Shoeing - how often?

[katieB]

I know they say horses should be re-shod every 6-8 weeks but why exactly is this? Is this just because this is about how long it takes for the shoes to loosen or lose their fit? Sorry, this probably sounds really thick! Its just my friends mare, an ex trotter, has lovely feet and will quite often go 12+ weeks without being re-shod, her feet always looks the same - just shod. I swear if I showed you her feet 10 weeks in you'd say they'd just been done. Is there likely to be any damage being done that we cant see by doing this? How often are your horses shod?

[nat17]

Katieb, me and you spend to much time on here:D

When Min was ridable she was shod every 12 weeks as well. Her feet grow down and slow. He shoes never came off and her feet have never suffered because of it. The norm is 6-8 weeks but some horses are very ecomnomical! ( cant spell big words, need a coffee!)

[Mehitabel]

hooves, like our fingernails, grow continuously. as the hooves grow, the heels get longer, the toes get longer, and the whole balance of the foot and leg changes. this puts other strains on the tendons and ligaments and can cause tendon strains and other injuries.
the hooves do grow at different rates though - just like people's nails and hair, some horses have fast growing feet and need doing every 4 or 5 weeks, and others can go longer. i am not sure i'd be happy about 12 weeks though - once it got past 8-9 i'd like the feet at least looked at by a farrier.

[HAYLEY GITTOES]

My horse normally lasts about 8 - 10 weeks, unless we have done alot of road work and she is done around 8 weeks.

[rache]

my horses feet need shoeing every 6 weeks as he has a low heel, i have had him for 5 months and have had him shod 3 times.

he has had shoes off for a while due to an injury!!

But i have asked my farrier and i need to keep the heel short in order for it to be touching the floor!!

He could last 2-2.5 months other wise with shoes on, DAM the short heel! :D

[katieB]

I know Nat, its just the alternative isnt too great - work! :D :rolleyes:
Thanks Es, that was what I was thinking about - tendons and things, theres no visual damage but you can never tell whats going on elsewhere

[nat17]

Agree with feet being checked as i did with Min, the farrier checked after 7 weeks when her companions feet were done he recommended i keep them on as her feet are very very slow growing.:)

[Gemma16]

Taffy is shod generally about every 7-8 weeks depending on what kind of work he's been doing. In summer its more like every six weeks.

My YO arranges having her horses shod around competition, is this the norm in the competition world? It can get expensive I imagine if your having your horse done sometines every four weeks?

[tubby]

I feel it's got to be 6 to 8wks as even if the horses feet aren't growing fast they will have outgrown the shoe by 8wks.

[TBEventer2002]

My older mare has impeccable feet. I get her shod and leave her until she loses a shoe (she only has front shoes). She has gone over 12 weeks before, even in deep mud. She has never been lame or anything, even if a shoe is pulled. I have worked vey hard and been thru several farriers recently in order to get her feet the way I want them (before I bought her, they left her front toes VERY long and cut off her heels -- I was appalled). Now that she has more balanced feet, I don't feel bad for letting her go three months without a trim or shoeing. If she ever appeared uncomfortable, I would have the farrier out before she loses a shoe. My farrier has a hay-day with my mare -- her front feet grow a LOT faster than her back feet, so he often only has to file & round off her back feet.

Another mare we have hasn't had her feet trimmed in well over a year. She isn't worked at all and has a run in, so she wears her feet quite well and they are solid as a rock.

On the other hand, I worked with a horse over the summer who literally had to have his feet done every month because he had very low heels and his feet grew like weeds.

[nutkin]

all horses are different. One of mine will happily go for 10 to 12 weeks but the other has to have hers done every 7 weeks but that is not because of excess foot but because i choose to keep her toes short as she is quite a heavy cob and being green is still inclined to trip when she goes onto her forehand.

[Wally]

Next time your farrier takes a shoe off get hold of it and look at the side which was in contact with the horse's foot.

