Biscuit's Hooves are almost DONE

I went out to the barn today and pulled up The Biscuit.  I got out my grooming tools and left him tied on the washrack while I visited with Lee Ann.  She said it was too cold to ride so we didn't ride - boo hoo!!  We discussed our upcoming trip and we are so excited about it. 

I went out to the washrack and got my hoof trimming tools and my bucket of treats.  I got out my hoofpick with the brush, my circular knife, gloves, rasp and nippers. 

I cleaned his hoof in all the little crevices and used the little scrub brush to clean them out.  I picked up the circular knife and cut out the bars, cut into the back so the channels were open, and trimmed the frog where needed.  Little pockets of thrush but it was ok.  I did this on each hoof.  Biscuit was pretty good about it today - not perfect but a huge improvement over last year.  I gave him a treat after working on each hoof. 

I nipped away at each hoof in turn and cut away what he didn't need.  I can see that the ugly on each hoof is almost gone.  OMG that is wonderful.

He continued to give me a little bit of trash but wasn't too hard to do.  I just held on to his hoof no matter what.  He was really good about letting me stretch them out in front of him to do the mustang roll.  I rasped them down and smoothed them out and was very pleased with the concavity of each hoof.  His hoof wall is thick and strong.  The funky little seedy toe at the end of one of his back hooves is almost gone.  I think in a few weeks it will be.  This is what I have been working towards since I first got Biscuit!  Concavity, strong hoof walls, no thrush, no contraction (still a little bit of that but that is almost gone too) strong frogs, no cracks and heels where they should be.  I couldn't be more pleased.  Lee Ann P thought they looked good too. 

Biscuit pooped twice up there - he was groomed as he was full of dried mud - and he was given treats and hugged up every few minutes. 

I took him back down to his paddock and put him in with Sarge.  I hopefully will get to Sarge's hooves Friday.  I have a cake consult in the morning, then Christmas Dinner for grandson Kade at his school tomorrow and then out to the barn.

Lee Ann P called and said Doug said we needed compasses so we don't get so adventuresome that we get lost if we loose signal to our GPS.  He was listening to the radio and they were discussing getting lost after losing signal so he called Lee Ann and said to go buy both of us compasses and learn to use them.  So, Lee Ann and I are off on another adventure to learn to use compasses to back up our GPS's.  So after dinner with Kade we are going to run to Gander Mountain and then try to squeeze in a ride. 

What fun.  I don't know if we will become competitive endurance riders but we will be come endurance riders all the same.  We are going to try out the compasses in Tyrrell and then in Brazos Bend.  We are planning a ride at Ebenezer in January two weeks before our ride at the Airport.  We are planning on riding with GPS coordinates to the waterfall and using the compasses to get back so we can back up what we learn.  I found an article on using a compass so I am going to pour of it and learn as much as I can.  Happy Trails!!