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Susanella Noble, CNBBT
Natural Hoof Care Practitioner
Level II Graduation Class
March 22, 2008
I attended the ELPO Natural Balance clinic in Penrose, CO, where I was fortunate to be mentored by eleven of the best farriers in the world, including Gene Ovnicek. They shared their techniques and specialties with us and invited us to observe them in their joint research projects.
To prepare for certification I had studied all the ELPO literature, did research at the University of the Internet and residency at the School Of Hard Knocks. But there is nothing like having a master put his hand over yours to demonstrate the smooth stroke of a rasp or grip of a knife. These great men gave me the physical techniques and mental tools to successfully trim and rehabilitate deformed hooves into healthy, functional feet.
For most of my life I have been the perfect horse owner. I listened to my vets, I listened to my farriers and I could whip out cash in the blink of an eye. When I found Lio (means horse in Hawaiian) I instinctively wanted to keep him barefoot and hired a local farrier to trim his feet. As a result, they were long in the toes and heels and then started to split up the front dorsal walls... then Lio had a huge over-heating incident and came up lame. From there it went to hell and Lio ended up in so much pain from chronic laminitis/white line disease that I made the decision to put him down. I called a different vet for the job who told me about a farrier who was practicing Equine Digit Support System. He came and got Lio stabilized in foam pads and eventually EDSS shoes but it wasn't really working. Then I heard that Gene Ovnicek was coming to the Big Island and he graciously came to Harmony Farm to work on Lio and showed the local farriers how to treat him. They didn't "get it" and Lio started to backslide!
Sometimes you've just got to do it yourself.
With the information on www.hopeforsoundness.com and the long-distance help of Gene Ovnicek and the entire Natural Balance and Equine Digit Support System staff, I learned to trim Lio's feet and set the orthopedic EDSS shoes which keep him out of pain while the lamanae and hoof capsules grow back down around the coffin bones.
As word got out around the Big Island, I began helping other horses with hoof problems. I am either the last chance or the best hope, the one the owners call when the old-fashioned farrier methods don't work.. Our soggy island climate is very hard on horses, especially on the windward side. The humidity encourages the growth of bacteria and it requires a delicate balance of diet, exercise and expert hoof care to keep a horse truly sound.
As of April '08, Lio is barefoot on the RF but still has an EDSS cuff shoe on the LF. He can't walk anywhere -- he has to run, prance, buck, slide, fart and kick his heels in the air!
Miracles do come true!
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