Not only do shoes wear at the ground surface but they wear out when the hoof expands and contracts with heach step. You'll see pits and grooves worn into the shoe by the hoof. Sooner or later the hoof will expand past the shoe and over hang it, the branches of the shoe then press into the sole of the foot and can cause bruising.

[Kanuma]

stan goes 10 weeks between shoeings in summer as he has raceing plates on and it is 12 weeks in winter and his feet are perfect!!
rian has to be done every 6 weeks cos he has problems!! pride gets his feet trimmed every time stan has his shoes done as pride is unshod and harvey has been 22 weeks without a trim before because when we showed his feet to our farrier he siad he couldnt trim them as they haddnt grown enough!!! he was seen by the farrier 3 times and every time their wasnt enough growth to trim (he is unshod)! it all depends on the horse and how fast their feet grow, how much work they are doing, what problems they have and what type of shoes you have on them!!

[Bloss]

my yard owners fiancee is a farrier and so he does the horses whenever the need it cappy and sparky are leased so i dont go everyday so i dont know how often they are done. cappy has really good feet and is unshod sparky is shod but has noshoes at the moment but will be getting new ones this week he is coping well though as everywhere is muddy/soft ground.:D

[Yann]

12 weeks! I dread to think what Rio's feet would look like after that long:D This time of year we can go 8 weeks maximum but come the summer she's been ready after 4 weeks. Her toes get visibly long and she starts forging all the time, there's no mistaking it.

[Tor&Warrior]

My horse before Warrior the very longest he could go without shoes would be 4 wks. By this time he would have a shoe like paper with the hoof growing over the edge!! He was a fairly Heavy hunter, only a baby and we could find nothing wrong with him and he had absolutley gorgeous feet they just grew incredibly fast and he was heavy on his shoes due to his build.

[Hanze]

I have had my mare for 3 months and 2morro will be the third time i have had her shod! her shoes start tocome looseat four weeks then fall off about 5 weeks its very annoying

[Ginger Thing]

My TB is lucky to last 5 weeks - he has feet like a duck!
I can get away with 6 weeks at this time of year, but in summer you can practically watch them growing! He often loses shoes.

OH's TB on the other hand will happily go 12 weeks - he has really neat little boxy hooves which grow very slowly, and he rarely loses shoes.

Just goes to show - they're all different!

[DITZ]

I used to have mine done every 5 weeks but his feet were in such poor condition that one would always come off in the last week making him unrideable. His feet dont grow very fast at all, in fact thats the problem, because they dont grow the farrier struggles to find new places for the nails to go in and they end up like lace. I gave him a full month without shoes in the summer whilst I was on holiday and since then he's been shod every 4 weeks. I'm sure I could probably stretch it back to 5 weeks again bow but its just not worth it financially over the year.

[jUmPingIsLifE]

Our horses are done every 8wks, however autumn could probably go more, with the trail riding we do he keeps his own hooves short:D Tahoe however by 8 weeks he is more then ready for a trim.

[Bebe]

Bebe would go 5 weeks in the height of summer and 6 weeks the rest of the time though in a pinch she could go 7 weeks. Usually by week 5 her toes were obviously on the long side and I preferred to have her done then rather than wait.

She's unshod now and hasn't had her hind hooves trimmed for about 3 months! Her front shoes were taken off about 9 weeks ago, they were lightly trimmed then and the farrier checked them at the 6 week mark and didn't touch them. I do get her checked every 6-8 weeks now but she wears them herself and all the farrier does is have a look, lightly rasp the bits that need it and laughs that he'll never make money out of me now (I have to make him take money when he only does a little bit of rasping). Her hind hooves look amazing now and seem to stay at a constant length. Her front hooves aren't so great but its very early days. Even so, her frog and heels are recovering from the contraction so they are improving, and she is coping very well (was a bit sore when the ground froze very hard last week but fine now it's softened up).

