Trimming

Today I trimmed my first hoof ever.  In fact, I trimmed two of them!  Both were cadaver hooves, which made it easier in that respect that I didn't have to worry about "messing it up".  It was strange to hold a dead horse's hoof in your hand and think that that animal had still been alive less than two days earlier.  What was his life like?  Why did they slaughter him?  If his feet had been trimmed correctly when he lived, would he have avoided the death penalty? (the other hoof I had was pretty bad and probably caused the horse all kinds of trouble when he was alive...)  I took a little moment to thank both horses that donated their hooves to help me learn to trim.  I am forever grateful. 

Trimming with Claudia's instruction was easy, she is a brilliant teacher and really knows her stuff.  She has helped me realize how much there is that I don't know, but that there are also so many things I understand and am capable of.  I can see now that the two people who have trimmed Little Love were not professionals.  I'm not a professional either, but I believe I can do a better job myself. 

We took pictures of both hooves before and after, which was helpful (sorry, don't have cable with me so can't get them off camera yet!).  Tomorrow we'll get to have a supervised go at a real horse.  Which is a lot more unnerving.  Hopefully I can keep the relaxed attitude I had today...

All in all, it has been a fantastic four days.  I now have hope of helping Little Love and her feet.  Claudia and I made a plan for next week.  When I get home, I'll take pictures of the hooves and send them to her for comments.  She'll tell me what to do and then I'll take a shot at it.  Of course, I'll take pictures afterwards so she can help me make improvements in my basic trim (it's pretty freaking basic).  This will have to work.  I may not be the best trimmer in the universe, but damn if I'm not determined to help Little Love grow better hooves.