Barefoot trimmers vs farriers who do barefoot too

In my mind it is not just about the trim.

With a trimmer you get tips and support on managing the whole horse. And it is this which has the biggest impact on a horse living successfully barefoot.

My farrier whilst he does a decent trim knows little about nutrition and management which are crucial to a sound barefoot horse. The only thing he told me to do differently was to give him the supplement pro-feet. When my unbroken 3 year old cob was foot sore he suggested shoeing.
 
To be honest, it is not in a farriers interest to get involved with barefoot as they would need three to five customers for every shod horse.
There was a new farrier in the yard last week, and asked him to check my barefoot horse, I explained he was on "barefoot diet", although he is a good farrier, he did not know anything about this scenario, looked at feet, picked up two of them and said "perfect". I offered him a tenner, as I am paying for his knowledge and experience, I don't want any trimming if it is not required, he refused, but if my regular farrier had been there, I know he would have rasped feet in to a "perfect" shape, and would have taken the £15.00 for the trim, which actually was not needed. It is difficult for an owner to know what to do for the best, I have spent a lot of time studying the foot and the barefoot horse, more than any average person would do.
My horse has normal feet, good horn, and I am happy to manage his roadwork to correspond to his hoof requirements.
I think the owner has to have detailed knowledge of his own horses's foot, some are no problem, others need special care.
 
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My farrier is most definitely a farrier rather than a trimmer and he discourages shoeing unless absolutely necessary. BH does not have perfectly matched feet as that is not how he is made and is not how he wears them and, having watched him move, my farrier very much leaves him to it as to force them to be 'perfect' would be counter productive. He also offers very sound advice on diet and exercise to help horses go without shoes.

I don't think it is fair to say all farriers want to shoe and no farriers know about the barefoot horse. Mine does and I doubt he is the only one in the country who is clued up about it! I think as long as you chose carefully and have a bit of an idea yourself you can find one of either that can do a good job for you.
 
There are differences between the trims done by individuals, be they trimmers or farriers. I think we need to know what we're looking for in a good trim and go by that.
 
I could legally set up as a trimmer tomorrow having never trimmed a horse in my life.. My farrier on the other hand has spent many years training & no doubt charges a damn sight less than most "trimmers" .

My farrier believes that you should only shoe if the horse needs shoes to do his job & even then will encourage you to have at least 2 or 3 months without shoes if you can
 
I have used both barefoot trimmers and farriers - and there are good and bad in both. I started to use a BF trimmer as the yard I was on insisted on using a particular farrier who's work I wasn't very impressed with - so move to a "equine pedomotrist" or barefoot trimmer.

Initially I was very impressed with their work, BUT the attitude of everything will be fixed if you feed MagOx started to wear thin. 3 years later, and after I hit a big financial crisis, I deciede to go to a farrier for a trim as the savings were more than half price. On the very first trim with the farrier they said mto me "Did you know he has a rotated pedal bond in left front?"

This was never pick up on by trimmer, and when farrier adjusted the trim to take the pedal bone rotation into account. Horse has never gone so well. I took him off the MagOx and I no longer have scouring, although he does need pergolide. He his so much happier, and I am still beating myself up that for 3 years he suffered through a badly trained and mis-informed trimmer.
 
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