I suspect that once she's been barefoot for longer her hooves will need more attention in winter but in summer when she does more work she'll self trim to a large degree. Even so, I'll still get the farrier to look her hooves over on a regular basis.

[shandy84]

Hey,

My partner is a farrier and he comes home and moans about people that have damaged their horses feet/legs by not having them regulary checked. Even if the don't look longer they can spread which is not that easy to spot with shoes on.

What would you prefer a visit by the farrier or a visit by the vet for ligament damage?

it should be 6-8 weeks unless your farrier says otherwise. Also trying not to sound too rude but, unless you have taken a farriery qualification surely you should allow your farrier to tell you how the foot should be shaped. A naggy know it all owner just complicates the issue!

Would it be better for the farrier to do what is required to your horses feet or would you just be happy with pretty looking feet! Sometimes your horses feet aren't perfect mine has low slow growing heels and feet that grow fast at the front slow at the back and have a tendancy to spread, so I know what happens to get a horses feet in a better state

I know you're all going to have a go but unless you are a qualified farrier you really don't have enough knowledge to know what is exactly right in respect to this issue-any trained people I'm sorry if you take offence, I just get bored of my partner moaning when if owners listened to their farrier and didn't just decide what was right my life would be a lot more peaceful

[tubby]

Halleluia!!!!!

[Yann]

Why should anyone have a go? What you're saying is right, but all horse owners owe it to their horses to get a bit clued up. I certainly take my farriers advice, he's swapped Rio into natural balance shoes with good results and I always run with his suggestions for when to book the next set. Owners who hold off shoeing for purely financial reasons are another story, but I doubt you'll find any on here.

There are farriers and farriers though, as Bebe will confirm we had problems with the previous one at our yard, and in such circumstances blind acceptance of what you're getting is no good to anyone.

[nutkin]

yes what you say is right. When i said i choose to have my mares feet cut short that is because it is what the farrier has recommended to me. My old boy is unshod but has his feet trimmed reguarly. They are both checked reguarly by the farrier as we have a farrier on our yard every week due simply to the number of horses at our yard. All of the horses are different and some will go longer than 8 weeks but they are all still checked reguarly by the farrier and if he thinks they need shoes then they are shod without exception.

[shandy84]

Yann - basically I have had a chat with someone I know who kept sacking her farrier for rediculous reasons pretty much just because she wanted pretty feet and had a word with her just trying to say he's just doing his job and that as far as I could see and my partner advised there was nothing wrong with the shoeing that had taken place and I got a mouthful from her.

Yep you are right horse owners should have some basic info in case they get a real cowboy farrier working on their horses feet.

For those who don't know- (partner gave me this advice to impart to you) you have the white line which runs just within the foot, it is visible from underneath, nr the rim of the toe etc. Depending on the shape of this line the shape of your horses foot will basically come from this. If you don't know how to recognise it, when your horses foot is clean of mud etc run a hoof pick bout 0.5cm from the edge if within reccomended shoeing time, you should find a small line of material that is fairly soft and a little crumbly when a hoof pick gets it. This is your horses white line.

This is also a good tell tale sign as to a good farrier (this doesn't count if you have remedial shoeing) Basically the white line should sit a few mil or so behind the start of the toe, also if the foot is basically trimmed to that shape then your farrier is doing that part of his job well.

Obviously if you have shoes on all the time this is something you would have to ask your farrier to show you after he has dressed your horses foot for shoeing.

There are other things to watch for, if the area around the frog bleeds, they have then cut it too short and it is likely your horse will be lame for a few days. They can also "prick the hoof" which is when they put a nail into the sensitive part of the foot missing the wall, this also will cause lameness. Basically unless you have an awful awful farrier anything done to your horse by accident, such as trimming to short the frog or foot an dpricking the horse can heal easily and won't take long theoretically for your horse to come sound again.

the main niggle I have is when a person's horse has the front/back feet in different shoe sizes and demand to have them made a perfect pair-this can have serious consequences for the horse.

