horse Keeping" means it affects
the health of the whole horse.  Meaning, they suggest that the whole idea of
horse keeping be very natural i.e.  No stalls, no blankets, no leg wraps,
etc.  And since you cannot call these people farriers, (horrors), they call
themselves Horse Trim Specialists.

In hopes that I haven't lost you.... if you saw my earlier posts, you may
remember that I discovered this whole phenomenon in the middle of October
when a good horse of mine developed a light case of laminitis.  After doing
the accepted heroic vet thing, & on to heartbar shoes, I stumbled on to
several of the "barefoot" web pages only to find out that what I was doing
doesn't work.  & since I, unfortunately, had a pretty vivid picture of
several past failures I was inclined to agree.  A local "convert" came out &
muddled thru my/& my horse's first trim. Then I started reading the books &
studying the web pages even more.  Luckily I noticed that Martha had a Texas
Clinic the middle of December, & decided to go... no wait... why not have
her here in a clinic in Humble??

And that we did.  It filled up quickly & the one day clinic soon turned to a
four day marathon.  We had two instructional clinic days, (Tues & Thurs),
with a middle day for personal private trims by Martha, (which we could
watch), then a fourth & final day, where the students could bring their own
horses & practice under Martha's watchful eye & instruction.  It was
beautiful!!!  Not one person who came was disappointed or not totally
convinced that this is the way a horse is suppose to live its life.  Her
scientific research and documentation was awe inspiring; her presentation
with videos of cadaver dissection, charts, posters, graphics, and real
cadaver bones & feet were more than convincing.  Her upfront and personal
debate with one of three attending farrier's was astounding.  The
Veterinarian who attended day II of the Clinic was out here on Day IV
trimming her own horse.

I'm trying to persuade Kathleen (AERC) to work Martha in for a demo at AERC
Convention, and as Martha is already scheduled that weekend for a Clinic, I
hope I can persuade her to reschedule.  I think what she has to teach us
about the at "home horse", the "competition horse", & the "chronically lame
horse", especially the foundered or laminitic horse is absolutely
incredible.

Now I realize that being in a soft sandy area, it will be impossible for me
to ride w/o hoof protection in rocky areas... but there are answers to that
as well.  Beside the well known easy boots, there are several very
sophisticated companies, such as Horsneakers & Swiss Horse Boots that are
ready to deliver a high tech answer to foot protection.

I don't want to start a "horseshoe tossing" debate... if you are interested,
go to the web pages at the end of this "e".  Read Dr. Strasser's Lifetime of
Soundness, or "Shoeing, A Necessary Evil?", or Jamie Jackson's Natural Hoof
Trim Book.  They can do a lot more explaining and convincing than this lil'
ole' e mail.

Guys, I have over 40 horses on my place now.... only 2.5 of them have shoes
on... hopefully in another month or so that will be 0.  I've learned to do
the trim myself (got a leather apron & everything <LOL>) ... Actually I had
early on appointed "Cowboy" to be the trim specialist, but then he had the
audacity to have "rotator cuff" surgery in November & there went that arm
for 6 months.  So..... guess who's doing the trims???  It's not hard.. in
fact, its almost addictive to see just how perfect you can get it.

It reminds me a lot of the sport of Endurance Riding when I first got into
it.... I just thought I knew a lot about horses & riding, etc... same
here... I just thought I knew what a horses foot was suppose to look
like.... now I know, & what is better, I can take a hoof knife & file, and
change a distorted and mangled hoof into a beautiful, well shaped, healthy
bare foot.  And you can too.  But you need to train yourself.  The web pages
and books are helpful, the e group will be quite supportive and its getting
wide spread enough now, that somewhere close perhaps, is someone who
attended a clinic... or go to one yourself, or sponsor one.  Your horse's
life will change for the better and so will yours.

Farriers listen up.... learn the trim... leave those horseshoes at home...
save your elbow. <BG>  There will be a tremendous demand for good "trimmers"
Martha was a farrier for 25 years before "the change"... you are our best
bet for trained technicians, please look into it.  Your income won't change,
just your "arthritic elbow".

Once again,
Happy Holidays from Cypress Trails,
Darolyn, Mark, CeCi & Brittany

web pages:  www.tribeequus.com/    www.barefoothorse.com/
www.alltel.net/star/	www.thehorseshoof.com

 Visit Treating Founder (Chronic Laminitis) Without Shoes at:
http://members.screenz.com/gretchenfathauer/

           Darolyn Butler-Dial & Mark Dial
  CYPRESS TRAILS EQUESTRIAN TRAINING CENTER
Specializing in Endurance Horses 	& Barefoot Trimming
Distributor for Professional Choice,  Sharon Saare Saddles
								& KM (the Human Electrolyte)
	21415 Cypresswood Dr.   Humble, TX 77338
(281) 446 7232   Toll Free 1 (800) 228 8768   e mail darolyn@swbell.net
Web Page  http://home.swbell.net/darolyn/