After a farrier's barefoot trim - What do you know think?

[Rosie'smum]

Farrier came out to trim Rosie's feet last week. What do you now think of them?

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I wouldn't call that a BF trim as the bars and frogs have been pared. They should really be left alone.

 

[Micky]

They look much better as for a BF trim, the bars and the frogs sometimes need a tidy up, BF trimmer or not!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Well I wouldn't be happy at all if that was done to my horses.

 

[Megibo]

Look ok to me, my farrier does a really good trim on my barefoot girl and saves me forking out a bomb for a trimmer!

 

[amandap]

The important thing is she as sound or better than before.

 

[chestnut cob]

The important thing is she as sound or better than before.

^^ This ^^

OP, is the horse more or less sound than before the trim? That's all that matters, not the aesthetics of it.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I guess the bar and frog trimming stands out to me as it would make my chestnut mare footy. I agree that a horse shouldn't be less sound after a trim (or shoeing).

 

[mightymammoth]

I wouldn't be happy with the way he's trimmed the frog as that makes my horse sore but otherwise looks ok.

 

[nikkimariet]

The bar and frog trimming made me wince. Very neat and tidy, but looks like a foot prepped for a shoe.

 

[cptrayes]

They look much better as for a BF trim, the bars and the frogs sometimes need a tidy up, BF trimmer or not!

Not like that they don't !

He's sliced great chunks off the sides of all four frogs and even taken the surface off one.

He's trimmed toe callous on one foot. One heel looks as if he's taken it down so far it's showing pink, terribly close to live tissue.

I'd find another trimmer.

 

[Micky]

God you are so negative on here, the lady asked what you think, they are better than they were before and she doesn't state that her horse is lame/footy......not whether to get get another farrier, BF trimmers don't have all the answers to barefoot trimming!! Half of them cock it up! ( experience)

 

[YasandCrystal]

God you are so negative on here, the lady asked what you think, they are better than they were before and she doesn't state that her horse is lame/footy......not whether to get get another farrier, BF trimmers don't have all the answers to barefoot trimming!! Half of them cock it up! ( experience)

Agree and actually more than half of them cock it up even after drawing their little grids on sadly..

 

[cptrayes]

God you are so negative on here, the lady asked what you think, they are better than they were before and she doesn't state that her horse is lame/footy......not whether to get get another farrier, BF trimmers don't have all the answers to barefoot trimming!! Half of them cock it up! ( experience)

I am also writing from experience Nicky. That trim would lame a proportion of sound horses. We were asked for our opinions, and as someone who rides very hardworking horses barefoot, I gave mine. If you disagree, could you please reason it out so that we can all discuss and learn?

 

[cptrayes]

Agree and actually more than half of them cock it up even after drawing their little grids on sadly..

The majority of trimmers do not draw grids anywhere.

There are good and bad trimmers, but comments like this don't help anyone identify which is which. Can you give the OP any guidance on that?

 

[YasandCrystal]

The majority of trimmers do not draw grids anywhere.

There are good and bad trimmers, but comments like this don't help anyone identify which is which. Can you give the OP any guidance on that?

The OP should imo encourage her farrier to leave the frogs and sole apart from just minimal removal. Any farrier can learn to put a roll on and be less radical on the sole. It's not rocket science and a bf should be self servicing with the correct workload. The good thing about using a good farrier is the sheer volume of horses he/she works with and the tiny nuances that they can spot through experience. I know the trimmers miss things and some of the horses that my hubby has had referred have made him despair.
The more requests a farrier gets for bf the less invasive he will be. Farriers are used to working hard for their money and it comes with the job that want to leave a perfect foot, which in this case maybe a little too much for a bf. The farrier has given this horse more of a grass/rest trim imo, but any farrier worth his salt would not take offence to the suggestion of less is best underneath.

 

[cptrayes]

Fantastic y&c, thanks. I hear of more and more capable barefooters trimmed by farriers. When I said this poster should get another trimmer I didn't mean it couldn't be a farrier, just that this one's too knife happy

 

[ester]

Another whose horse wouldn't appreciate the sole or the frog trimming. As an aside I was fascinated to watch him trim his own frogs when he shed a long strip off each side over the summer, very clever . I am also very pleased that my trimmer is happy to travel with us when I move him a couple of hours away in a couple of weeks time!

 

[Rosie'smum]

Thanks for the replies. I did wince at how much he did take off but I don't know an awful lot about how much is necessary to take off I didn't say anything plus the farrier did a couple of feet and his colleague did the others.
He did par one front hoof more than the rest as she had a crack that had gone underneath through her white line. And at that point he suggested fronts shoes on her. He suggested this last time but supported me going for boots. She is about the same footiness on stones as she was before but I am upping her workload to get to the point off self trimming.
How much roadwork a week would you suggest?
I did video her walking on concrete and walking and trotting on slightly stonier ground and does appear to going heel first., just a bit more careful over uneven terrain. ( sadly no avoiding this as its like this all the way to the fields. )
Problem I have with the farrier is everyone highly recommends him as a good farrier which I dont doubt for shoeing but not sure about his trims.
I have asked on here for recommendations for a bf trimmer but as never used one is a little doubtful as heard different thing's about them.