Hickman's Farriery is a good book to read to get clued up

[Bebe]

Shandy84, if I hadn't questioned my last farriers work, I'd have a horse that was permanently lame with either pedal osteitis or navicular. In the space of 4 shoeings she went from 100% sound with decent feet (not great, low heels and she'd get slightly long in the toe even shod every 5 weeks), to very lame, uneven feet, contracted and underslung heels, soft, flat soles and separation of the white line. The first shoeing seemed okay but I wasn't sure about the second and 2 weeks later my horse went lame for no obvious reason. I followed my gut and got the farrier back out. He said he couldn't see any lameness (it was very obvious, she had to throw herself into trot and was dramatically dropping a shoulder) but at my insistence he reset her front shoes. She came sound almost immediately but by the next shoeing (4 weeks later) she was lame again, in exactly the same manner as before.

For another 2 shoeings I persevered, asked questions and was basically told that I was neurotic and my horse was lame for another reason (not according to vet, he confirmed it was poor hoof balance that was causing the problem). In the meantime I made an attempt to get educated. The last time he shod my horse he told me I was being ridiculous when I asked why, if the vet said her hoof balance was wrong he wasn't making an attempt to correct it. I never had him back. I had to get another farrier out 2 days later as my horse was crippled. On close inspection her hoof balance was massively wrong, the shoes had been set with the toeclips off centre which made the bars of the shoe sit in the wrong place. Her hind shoes were set with nails that were too big which resulted in it almost looking like she was wearing studs! I cried bringing my horse in from the field that day, she was lame in front and had developed a strange twist and wobble in her hind legs. The new farrier came and pulled all 4 shoes immediately and came back 2 days later, retrimmed and balanced her hooves and put new shoes on. He was appalled at the state of her hooves. It took another 3 shoeings to get her sound and we've had to pull all 4 shoes to allow her hooves to recover fully (though it was possibly the best thing I've ever done for her).

At the same time there was a couple of other horses on the yard (we all used the same farrier, he was recommended by our previous one!) that were lame to some degree, all less so than my horse though. I dread to think how many would be lame now if Bebe hadn't gone so badly lame and shown us just how much damage he was doing. In a way, her being so sensitive did us a favour as it showed up early.

So no, I no longer allow my farrier to dictate to me how my horses hoof should be shaped. I've done an awful lot of reading and research and also know my horse better than anyone else. I trust my new farrier implicitly so will bounce ideas off him, ask questions, etc but at the end of the day, if he couldn't give me an answer or tried to fob me off again, I'd go with my own instincts every time now.

Most of the training in farriery revolves around how to make and fit shoes. It seems to me that very little is actually on correct hoof balance, form and function, conformation and movement. If more time was spent on this then maybe there'd be more good farriers out there.

My mare now has "pretty" hind feet. By pretty I mean she has a good amount of heel, correct breakover, toes that aren't ridiculously long, a good frog and her heels are no longer contracted. Her front hooves are getting there but still have som way to go. Even so, in the space of 6 weeks my farrier commented that the shoes she was in before wouldn't fit now as her hooves have changed so much.

I don't doubt that there are a lot of owners out there that moan at their farriers for no good reason and make their lives a misery. But, by the same token there seems to be a lot of mediocre or worst, useless, farriers out there and if the owner doesn't make an attempt to get clued up or ask questions and make suggestions, they'll never know that their horses hooves could be being damaged.

FWIW though, I'd never let any shod horse go for long enough between farrier visits that shoes were coming off, and I'd never go more than 7-8 weeks between farrier visits.

[shandy84]

Bebe
Did you not read the following from my previous post??!!!!

"Yep you are right horse owners should have some basic info in case they get a real cowboy farrier working on their horses feet."

You have had a bad experience with one farrier! I know many that are competent and achieve great results and I have witness stupid owners telling farriers to do things that will damage the horse long term when the farrier has refused he has been sacked!

