Hoof Care Studies - Pete Ramey

This fall Terrence received a bunch of Pete Ramey materials for his birthday. It did run way above our normal birthday gift budget but I looked at it more like paying for a college course (without having to come up with fuel money :) ). And since we had purchased Terrence his own; we finally returned the DVD set Under The Horse to the friend who lent it to us (last year!). 

                          

Knowledge is always a good investment, right? And wow, this stuff is full of knowledge. Terrence, Ted, Matt and I have watched lots of the videos by now (but not all of them yet) and Terrence and Ted are through the book at least once. I personally haven't even read the book completely through once and I am sure I will have to read it multiple times to even begin to absorb all the knowledge in it. The book; Care and Rehabilitation of the Equine Foot is a very unpretentiously named treasure trove of diverse knowledge. It is almost a misleading title because it really is a book on total horse health, although, true to Pete Ramey's core purpose it is focused primarily on the hoof and recognizing and treating dysfunctional hooves.  It really details out how all horse health issues are irrevocably intertwined. Now, while we all of course recognize that any health issue will impact the horse in other areas it is fascinating to get into the science of exactly when, where and how these issues are all connected. There are a total of eight authors, a couple of the topics covered by the various expert contributing authors are: equine nutrition, everything from how to feed (with all the relevant whys included) to how to analyze and adjust your feeding - an extremely in depth section on ulcers, their causes, prevention and treatment - every imaginable type of hoof disease or problem - etc. etc. etc.  The ulcer chapter was particularly interesting to Ted as it is all documented and scientifically quantifiable. There is nothing like hard evidence and data to a true info junkie (those of you who know Ted and numbers are smiling!). I personally find the book incredibly interesting and I enjoy how it is full of practical applicable solutions to everything while still thoroughly explaining the science of each situation. 

Terrence trims quite a bit here and he now has one paying client so he is already earning some payback on his studies. 

I love how much we have learned and how much we continue to learn.  

I already think that our increased knowledge was worth every penny of this order. It is a drop in the bucket compared to what we have spent in educational dvd's, books, etc. the last several years particularly those from Downunder Horsemanship ~ we own  literally every video currently available from that company (and Ted has studied all of them with the exception of the Foal Training Kit). Not one of the investments in knowledge that we have ever made have we regretted. (Although I think Beth may be regretting the purchase of the Foal Training Method Kit if Clay doesn't foal this spring!) Intriguing how one source of information leads to another.  Downunder Horsemanship and Clinton Anderson, Pete Ramey and Hoof Rehab.com,  Easyboots, the list is always expanding. I am sure we will be following the findings of some of the researchers who contributed to the new Pete Ramey book.