With the recent posts on tools and positions, I thought back to how I
struggled in the beginning to do my own horses and what helped to
change that.

One thing was the clinics with KC who teaches the positions and tool
use quite well. The other was just trimming more. That can be a
challenge if you have only one or two horses, but what I did to get
more trimming time was to trim at a rescue. A few of us (about 7)
that were trimming our own, volunteered to trim at a local small
rescue. There were about 7 horses there, and our group would consist
of about 4 or 5 of us each time. Sometimes we had extra hands to
hold the horses; other times we just took turns holding and
trimming. We pretty much set the schedule, so we got to keep the
horses on track so the growth wasn't overwhelming.

We learned so much doing this - patience (they were rescue horses
after all!), horse handling skills, and obviously trimming - on all
KINDS of feet :) And the rescue got free trims. Definitely a win-
win situation, and we all felt good for having helped the horses. We
also got to experience each other's trim methods and ideas and help
each other with suggestions. Oh, and we went for lunch afterard!

If any of you have the opportunity to do this, I really recommend
it. It's a challenge, but it's rewarding, and your trimming skills
and confidence will grow with each visit.

Vicki