So god help you when you make the wrong decision! Hope you can live with yourself when you dictate to your farrier to do something on your gut instinct and it ends up hurting her

"Most of the training in farriery revolves around how to make and fit shoes. It seems to me that very little is actually on correct hoof balance, form and function, conformation and movement. If more time was spent on this then maybe there'd be more good farriers out there."

- do you have a clue what you are talking about. How else do you fit a shoe balance is an integral part of that my partner comes home with work he's been set all about balance of the foot. Making the balance correct is more important than anything a farrier does as if it is wrong it can malform joints/ligaments etc
Have you been to uni on a farriery degree if not you are in no position to comment on what they are taught

Given you have had a bad experience yes be wary but don't tar farriers with the same brush how would you like it?

I have witnessed many owners moaning at a farrier for no good reason a lot of the time it's because the two front feet are different sizes THIS IS NATURAL!!!! Any attempt to even the feet to the other will damage a horse. This is what I mean by owners requesting pretty feet.

End of the day you have had a bad experience with 1 farrier many are good farriers who know their job and work in the best interests of the horse! Maybe you should sit the degree before dictating what they learn because you know nothing of this! It also depends which uni they went to! What degree in horsmanship have you got Bebe???!!!!

[Bebe]

But it's not just a bad experience with one farrier, I know many, many people who have had poor experiences with farriers and I see (now I know what to look for) even more horses with not so great hoof balance and shoeing jobs. I don't know anyone who looks at having to find a new farrier as a pleasant or easy experience as there are so many bad ones that finding a good one is incredibly difficult. It shouldn't be like that, but it is.

I never said I'd dictate to my farrier, I said I wouldn't be dictated to. Bit of a difference there! If my farrier said to me "I'm going to put shoes on in such and such a way" but couldn't give me a reason or explanation for why, I'm not prepared to let him go ahead and do it just because he feels like it. He should be able to explain the theory and reasoning behind it and why he thinks my horse should benefit. I don't see anything wrong with questioning something in an attempt to become more knowledgeable about the subject. By the same token, I would expect my farrier to listen to any ideas I had, ask me the reasons behind my thinking and then give me his input. If he said no way and gave me good reasons for why something wouldn't work, then I'd listen to his advice and look for other options.

And I do have a bit of a clue what I'm talking about, a livery from my yard is training to be a farrier and he fully admits that most of his training is to do with making and fitting (as in nailing on) shoes and whilst they're taught about hoof balance, etc, it's not even 50% of the course (and it should be).

I'm not tarring all farriers with the same brush, otherwise I wouldn't use one would I? My first farrier was incredible, absolutely amazing. Unfortunately he moved away. The scary thing is, the guy who lamed my horse was recommended by my amazing farrier, so he must have been able to shoe some horses properly so why not mine? (And she's not hard to do, she stands properly, doesn't fidget, lean, bite or kick).

You wrote:"do you have a clue what you are talking about. How else do you fit a shoe balance is an integral part of that my partner comes home with work he's been set all about balance of the foot. Making the balance correct is more important than anything a farrier does as if it is wrong it can malform joints/ligaments etc"

I 100% agree but it seems that some farriers forget this. Also, how many farriers do you see that ask the horse to be walked and trotted up before shoeing them, ask questions about how the horse is going, etc. All of these things have a part in how the horse wears its hooves and how it should be trimmed, but it seems that many farriers don't bother doing this or even know what to look for.

And whilst I agree that you won't find a horse with perfectly symmetrical hooves, they should be reasonably similar. If one is hugely different from the other and the horse doesn't have serious conformation problems or had an injury that predisposes it to wear its hooves very differently, something is wrong with the way that hoof is being trimmed.

Sorry, but I'm an intelligent person capable of learning and there's a whole host of literature, research papers and suchlike out there that you can learn from if you put your mind to it. Whilst I don't have a university degree in farriery (I don't claim to be a farrier and would never attempt to shoe a horse) that doesn't mean I can't learn enough to 1) know what I'm looking at, 2) form an educated opinion and 3) have valid and useful ideas in the subject.

