Barefoot trimmer/ podiatrist Vs farrier

[Landcruiser]

The gold standard for barefoot trimmers is to be a full member of the Equine Podiatry Association.

The podiatrist that I mentioned above was and still is listed as a full member of the EPA. Nothing to do with a clash of personalities - everything to do with sub standard work harming horses, and refusing to take on board what the vet said about the progressively deteriorating foot balance . ETA and when I suggested getting fresh x rays of the feet to help check foot balance, they told me not to bother, as no matter what the x rays showed they would not trim the feet any differently.

The lack of knowledge was shocking.

Our Members - The Equine Podiatry Association

Register of Members The Association maintains a list of all members. Members are recorded according to class of membership. The Association publishes the section of the register which lists full members - those that are qualified as Equine Podiatrists and have met the association's requirements...

www.epauk.org

There's one still listed there that absolutely crippled my horse a decade ago, to the point that he literally couldn't walk and ended up in 2 cycles of Imprint glue on shoes just to grow some foot back. . I was told later she was Strasser trained originally, which perhaps explained it. My very first trimmer 15 yrs ago was an EP too, and did a shocking job although a body worker had to be the one to point this out as I was a hoof beginner back then and trusted the EP. The best way to choose is recommendation from someone with sound barefoot horses, and then self education so you can understand what they are doing, why, and what effect it may have.

 

[paddy555]

No but I would rather have a doctor who had trained for 5 years to stitch me up then someone for did a months online first aid course

I think it depends on the person.

it does depend on the person and there are some farriers who are excellent at producing barefoot horses and some trimmers who are equally lousy.

However the skills a farrier has learnt as to how to make a shoe, trim a foot to receive a shoe and nail it on are all totally irrelevant to a barefoot horse. (it would in fact be a lot more useful if they had a similar degree of knowledge about hoof boots)

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

If your farrier is willing to discuss, just ask him not to trim the frog, apart from flappy bits and just basically tidy the edges of the hoof. It kind of depends whether you want to ride barefoot or ride in boots.
If you ride on varying surfaces the hoof will get trimmed by that, if you always wear boots then the hoof growth will need trimming

Basically this I just ask the farrier to leave the frog and sole most of the time unless it gets horrible and they are fine, I use hoof armour when they have just been done if it's hard and stony out.

 

[Arzada]

I imagine in another life farrier would have liked to be a podiatrist

There are farriers who are doing this ie performance barefoot trimming in this life. They may still call themselves a farrier, possibly a barefoot trimmer but highly unlikely to be calling themselves a podiatrist unless they have trained in that particular branch of barefoot trimming.