Willow’s Wisdom and Medicine

by Crow Fire Healing | Mar 10, 2023

Willow’s Wisdom and Medicine

Willow, what a beautiful soul she is.

I have to start her story off by saying, my have my views and opinions changed.

I once told myself, “Courtney, we will never have a mini horse. They are useless, what good are they. If you are going to have an animal, it has to have a job.”

Fast forward a few years, and I have a mini.

See I used to think mini’s were buttholes, well they are, but the lens I view that “buteholeness” has changed. It’s changed because of Willow.

See, Willow came to be on the farm because I needed a companion for Red. That kinda makes me laugh when I say that, because I know of a client for got 3 other cats specifically to be with their first cat. I resonate with that client here, I got Willow for Red. You see I bought my lovely farm because it was a long time childhood dream to live on a piece of land where I could see my horse from my kitchen and grow all the herbs, flowers and veggies my heart desired.

But really how it all went down is Red and Willow found each other. I thought I found her. I thought I was being a good horse mom. Nah, they found each other. I am so okay with that too. It was very daunting trying to sort through the profiles at local rescues trying to pick one.

So when I was looking for a horse, I was looking at all of them. I thought maybe I’d get a new riding horse as well; but the idea of feeding another full sized horse at the time made my stomach turn. So, to help with the daunting task of picking a horse, I narrowed it down to a few and I just decided to try something. I went to Red with the potential new family members pictures in my mind and I asked him his opinion on who to bring home.

If you haven’t gathered yet by reading through my blog, I very much believe in Spirit, “ghosts”, fairies, our ancestors always being with us in spirit. I can also speak to animals (I love that part of my job). So, going to Red at the time though not a strange concept, I was still in the midst of exploring my skills and how speaking to animals and spirit manifested itself.

What happened when I brought the pictures to Red was, the photo of Willow kept coming up. I almost wasn’t “allowed” to show the other photos to him. I believe and I know, it was a combination of Red’s will and our Spirit team to pointed us in the direction of welcoming Willow home.

When I brought her home, I couldn’t even get the truck in park fast enough. Both of them where whinnying at each other like crazy. The amount of excited energy between the two took me off guard. My mind told me, “Now, proper equine introduction is through a fence for a bit and slowly let them interact”. Yea, no, this was not happening. Red was ready to bust down the fence and Willow was prancing in the halter. I don’t recommend this for just anyone to do, but I followed my heart and I followed what my partners were telling me. I just let her in the pasture with Red, free of halter and free of my intervention. They took off running, squealing, kicking with joy like I have never seen. They have been inseparable since. This is fine with me, if I ever go somewhere with Red, I have no problem taking Willow too.

She is a stout, bold, sassy, strong emotionally and spiritually, confident, secure and outspoken miniature horse. She has taught me more about companionship and respectfully, yet boldly, asking for needs to be met and steading firm in boundaries. Her sassy self loves to be pampered and loves to enjoy a massage. She has happily helped me learn what miniature horses need to thrive from hoof care, nutrition and social interaction. She has also happily stepped into some work with me surrounding my clients.

She shows up with all her might in most all of my Equine Tarot Reading sessions. She has shown clients:

How to make a decision
How to stand firm in boundaries
She demonstrates how to gracefully and bold speak out without having everyone hate her
She also demonstrates what it looks and feels like to have your energy out of balance
She brings forth this Bold, Strong Feminine archetype that speaks to clients in a supportive guiding way
She is never without an opinion and happily shows how this can play out

Willow, she is forever part of my Scared Warrior Herd. Partnering with me to help bring healing transformation to those called to her magic and wisdom.

A’ho

Partnering with Clients and the Professional Standard Needed

by Crow Fire Healing | Feb 27, 2023

Since starting to do barefoot trimming professionally, I have come across many moments where my experiences with my own clients gave me confirmation that I and my herd were good clients to my previous farriers, which felt nice. But I have also come across moments where I have seriously questioned what kind of industry the farrier’s these days are leaving.

Now, before anyone tries to rip me a new one, please read the whole post and please know I am not talking about every single farrier to date. There are some really great ones out there. There are also some really not so great ones as well.

I have a client I very much enjoy working with. One because they are so knowledgeable (I always enjoy learning from my clients). Two because their horse’s are wonderful to work with. I had gone to trim for the client once and usually I have all my clients pay me in advance to reserve their spot on my calendar. It allows for things to go smoother, but more on that later.

This particular time, the clients weren’t able to pay in advance. No worries, we aren’t corporate tyrants over here after all. We are all humans and grace is warranted from time to time. Anyways, I mention that because this particular client made it a point to this time to pay me prior to trimming and said something along the lines of “I’m paying you regardless of what happens”.

I was a little taken aback and quite frankly worried. What was about to happen? Was I about to get fired? Did they hate my work? Oh my!

All they did was tell me that 3 days prior to my arrival for trim time; they trimmed. They indicated they were really worried about their horses and wanted to ensure they didn’t become lame as their horses have a tendency to get lame if their feet get too long. I can respect this. Was a little confused as to why we couldn’t wait three days. But in the grand scheme of things, I knew there would still be stuff for me to address on the hooves regardless. Plus I’ll never not tell my clients to not be vigilant about their horse’s.

What came next is what troubled me. After we chatted about their concerns, we made a game plan for the day and I started to get to work. My client, though, made a comment right about this time that shook me. This comment really made me start to question, what are we doing as farriers these days to warrant a good client to be worried like this to make this comment.