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to dictate to my farrier that will end up hurting my mare either, she's unshod and pretty much self trims. Oh, and this is on my farriers advice after I had a discussion with him about my horses hoof balance and contracted heels. He felt that I had valid points and that whilst he could correct the problems whilst shoeing, in the long term it would be better for my horses hooves to have a break (possibly permanent) for shoeing as they would be able to repair themselves much more effectively and quickly without the shoes.

I'm not having a dig at your partner, I imagine he's a very good farrier but I object to being told that I should give my farrier carte-blanche to do what he wants with my horse hooves and not ask any questions at all (this is what your message implied to me, sorry if you didn't mean it that way).

[shandy84]

How am I telling you not to have infor and ask a few questions when I write this?

"Yep you are right horse owners should have some basic info in case they get a real cowboy farrier working on their horses feet."

As I say maybe it's the ones in your area I have no problem with the way that farriers work on my horses or those of my friends. The whole point is you shouldn't have to find a new farrier only one of my many friends locally has had to change and that's because she slept with him and it ended badly not because of poor shoeing.

That is fair enough you came across as saying that you wouldn't do what he said if you didn't agree. But fiar enough I understand you better now

Well he is on a poor apprenticeship then because all the ones I know have been taught to a high level about hoof balance etc.

Sorry everything you say sounds like you are tarring all farriers. You could probably not use one only if you had the confidence in yourslef in trimming the foot, I do not believe you do. Also if your horse was shod it would be illegal to do it yourself and to just leave the foot to wear can sometimes cause permanent damage. if he is a good farrier on other horses he must have some problem with your horse that is predesposed just at him. I can't explain that - not trying to be rude but could it be malicious against you.

You get what you pay for most of the local ones will go through a list of questions and see the horse moving before shoeing them

No I'm afraid you are wrong. Some horses are born with feet of different sizes as well as having injuries cause it for example lameness in one foot will make the other foot bigger to support more of the horses weight

I agree you can be well informed, but at least here, at the end of the day the farrier is more knowledgeable and if they can explain the reasoning behind something generally it is adviseable to go with it. I never said I had blind faith in farriers I'm happy to point out problems etc.

I prefer horses unshod unless they are in hardwork anyway as it is natural and a natural repair method will take place.

My fiance is a good farrier but I know many others whose work I have seen carried out locally and have been impressed. The only problem Ihave ever seen with a farrier is that they can have a short temper if the owner is not present. I always am. I am not saying to trust your farrier implicitly i'm just saying if your vet suggested medication for your horse you would be unlikely to question him as much as a farrier. the same rule applies he is far more knowledgeable.

What was his designation e.g AWCF etc. My advice to you is to inform his training body of the situation you experienced as he is giving good farriers a bad name and if the owners do nothing they have no right to complain about fariers because they are doing nothing to sort it out!

[Bebe]

Shandy84,

I doubt it was a personal thing with the farrier as I didn't know him previously or anything and he only shod my horse a few times. I was never rude or anything, always present when my horse was done, booked 5-6 weeks in advance and brought him cups of tea. It wasn't just my horse either, a couple of others on the yard went lame (pretty much the same way my horse did, just not as bad) when shod by him too. The farrier seemed nice enough, was generally pleasant, etc.

My current farrier has offered to teach me how to rasp the hoof which is all my mare needs at the moment to keep good balance. I've done a little bit (just taking off rough bits when she chipped round the old nail holes to prevent it from worsening) but no, I don't feel confident enough to do a proper trim or rasp. Whilst I can see the areas that need to be done (for example, slight flares, uneven wear, heels growing forward and needing to be trimmed back, etc), I worry that if I have a go myself it will go wrong and I'll do more harm than good. I think this is a sensible approach for me at this time. I am aware that it's illegal to prepare a hoof for shoeing and to apply shoes to a horse if you're not a qualified farrier.

