New Barefoot Trimmer

I've been hunting for a new barefoot trimmer, my previous guy was good but I don't like how he handles Calvin, as I've mentioned before. He wants me to be there when Calvin gets done, which is always ideal as I want to know what's going on with his feet. Yet at the same time, I can't *always* be there because I have class, or work, or can't commute during that time or else face 3+ hours sitting in a car. This leads me to have to reschedule which often times makes Calvin overdue. Calvin was on a 6w trim schedule and I told my trimmer "he keeps stumbling in front." So he'd trim and then a few weeks into the trim, he'd stumble again.

What you can't see: gail force winds. Trying to keep Calvin distracted so he doesn't want to move.

I decided to try Ilona, another barefoot-only trimmer. She's a hilarious Polish woman who tells it like it is. I've found that people who also shoe horses aren't as good with bare feet. I'm sure there are competent farriers out there who do both, but I've been much more pleased with barefoot-only people. Ilona is no exception, she said she couldn't "shoe a horse to save her life" and decided to apprentice under another barefoot trimmer. The rest is history as they say. 

I warned her that Calvin is impatient. She assured me that impatience is no problem but she's not there to train him. I wouldn't expect her to train him, many people send their unruly horses to farriers and expect miracles. Calvin started very good, as he usually does. Then he started to get wiggly and didn't want to stand still. Ilona still said he was very good and "polite." I said "really? Polite?!" And she said yes, even though he's wiggly he doesn't do anything dangerous or mean. Her motto is "don't fight" the horse, after all if they want their foot away you can't really stop them. This is what I was looking for, someone who understands that gaining trust takes time. 

Pedicures! Ilona wants me to soak his hooves since it's summer now. Summer means rock hard hooves, soaking in water helps soften them up...like human fingernails. I don't have soaking boots, so I used his feed tray and plastic bags inside his Renegade hoof boots. 

The experience went really well and Calvin was very good. She said he was very polite again and gave him lots of horse cookies. She takes pictures and does a very thorough write up for her first time horses. If you're my facebook friend, you probably saw all the pictures already. The gist was that his toes were too long, heels contracted. So we're working to make them perfect :)