I’m sure you’re wondering what they said. After all, that what this post is about anyways. Well here it is:

“I was so worried. Thank you for being so understanding. I was worried you were going to cuss me out, yell at me and storm out of here. Most farriers would have been mad that I touched the feet. They would have claimed that if I couldn’t trust them to trim my horses then they didn’t want to do it.”

First of all, let’s unpack that for a bit. I do want my clients to trust me; but I will never ask them to not be critical of me. After all, I am human. I have bad days. Bad moments. If something doesn’t look correct on a day I come to trim, tell me. I do my best to be as focused on the horse in front of me as I can; to channel any needed information that comes through. To listen to what the horse is saying they need. But in the end I’m not perfect, accountability is a wonderful thing.

I will also never be mad if my client fusses with their horses feet in between trims. Ideally, in this situation, I would have liked to see the feet touched up 1-2 weeks before I came. However, you can literally do a trim on a horse EVERY SINGLE DAY and there will always be something to address.

I have actually shown clients what to do in between trims so that we could work as a team. I don’t need to do that with this client. For the clients that want to touch up the feet in between when I come to trim, all I ask is that they tell me. This way, when I assess the fee, I will be doing so with the appropriate lens and can track the progress of the feet appropriately.

Let’s talk about the part of the comment that really bothers me. “I was worried you were going to cuss me out.” What in the world are we doing as farrier’s and what kind of ego are we all walking around with that clients have to be worried we are going to cuss them out for being concerned about their horses.

Never should we or any professional EVER cuss a client out. Our egos are great to fuel our fire to become the best we can be. It’s great to push us to continue learning and want to be the best. HOWEVER, our ego should never be so big that it leads us to cursing at a client.

You know, I have learned almost more about hoofcare from my clients than from my previous mentor. If you listen closely to them, they will tell you what products work, which hoof boots are great for different things, and clues into the care of their horse’s that can help you help them.

I can only meet and tend to so many clients in my life. I can only influence so many. But I hope and pray that the few I do get to work with, that I can touch them and their horse’s lives in a deeply positive way so that they never have to worry about being cursed out by a horse professional again so long as they are my client.

I hope and pray that I can teach and impact other professionals so that we can increase this awareness and leave a better industry behind us than what we entered into.

That’s all for now. Aho.

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What Inspires Me, What Drives My Passion

by Crow Fire Healing | Aug 4, 2022

There has been an awakening, a revival, in the last decade when it comes to hoof care for our horses. For years we have been putting shoes on horses, slowly degrading their feet. We have been waking up to the notion that maybe we do not have to use metal shoes anymore and I love it.

Ever since Red came into my life I have questioned everything. One of the first things I questioned was horseshoes. I initially started out by only trimming him; for the sake of saving some money if anything. I was 15 when I got him so I was on a highschooler budget. I traded work for his board type of budget. When I started showing in eventing and dressage in college my instructor at the time insisted I put Red in shoes, at least on the fronts, for his betterment. What I slowly started to see instead was his hooves slowly degrade over time. I only had Red in shoes for about 1-2 years before I circled back to, “Why am I doing this?”.

Chestnut Horse and Girl Smiling with Ribbons

So, as you could guess, I took the shoes off and began just asking the farrier to do trims only. I would have them do trims every 6weeks in the warmer months and every 8weeks in the colder months. This worked well for a long while, however, there was an ever persistent toe crack that just wouldn’t go away. This crack always bugged me. I tried oils to put on the hooves, I even tried keeping his feeter dryer or making sure they were wet, I also tried just ignoring it. Which obviously didn’t help anything but prolong the issue. It was a coping mechanism for dealing with the frustration of not finding an answer. It was not until I started the journey of learning barefoot trimming did I start to figure out the true answer to the issue and a lasting solution.

As we start to learn more about the equine hoof, how our horses move and how the environment affects the hoof conditions we can begin to facilitate a hoof which services the horse the best.

I trim to the internal structures of the hoof. I also don’t try to make the hoof aesthetically pleasing either. The horse also gets a say in my work. Doing these three things I take into account what the horse needs in this present moment, what the hoof is asking for in this present moment and I remove potentially selfish desires that I might bring forth to allow for an outcome that best services the horse. Something I have also learned in my time trimming is that the horse is the ultimate decider on what occurs. I can give the horse the best diet, the best environment and the most ideal trim but in the end if they don’t want to give up some sole or allow their hoof to be its best, it simply won’t happen.

I have seen this on client horses and my own. When I started to trim Red to his own internal structures, listening to him and ensuring his diet and environment where the best I could give, I have seen positive changes I couldn’t seem to achieve before. His toe cracks went away and stayed away. He began to grow a heel that supported him. His sole still is not the most ideal but he is a Thoroughbred and this may simply be how he wants to be. Before I take him out on rocky terrain I need to condition his feet more; they are strong and hold together through the season and through his daily life.

As with a lot of things in my life, Red has fueled the desire to learn a significant amount of knowledge that I know today. If it wasn’t for him I’m not sure where I would be in regard to my philosophies around horses.

Would I be pro biteless?

Would I be pro bareback riding with only a bareback pad?

Would I have chosen to learn the backbreaking work that is barefoot trimming?

Would I still be having my vet power float his teeth?

Would I still be feeding the sugar loaded feed?

More to come about how I learned horses can get addicted to sugar like we can.

This is what fuels my daily desire to keep learning, keep growing, keep improving. Our horses deserve for us to wake up each day and try to be the best we can be.

Red is who inspires me. Red is why I have pursued my education. He inspires me to apply what I have learned for others.

That’s all for now. Much Love.

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