It sounds like you have a good base of farriers in your area. Unfortunately that's not the case here. When our old farrier left I had a conversation with my yard owner and we ran through about 10 different farriers who cover our area and decided none of them were suitable (some were not because of how they shod but because they had a habit of not turning up or were violent towards the horses). The really good farriers have a full client base and don't have the time to take on new customers. If our farrier at the time hadn't left the country, we would still be using him.

The farrier who I stopped using was qualified to DipWCF. I did send the Register of Farriers a letter of complaint but never heard anything back from them. FWIW, I don't go round bad mouthing this farrier (never mention a name) though I suppose if someone asked I'd try to steer them away from using them.

I think it's important that owners have a bit more than a bare bones understanding of hooves. The real cowboy farriers will be obvious at first shoeing, but I kick myself that I didn't know more about hooves when I used the poor farrier on my horse. If I had known enough after the first or maybe second shoeing to know that it definitely wasn't right (once the shoes had gone on it was hard to see how the hoof was balanced, and because most of the other horses he was doing were okay I thought that I was just being stupid) and I needed someone else, then I'd have saved my mare from being lame for several months. By the same token, if I'd spoken up more and been a bit more forceful, maybe the farrier would have paid more attention and made an effort to improve his work? I don't know, hindsight is a wonderful thing I suppose.

[Yann]

The farrier in question did come with some recomendations and was pleasant and personable, I wouldn't dream for an instant that there was anything personal in what happened.

The shoeing he did on my horse didn't cause any overt problems as she has very regular feet and is easy to shoe, but Bebe wasn't the only one affected by his work. Our yard owner has several horses and is very experienced, and she wasn't at all happy with the way things were going. When someone like that is worried there is a problem.

[shandy84]

Hi, I wasn't saying this was not the case it irritates me when horseowners appear to think they know more than the trained professionals. This is all, also I hate people who appear to tar everyone with the same brush this is an unjust thing to do.

[Kanuma]

ive had alot of very bad experiances with horses and ended up with one horse badly injured because of it and eventhough our current farrier is the best anyone could ask for this horse is still not right!!! the horse went from winning national championship to stuck in the feild due to a bad back and feet so sore he could barely stand!!! my vet says his back was caused by bad feet!!!
ive had farriers who have lost their tempers with my horses (they are all very good current farrier says the only fault they have is to occasionaly shift their weight, he gives them a gentle prod and they shift it back to were it was!).
ive had ones that never turned up (lost so many entery fees because of that!).
ive had ones turn up and start hacking big chuncks off feet that only needed a trim!!! (when the hoof starts to bleed i think its an obviouse sign that the farrier isnt very good!! were not talkin a little bit of bleed ing we are talking about alot!!)
our current farrier is an angel!!! ive checked all his qualifications with the places he got them from! he has won awards, been made a fellow (or something similar) by one of them!!! he was the youngest farrier in 50 years to be made one! he specialises in remedial shoeing, is wonderful with the horses (he has shod some rotters for me!!), he is always on time and normaly early!! always explains every thing even to my inquisitive 11 year old brother, carries one of those dried hoofy things to show exactly what he means!! and if the horses loose a shoe he is normaly up the day after you call!! (we called newyears eve and he came at about 2pm on new years day!!) he takes nearly 1 and a half hours to shoe a horse properly, insits on the horses being troted up before, after and some times in the middle of being shod!!!
i couldnt ask for better!!! the only time i couldnt get hold of him when i needed him was when he was put in hospital by some idiot who asked him to shoe a horse, said it was good and the horse went mad, picked him up by his elbow and threw him against a wall, i was told he was out cold for about 5 mins!! he broke his wrist, several ribs and some other bones that i cant spell!!!
Rian is now haveing some serious remedial shoeing, has been unused for nearly 2 years due to the back injury and is now comeing back into light work!!! thank god for the good fariers and may the rest of them rot in hell!!!

