All you barefooters and knowledgable people come this way please

[touchstone]

i dont know what vet school your vet went to but that is certainly not true for all of them!! We most definitely have dissected hooves and the lower limb! In fact there has been much more focus on that area of the horse than most others... The digestive system was probably the only thing covered in more detail.

I must admit that my vet was excellent with hoof problems and I'd trust him implicity. The only thing he hadn't researched at the time was horses recovering without shoeing, so it was understandable that it was outside of his expertise, all his training had covered remedial shoeing for hoof problems, although this was well over ten years ago. Things have moved on a lot since then.

My vet was also open minded enough to work alongside a barefoot trimmer. There are some good vets out there

 

[Oberon]

That constitutes professional negligence, do you mean they may refuse to come out if the owner has refused to comply with previous advice , presumably to shoe!

As in they won't assess lameness until shoes are put on.

Not my lovely vets BTW

 

[criso]

As in they won't assess lameness until shoes are put on.

Not my lovely vets BTW

Recently I had to have a full lameness work up on my horse. (Turned out to be the shoulder) The documentation I was initially sent said "horses must be shod for lameness investigation." When I was arranging the appointment the person I spoke to also said this.

I phoned my vet who is also based at the RVC where they were doing the work up and he agreed it wasn't necessary and was happy to talk the consultant vets.

When I got there I explained his history and why he was barefoot (they were interested) and they said the reason for the clause is that they need to assess on hard and soft surfaces and if the horse is not happy to work on all surfaces then this can be be a problem. Luckily mine was happy trotting up and down concrete all day (apart from the obvious lameness) so they were happy.

Going back to the original question I've seen vets and farriers have fairly heated arguments about bars shoes v wedges, pads or not etc and farriers disagree about the best approach. In that context I would definitely question their approach now.

 

[Bikerchickone]

Unfortunately I get the impression at the moment that my vet would be only too happy to have cause to tell me to put shoes back on my lad. It's unfortunate because I was really impressed with the way he listened to me and spoke to Nic about Rockley. But now my horse is home he barely speaks to me and hasn't once asked how he's doing. It's been a really really uncomfortable week making the Rockley to home transition with all eyes upon us and a lack of minerals due to my own incompetence but there's no way I want to put shoes back on my horse.

The fact that most professionals seem unaware of the benefits of barefoot gives me cause to doubt their advice regarding shoeing.

 

[Waltzing Matilda]

My vet r late 20s early 30s in age. I'm sure it's not the case everywhere but that is what they told me. They trained together. I don't mind tho cos it means they take my advice as the hoof professional instead of doing detrimental things to the foot! I will happily take their advice on other matters however. In fact I will b discussing pos of ulcers in my new more with them on Monday when they do her jabs.

It does frustrate.me however Wen they deal with lami cases and just refer to farrier and suggest shoes cos thats wot u do and how else do u support the foot?! But Let's not even get me started on that one!! Lol!!