Some people new to the wonderful world of horses may not understand the importance of a good farrier. As the dad who just pays the horse bills, and isn’t necessarily into horses outside of giving treats and scratching those hard-to-reach places, I can relate.
I’ve recently been made aware of just how important it is that your farrier knows what he is doing, both for the horse, and your wallet.
A good farrier will go a long way to help prevent your horse from going lame on one or more of his feet.
We experienced this firsthand.
We’ve had three different farriers working on our OTTB (Off Track Thoroughbred) over the last two years. It has been a rough ride. The issue is that his front right foot is A LOT bigger than the others. Our previous farrier tried to correct it by making it look smaller but just ended up creating a different set of issues.
After more than a year of trimming every 6-8 weeks to make the hoof look more like the others, which had zero health benefits, he went lame on that foot. The following issues came about:
- The hoof angle changed in relation to the rest of the leg because it was trimmed too much.
- It started to hurt him to walk because there wasn’t enough hoof left.
We didn’t initially understand what was happening but began treatment for a hot nail after the first sign that something was wrong.
After he didn’t get better, X-Rays were done by our veterinarian. He was unable to figure it out from X-Rays alone.
We board our horse at a cooperative, self-care facility and can use whichever farrier and vet we choose. By chance, another farrier was on site for a different horse, who agreed to check out his feet, to see if he had any ideas.
He has a specialty in correcting horse foot issues and immediately knew what the problem was. After he told us that he should be reshod with a different kind of shoeing package that provided more cushion and a proper angle, we agreed to have it done.
I’m happy to report that we’ve just had our third visit with our new farrier and that our horse is getting better.
In the pictures, you can see the massive spacer the farrier placed between his shoe and hoof to try and correct the angle.
Here are some thoughts on what to look for in a good farrier:
Education
The first thing to keep in mind is that your farrier should have gone to some sort of training. There are a lot of things that can go wrong, and the horse’s hoof is directly related to the rest of his health.
Taking it a step further, is that your farrier continues receiving education because equine science changes over time. New advancements in technology, new methods of shodding, and gaining a better understanding of how a horse’s foot works will ultimately change how a farrier approaches what your horse needs.
Something that may have been a good practice 20 years ago, may be considered outdated now.
For example, our old farrier never used anything but a metal shoe, but the new farrier is more knowledgeable on corrective treatments and uses things like wedges, glue on shoes, etc.
Experience and Skill
Ideally, your farrier has a good amount of experience not only in shodding horses, but also in identifying potential hoof issues.
In my experience, at least with the few farriers I’ve encountered, they’ve all been able to put shoes on horses but not all of them were able to figure out how to correct, nor identify, hoof issues.
For us going forward, that is important.
Taking it a step further are the skills and abilities that come with a good amount of experience. It may come from serving as an apprentice under a knowledgeable farrier, or gaining that experience firsthand.
Either way, being able to do the work is important.
As an example, the third farrier we used, who we haven’t spoken of yet, lacked the ability to put shoes on horses in such a way that they’d stay on.
Horses throw shoes because, well, they’re horses. It happens. The issue is that it happened after every single session for us, and many other horses.
Ask Questions
For the horse owner, it’s not a good idea to assume that because someone is a farrier that they hold the necessary qualifications. Instead, ask them questions about the length of time they’ve been doing this work professionally, which farrier school they went to, if they stay up to date on current best practices, and where they apprenticed.
If you ask the right questions, you may just save yourself some serious heartache down the road.
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