Redtail Equine Services

Redtail Equine Services Equine rehabilitation support, corrective hoof care, and specialized farrier services focused on glue-on shoeing and advanced trimming.

Injury recovery and post-surgical cases supported in collaboration with veterinarians. Limited boarding by referral. I offer lessons, both individual and group; and training for horses undersaddle and on the ground. I work with owners and their horses on a per-lesson basis, as well as accepting a limited number of horses for full training.

Rocky, a 6 year old QH gelding, foundered in all four feet, worse in the hinds. His owner is extremely conscientious and...
08/29/2026

Rocky, a 6 year old QH gelding, foundered in all four feet, worse in the hinds. His owner is extremely conscientious and has been diligent in getting him seen by the vet and coming up with a treatment plan.

His owner called me to see if I’d be willing to help him. She brought him on Thursday. It was obvious the level of extreme discomfort he was in by watching him walk.

On a case like this, I set aside the whole day because I work at the pace the horse tells me it’s ok with.

We started off by watching him walk down the aisle and into and out of a stall. Then I went over the radiographs with his owner and explained what they showed and how that related to Rocky’s symptoms and why his hooves looked the way they did.

He was shod in the front and barefoot behind (in boots). I left the front shoes on, leaving his front feet for last, and started with his hind feet since they were by far the worst.

Because of how close his coffin bones were to the sole, I didn’t touch anything on sole. My goal for the first appointment was simple: get his feet level enough for his Squish Pads to stay securely glued on, and to remove as much toe as he’d allow me to. Bear in mind, a perfect trim on a horse this painful is not going to happen. These horses require extreme caution and to take off what you safely can.

As soon we’d glue a Squish Pad on, Rocky would started yawning and taking deep breaths. He did this on all four feet, so I used his response to them as my gauge on if what I was doing was working for him.

After all his Squish Pads were on and he was ready to go, Rocky was walking better and his mood was brighter.

Thank you so much,
Derek Poupard
The Shoeing Lab Home of More Aid Hoof Care
3D HoofCare
Strahlfoili
EasyCare Inc. Protective Hoofwear (HoofLox acrylic)

Luna, the Welsh/Newfoundland pony who’s been rehabbing from a laminitic episode, is sound and getting slowly back to wor...
08/19/2026

Luna, the Welsh/Newfoundland pony who’s been rehabbing from a laminitic episode, is sound and getting slowly back to work! All the extreme heat and suffocating wildfire caused everything involving working horses to be put on the back burner for months, but conditions have improved immensely.

In the other recent post I made about Luna, she was wearing Roller shoes on the fronts with air inserts.

I’d purposely left her barefoot behind for about a month because I wanted to make small adjustments every week. Today she got Race Hind pattern in a size 3H with a 3° half mesh wedge insert, with medium DIM and Strahfoili hoof clay.

Her posture improved and she was immediately standing less underneath herself in her hind end.

As an aside, this pony has difficult feet in that they’re shaped a lot more like a mule foot. But the Race Hind pattern fits her hinds like they were custom made for her.

Improvements seen in rehab work aren’t always linear and they’re not all that fast. It’s easy to get discouraged if the changes aren’t happening at the speed or in a sequence you might have envisioned, but that’s ok.

Trust the process. Focus on the trim. Be really observant of the animal in front of you, and not just at the standstill, but in motion as well: the turns, straightaways, different gaits, and transitions between gaits. Also, the horse will let you know what it likes and dislikes. They don’t hold back.

3D HoofCare
Derek Poupard
EasyCare Inc. Protective Hoofwear
Jim Blurton Farrier Products
Strahlfoili

The tools you use are important. When you find, say, a rasp or a brand of knife you love, don’t hesitate to have a coupl...
08/15/2026

The tools you use are important. When you find, say, a rasp or a brand of knife you love, don’t hesitate to have a couple extras on hand. You want tools that are appropriate to the trims and shoes you’re doing, and that are easy for you to handle. The goal here is to make it take as little out of you as possible.

*I might have a problem with acquiring a large number of 3D printed rasp handles, among other tools 😂

**even the shoes and their accessories are tools

***there are many, many, many tools not pictured

The lovely old lady transitioned out of her Squish Pads! She’d built up enormous sole depth and was consistently sound s...
08/12/2026

The lovely old lady transitioned out of her Squish Pads! She’d built up enormous sole depth and was consistently sound so I put her into Rollers on the front with a 5° wedge on the left front and a 2° wedge on the right front. For her hind feet she’s in the Race Hind pattern. I super glued mesh into the shoes and used medium DIM for support. I ground a small roll at the toe. Not the most stunning job because I’ve realized I need to invest a hell of a lot of money into more equipment. But it’ll do and she is so sound and so happy. 

Seeing this mare go from lame, depressed, and ready to give up to happy and bright and SOUND is such a wonderful thing. I do this for the horses. Yes, the owners as well. But it’s the horses I do this for. They give so much and so often they’re not heard. So even if it’s only a handful of horses in the world that I can help, that’s a handful more than before.

3D HoofCare
Derek Poupard
Jim Blurton Farrier Products
The Shoeing Lab Home of More Aid Hoof Care
EasyCare Inc. Protective Hoofwear
Garrett Ford
Strahlfoili
Red Horse Products

Millie got a new pair of ruby red squish pads. I almost put some red glitter polish on them, but it was too hot in the s...
08/12/2026

Millie got a new pair of ruby red squish pads. I almost put some red glitter polish on them, but it was too hot in the sun, so a nice layer of superglue over the top of the cuffs did the trick.

Millie is the little section A welsh mare who first decided she loved squishes when she was close to foaling. She does best with some hoof protection on her front feet, as she tends to be a bit thin soled. After her filly is weaned she’ll go back to getting in shape and her kids can start riding her again. I’ll switch her back to her pony sized versa grip glues at that point.

3D HoofCare
Derek Poupard
The Shoeing Lab Home of More Aid Hoof Care
EasyCare Inc. Protective Hoofwear
Strahlfoili

Purple glitter hoof polish for a kid’s pony 💜
08/07/2026

Purple glitter hoof polish for a kid’s pony 💜

The Roller shoe continues to be one of the more versatile of the glue on’s in my practice. I’ve used it for therapeutic ...
08/05/2026

The Roller shoe continues to be one of the more versatile of the glue on’s in my practice. I’ve used it for therapeutic cases, as well as for riding horses under normal work. The wider web and the lightly rolled toe really help to alleviate soft tissue strain, as well as help achieve a better HPA (think coffin bone here).

This mare has let me know loud and clear that it’s her absolute favorite shoe and that nothing else will do.

Here’s Maxine today in her new set of EasyCare Inc. Protective Hoofwear 3D HoofCare Jim Blurton Farrier Products Roller shoe in a size 6. She has a pretty significant NPA so I put her in a 4° half mesh wedge insert by Derek Poupard. She’s got soft DIM and of course Strahlfoili hoof clay and HoofLox natural.

Address

Montrose, CO
81403

Telephone

+15126631679

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