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Re: [RC] Importance of Hoof Balance - Laney HumphreyLori, I think you point out exactly the problem many of us are dealing with! I'm only just realizing that the Certified Journeyman Farrier I've used for years just doesn't see hoof imbalances. He's now learning to trim barefoot & learning from good sources but, alas, from a distance. He's reading books and watching videos but neither will help him relearn to look at the hoof he's working on. When I pulled my horse's shoes and we had/have a long, painful and frustrating transition, I took it upon my self to learn about hooves. I know very little but I'm at least learning to really look. However, if I had stayed with that person, I don't know that I could have ever persuaded him to *see* my horse's long toe/under run heel, and medial/lateral imbalances. I'm counting my lucky stars that I've found someone else recently who I'm hoping will have better trained eyes!As for what we can do when we're stuck with a "know it all?" I guess the options range from learning to trim/shoe our own horses to learning how to engage the farrier/trimmer in making the hooves look the way *we* think they should. That probably means going back to psych 101 and figuring out what makes the guy/woman tick. Most of us are women and most of us deal in our non-horsey lives with people who believe and think differently than we do. Most of us are pretty good at figuring out how to deal with these people so we can at least work the same deal with our farriers/trimmers: flirt, bring out a nice, cool iced tea (or beer!), appear neat and wear clean jeans so we appear both "professional" and willing to honor his/her professional status; remember not to rant and rail; ask questions (based on what we want the hooves to look like) but don't throw our knowledge in his/her face, etc., etc., etc. Laney Lori Bertolucci wrote: Lynne, good article. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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