Donkey Hooves: Inside and Out

Rehabilitation and Maintenance of Donkey Feet

The DVD series Under the Horse and Tools of the Trade should be made prerequisite to

Donkey Hooves: Inside and Out in all training programs.

	3 disc set price: $60 Was $90- On Sale Now
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	In this 3-disc DVD set, Ivy and Pete Ramey will take you to visit wild burros in the Mojave Desert, and discuss their needs, lifestyle and how we may use this information to make a healthier life for our domestic donkeys. We go from classroom to cadaver dissections to “out on the farm” to detail the hoof care of donkeys.
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“Well, I’ve been promising donkey owners I would do this for way-too-many years. Sorry for the wait, but here it is! To the best of our ability, Ivy and I have put together a comprehensive donkey hoof care course designed for owners, farriers and veterinarians. To my delight, I learned a lot along the way, myself: chasing wild burros and dissecting donkey hooves taught me things I never knew—and you all know how much I love to learn!

It is truly a shame how little information there is out there dedicated to the care of donkeys—particularly their hooves. They are too unique to be lumped together with horses as a footnote. I hope that some of the differences revealed in this DVD set will inspire new research on donkeys as individuals. And more than anything, I hope this will improve the lives and care of donkeys worldwide.” Pete Ramey

Pete Ramey Donkey Hooves Back Cover Part 1 Classroom Discussion—Understanding the Donkey as a Unique Animal (disc 1)

Behavioral differences between donkeys and horses
Dietary needs of donkeys
Dietary affects on donkey hooves
Digestion/Feeding of donkeys
Laminitis triggers
Laminitis rehab and prevention
Internal foot development
Environmental needs of donkeys

Part 2 Cadaver Dissection—Numerous Fundamental Differences Between Horse and Donkey Hooves

Coffin bone size/shape differences
Lateral cartilage size/shape differences
Differences in lamellar attachment
Differences in frog corium location
General shape, size, and mass differences of internal structures
Learn your way around the donkey foot from the inside
How to estimate sole thickness, wall connection, P3 location and palmar angle in the field
Comparing external landmarks/indicators to internal anatomical features in donkey hooves

Part 3 Live Trimming Donkey Hooves—Watch Each Trim as Pete Rehabilitates a Donkey with Severe Foot Pathology (disc 2)

Reading sole thickness
Watch coffin bone/hoof capsule rotations grow out
Wall cracks grown out
White line disease grown out
Severe imbalances corrected
“Windswept” feet corrected (heel walls curled underneath the foot)
See distal descent (sinker) reversals in 6 months
Watch the frogs get wider, tougher, stronger over time
Dealing with excess growth—safely
Spotting the differences between sole and lamellar wedge
Optimizing breakover
Medial/lateral balance
Trimming for rehabilitation and improved movement mechanics

Live Trimming Continued, plus Bonus Footage of Donkeys in the Wild (Disc 3)

Thrush treatment
Dealing with excess growth
Dealing with hoof capsule rotation
Dealing with excess sole and frog growth
Medial/lateral balance
Donkeys in the Wild

Added 5-30-11. We've had numerous questions about whether this DVD set covers mules: “This DVD set is specifically about donkeys. I should really do a mule DVD at some point, but honestly, some mules have a ‘donkey foot’ and some mules have a ‘horse foot’. Most are somewhere in between, with features from both parents. So if you saw me working on and discussing the anatomy and growth characteristics of 6 different mules, your mule’s foot might still be different. The only way (I know of) to be successful with mule feet, is to become an expert on both horse feet AND donkey feet, so you can then interpolate and understand the mule in front of you. So I do highly recommend this DVD set for mule owners/trimmers/vets/farriers, but sorry, there is not a mule in it anywhere.” Pete

Scenes from the DVD set:

Learn the donkey’s foot from the inside—see significant differences in the anatomy of donkeys and horses.

If you work on donkey hooves, but have never done a hoof dissection, you will get a lot out of this.

Watch each trim, as a severe hoof capsule rotation (and distal descent) is grown out in six months.

Detailed instructions for rehabilitating laminitic donkeys.

Watch each trim as a “windswept” foot is straightened over time (six months duration).

Specialized trimming detailed, designed to "push" the heel into a better position.

We’ll take you from the wilds of the Mojave to the sometimes-wilder Appalachians,

and compare the environmental influences on the health of donkeys and their hooves.

Detailed trimming instruction and anatomy discussions.

We hope you enjoy it and hope it helps!