We wanted to share this inspirational, success story written by Brenna Lee, an EasyCare customer.
I looked down at her fuzzy ears and thought, does she have any idea how many horses she has helped so far?
Ella has been my saving grace, my best friend, my traveling companion, and my inspiration to continue towards my dreams.
At the beginning of last year, she succumbed to a very nasty bout of bacterial infection in the lungs. This coupled with her high starch and sugar diet were the catalysts to her founder. Every horse owner’s worst nightmare and fears manifested.
After January, 2021, Ella never got better. In fact, she continued to get worse and worse. Despite every effort I had made with traditional solutions, her hooves wouldn’t hold therapeutic steel shoes. And in fact they made her worse when applied! Her thin, weak, and shelly hoof walls had no support to offer, and she just began to sink and rotate further.
Up to this point, my mindset and knowledge of horse keeping came from many traditional thinkers and old protocols, especially around nutrition and farriery. Over the course of this journey, my perspective has completely shifted towards new science and innovation.
In July, 2021, Ella was grade 4 head-bobbing lame at the walk. Her soles were as thin as a piece of paper, and I was utterly desperate. It was at this time that I also got extremely ill. I remembered I had received a set of DVDs about three years ago that looked interesting. These were titled, “Under the Horse,” by Pete Ramey. In my sick and fevery state, I binged the entire series three times over in four days. Two days later at the barn, I met Gregory Sokoloski, a veteran trimmer who follows Pete’s principles.
This was no accident. In my sheer desperation, the universe had given me an answer. And with it, HOPE. I immediately implemented dietary recommendations, low starch, low sugar, and balanced vitamins and minerals. I changed my flat trim to Pete’s dynamic and therapeutic method, and purchased her some hoof boots and pads from EasyCare.
The comfort level from the pads and boots alone gave her absolute glee, so much so that I ran into another challenge. She wouldn’t stay in them! I struggled with boots for about two months, literally duct taping them on. (Her nickname should be Houdini.)
Then I saw a post on Facebook about EasyCare’s urethane shoes with glue-on tabs.
I was absolutely intrigued and delighted. I had never seen such an affordable and customizable glue on option before!
I immediately purchased my first pair of EasyShoe Versa Grip Lights, and the rest was absolute history. My horse that couldn’t hold a shoe with a nail or keep a boot on was keeping these on! My entire barn was amazed! I was absolutely ecstatic. Movement is the key to rehab, and Versas gave Ella the confidence to start moving.
The first day I applied the shoes, she went from grade 4 to grade 2 in her comfort level. The level of flexibility and support that these shoes offer horses is something I have never seen before. You can literally see the weight dissipation under the foot. I affectionately call this the “squish” factor. These shoes offer incredible support and don’t impede natural foot mechanism. Bar none awesome.
Keeping Ella comfortable with her EasyCare Versas and her clean diet, she started to regain her caudal foot function, and her heel-first landings returned. She was happier, and her comfort level improved exponentially in the months to come.
Ella has been healing beautifully since July, 2021, and in December, 2021, I switched from the EasyShoe Versa Grip Lights to the EasyShoe Versa Grip Golds to add tab stability for active riding. Yes, she went from grade 4 lame to being ridden again in 6 months. When you give the body what it needs to heal and rehabilitate, it’s amazing what can happen.
Ella’s story and progress is more far reaching than I could have imagined. Through our experience together and an attitude of never giving up hope, we have helped many other horses with these shoes through education and application.
Gregory Sokoloski and Linda Howard of the non-profit Horse Thrive have been with me encouraging, supporting, and teaching other trimmers to apply these shoes, as well as how to balance diets and care for horses naturally. We are always interested in learning new innovative ways to help horses and their owners find solutions to problems we face in the horse industry. We want horses to live happily and comfortably, with the willingness to give back to humans in a mighty way.
So, Ella saved my life, and I saved hers. Now she is saving others, too.
I am forever thankful for the people who opened my eyes to a different approach and instilled a never-give-up attitude.
I’m especially grateful for EasyCare and EasyCare President, Garrett Ford, for his forward thinking and the fantastic products he provides all of us.
“All things work toward the good my friends. Keep your chin up.”