 

[YasandCrystal]

Fantastic y&c, thanks. I hear of more and more capable barefooters trimmed by farriers. When I said this poster should get another trimmer I didn't mean it couldn't be a farrier, just that this one's too knife happy

We are in agreement then

 

[ester]

Rosie's mum, I transferred to a trimmer when Frank's shoes came off 18 months ago, on the basis that my farrier admitted he didn't really have enough knowledge or barefoot or barefoot rehabbing.

I had a couple of recommendations, one off here (someone CP knows) and one from Nic at Rockley who had recently completed the UKNCHP course and I spoke to both and think either would have been great. In the end I went for the one who was a little closer and had her come out with the poss of shoe removal (if I wasn't convinced I would have tried the other recommendation) and we took the shoes off. I also think that I had done sufficient reading to get enough knowledge that as was able to discuss stuff/ask appropriate questions etc along the way.

Frank was sore once after a trim when he had had less work so we trimmed more, we learnt from that he has been fine since.

 

[ameeyal]

I would have preferred it if the farrier had trimmed a little more off the sides.

Have to agree on the frogs, hes taken to much off.

 

[Queenbee]

I agree that the bar and frog shouldn't have been touched, I suppose I have been incredibly lucky in that my farriers do not touch these areas of my horses hooves. Having said that, if the horse is sound, then I would not go all guns blazing and get another farrier/trimmer, because disregarding the frog and bars they look good. Instead I would go another trim or two with the current farrier but instruct him not to touch the bars or frogs in future.

I also would say that if this was done to Ben, I dare say if I took him in the school, on the road or in the field, he would be sound, but there is no way in hell he would be able to do the bridle paths and I very much doubt any horse would be comfortable walking down a stony bridle path following that trim.

 

[Rosie'smum]

She definitely seems to be wanting to seek the grass more on the way down to the field. I will definitely tell him next time. We do have another farrier that comes could try him next time.

 

[cptrayes]

We are in agreement then

We are! I should have made it clear from the start that my term 'trimmer' applies equally to farriers doing working barefooters. There are more and more around now who have sound hardworking horses on their books.

A friend of mine, who uses the farrier who told me eight years ago that my horses would never cope barefoot, was advised by him to remove the shoes to strengthen up her weak footed TB. When they chipped, he said he could tidy them up if she insisted, but that he would prefer to see what the horse wanted for himself. This is an older guy who has put himself out to open his mind late into his career and I take my hat off to him.



.

 

[chestnut cob]

A friend of mine, who uses the farrier who told me eight years ago that my horses would never cope barefoot, was advised by him to remove the shoes to strengthen up her weak footed TB. When they chipped, he said he could tidy them up if she insisted, but that he would prefer to see what the horse wanted for himself. This is an older guy who has put himself out to open his mind late into his career and I take my hat off to him.

So does this farrier do nothing at all to the hoof once the shoe has come off, initially? I was chatting to mine last week about taking shoes off my horse (mainly for a shoe break over winter, but if all goes well then they will stay off longer term) - he said he wouldn't touch the sole or frog, and would just tidy up around the wall/ roll the toe a little. Had the back shoes off for last summer (on again for winter) and farrier at the time did basically that, then didn't touch them at all every time after that, just looked at them.

 

[NooNoo59]

My farrier did a trim when I first took the shoes off, every time horse was sore and footy, now I was putting a lot of time into the transition and did not want a horse that could not be ridden on the roads for two weeks every time the farrier came. So I found a barefoot trimmer on here and I thought I would give him a go, all I can say is its brilliant. Horse not sore at all, he takes so much time and talks me through everything, fascinating and all for forty quid, bargain!

 

[thatsmygirl]

I'm the same my farrier is fab when it comes to shoeing but not barefoot as he hacks off to much. Feet look good but I wouldn't be happy with what's been taken off his frogs or bars. I trim myself now every few weeks to keep on top of them. The odd rasp and job done

 

[weebarney]

Ouch, if he didnt have good reason to take the frog and bars off i would not be happy, less is more. Is that a bruise on the last photo to the left of the frog?

 

[Pearlsasinger]

My farrier wouldn't have trimmed the frog or bars of any horse whether shod or unshod - he never has, except if the frog has been very raggy and then he might cut the bit that's hanging off. He would always say what he was going to do, so that we could object if we wanted to.
OP, the angles look good.