[Gill]

My horses have always been shod every six weeks.
However I now have them barefoot with the full support of my farrier.
One of my ponies had laminitis last year so I have been getting her trimmed every three-four weeks. Her feet are looking great now as the new hoof capsule grows down and everything tightens up again. I fully believe that the excellent farrier care and lack of shoes have let this happen.
Farrier now has a thermal imaging camera which we were looking at this week. Very interesting. On my normal unshod ponys' feet the image is evenly distibuted. On the recovering lami pony you can see areas at the front of the hoof where circulation has been compromised. This part is growing out with healthy circulation above.
On shod feet the circulation is much poorer as the hoof cannot expand and contract as it should.
I can only imagine what it would be like inside a hoof which had worn the same shoes for twelve weeks.

[Principal]

Travis is shod every 4 weeks during the cmpeteing season, as we do alot of jumping on all different types of ground softenss and hardness so my farrier comes out and changes shoes to fit where and when im jumping.

Sahara is the same she gets shod every 4weeks along with travis as i am starting to compete alot with her this season aswell, not so much last year but a lot is planned this season!

Jazminda my arab, has shoes on for the showing season (april-september) but over winter she jsut has them trimmed as her hoofs are natuarally very hard so she doesn't really need them over winter as we just do hacking and about 3hours a week schooling (over different days)!

[gems tiger]

I get Tiger Lilys feet done every 8 - 10 weeks, (altho i think that her feet still look ok at 10) everyone else on my yard say that its not a good idea to let them go longer than that because of potental tendon trubble if you do a lot of work.

[Wally]

There are some EXCELLENT farriers out there, the younger ones tend to be very good. They ahve tdone the courses and taken on board everything that has been taught to them. HOwever, it's the same in any profession there are cowboys out there.

Now what Shandy84 is doing is tarring every horse owner with the same brush.

There are some horse owners out there who can recognise a shoddy shoeing at 100 yards. You don't have to do 5 years to recognise a shortchut. remedial and surgical stuff maybe and I wouldn't argue with a diploma'd farrier over that.

I had terrible trouble with a farrier, he was not diploma'd, he was granted grandfather rights. Now I know he can win prizes in competitions. But when he ain't in the mood you get a half inch shoe in one foot, a fullered one on another a driving unfullered shoe on another and a 5/8 on another. If you don't question him he'll take your money and go. All the toes are left far too long and there are a lot of horses with tendon problems now. None of the horses he has shod long term have heels, they all walk on the bulbs of thier feet.

In the end we did get a diploma'd farrier in and what a difference, you'd have to be blind and stupid not to notice the difference she made.

Now I have been studying under her for the past 5 years and shoe all my own horses. You are SO right, foot balance and how it relates to the leg it is on the end of and the horse's way of going is SO VERY important.

Another thing I have discovered is that the Farriers Registry is there to protect their member farriers not the public. They take complaints then back their member farrier! It would be commercial suicide to start kicking farriers off or suspending them, they would have no revenue! Sorry I always was a bit cynical.

By the way I can legally shoe my horses as I am outwith the area covered by the farriers registry. UK mainland and lowlands.

[Wally]

Also forgot to add, in relation to what you said earlier about accidental nail bind or pricking.

The lass who teaches me told me before we started, she said be prepared, if you are going to shoe you will make them lame once in a while, it happens. If you are not prepared to accept that human error is simply humnan don't start shoeing.

I have lamed Fákur once, I knew the nail was going wrong so took it out and tried again, it went awry again so got a new nail and the last ime it felt right. Fákur trotted (paced) up sound. Next day he was lame, I knew he would be, I felt wretched, so off came the shoe, he got an animal lintex on it for a day or two and was sound as a bell within 3. no harm done, only to my concience.

Them that never made a mistake never made anything. Most farriers too appreciate a bit of interested conversation, ask why they are doing what they are doing, most won't bite and might be gratified that you are taking more interest and therfore more responsability for the horses' feet.