Does anyone here shoe their own horses

An aquaintence once told me her husband would shoe my horses, as he has done loads in Ireland. Seeing as he is not a farrier, and TBH not somebody you would want to meet down a dark alley, I very quickly declined the offer!
 
I did used to know someone who would put their own horses shoe back on, if they lost one. I also was told recently of a local chap who is shoeing unregistered, not a good idea to use him, I wouldn't have thought.
 
I knew a lady who used to shoe her own horses, she had a riding school and had learned at a farriers' college, but wasn't registered to do anyone else's. I don't know if this is still allowed though.
 
Eek do they hot shoe or just bang cold ones on? I guess loads of people do in other countries. A lot of horses were crippled in Italy that my summer boss told me about. I dont even like cutting my rabbits toenails haha.
 
Quite a few of them do it here but then you don't have to be registered to shoe other people's horses anyway :( Don't get me started on the state of some of the feet I see ...

OH and I were trying to remember what the rules about shoeing your own horse in mainland UK are but we can't.
 
Rowreach said:
Quite a few of them do it here but then you don't have to be registered to shoe other people's horses anyway :( Don't get me started on the state of some of the feet I see ...

OH and I were trying to remember what the rules about shoeing your own horse in mainland UK are but we can't.
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That was also part of yesterdays conversation, the bit that seems to be about who can and can't do what, is the one that says only a registered farrier can prepare a foot to receive a shoe, so I think that means you can't shoe your own.
 
freckles22uk said:
Here (Spain) they sell the shoes, rasps and nails etc in the local Ironmongers type shops...
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Yup here too.

And:

"Under the Farriers (Registration) Act 1975, as amended, only: Registered Farriers, Approved Farriery Apprentices, Veterinary Surgeons or Practitioners, trainee vets working under supervision or persons giving first aid in case of an emergency to a horse, may practise farriery. You may only practise farriery on your own horses if you fall into one of these categories. For others to do so is a criminal offence which can result in a fine of up to £1000, plus legal costs and a criminal record. Farriery is defined within the Act as "any work in connection with the preparation or treatment of the foot of a horse for the immediate reception of a shoe thereon, the fitting by nailing or otherwise of a shoe to the foot or the finishing off of such work to the foot". This means in practice that trimming which is not going to result in the application of a shoe to the foot of an equine is not covered by the Farriers (Registration) Act and is therefore not regulated. However, horse owners should be aware that although, simple trimming and rasping of horses’ feet is allowed by lay persons under the Act to permit maintenance of foals’ and other unshod horses’ feet, it should not be attempted by anyone who is not qualified. Where more radical trimming and reshaping of horses’ feet is contemplated there is the potential for creating severe lameness. Experience has indicated this is particularly so where such 'therapy' is not undertaken by qualified farriers or veterinary surgeons. It is recommended that owners should only carry out minor work on feet of a cosmetic or emergency nature and that any significant trimming should be carried out by a Registered Farrier or a veterinary surgeon who will have been properly trained and strictly regulated by a code of conduct"
 
I agree that I wouldn't let anyone other a registered farrier near my horses - I assumed that there was some law about it, but I was surprised to read the comment above about 'preparing the foot'.

However, I can see the strangeness of the law when you look at other situations.

I can cut a goat, sheep or cow foot myself, I can lamb/kid a sheep/goat without a vet present, I can administer vaccines to the same with a hyperdermic syringe, you could all do the same. Yet we are prevent by law from hammering a shoe on a horse - even if we have been shown what to do (which I will add I have been for the above tasks). Or it would seem even preparing the foot, which as far as I can tell, is no more than we could do to the other herbivores. It would seem that there are some double standards going on when it comes to laws preventing animal mistreatment.
 
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The law doesn't stop anyone from trimming a horses foot, provided it is not in preperation to put a shoe on it, so exactly the same for horses as for the cloven hooved animals
 
YorksG said:
Very very scary :eek: Had a bizzare bit of info passed on to me yesterday by our farrier, he insists that in Germany the owner has to hold the horses leg up in some sort of harness for the farrier to work on the foot :eek: He did agree that he wouldn't be trying that in a hurry :D
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I thought that was Belgium....

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Perhaps not, but it looks an awkward position for a farrier to be in to work on a foot, I know from goats that it is far easier with the foot resting between your legs. Even when you roll a sheep you come at the foot from above and behind and its very awkward to do it otherwise. Sometimes family members offer to hold a foot up, but that just doesn't work, I find you need to be in control of the foot and that is easier if you hold it as described. Though I do understand that cows are often supported in a cradle/crate as they can be awkward.
 
I think the laws on shoeing horses are very ancient and sometimes rather strange to our modern eyes. Because horses were so essential for transport, the laws are strict. Note that the quote above refers to "veterinary practitioners". Now, as I understand it, a veterinary practitioner is an unqualified vet. I am not sure if there are any around today but my uncle, a farmer, always used to call in a practitioner to attend to his animals because he was also very good! They were not, at one time, uncommon.

The laws relating to farriers is sometimes very strange. I haven't been able to verify this but I understand it even applies to planning (in Scotland, anyway). I had a farrier wanting to buy my house. I didn't want to sell and that was the end of that. I met the man later and asked him if he had found a place. He told me he had bought a parcel of bare land and intended building a house. I asked him if he would get planning permission as the area he referred to was open country. He said that was no problem because thanks to some ancient enactment, farriers got special concessions when they wanted to set up shop. He got planning without a problem.

I have since tried to check that out, but no one can confirm or deny it and I've lost contact with the farrier who told me about it. So there you go! Maybe someone on here knows? BTW, I can inoculate and micro chip my own dogs, but I can't do that to my horses, although I can trim their feet!
 
Apparently in Germany/Austria it is some form of harness that the owner has strapped round their shoulders?????, not the stocks that they use in Belgium, I can't imagine how it would work.
The farrier could have been making it up as a wind up thoguh
 
Rowreach said:
Yup here too.

And:

"Under the Farriers (Registration) Act 1975,...... simple trimming and rasping of horses’ feet is allowed by lay persons under the Act to permit maintenance of foals’ and other unshod horses’ feet, it should not be attempted by anyone who is not qualified. Where more radical trimming and reshaping of horses’ feet is contemplated there is the potential for creating severe lameness. Experience has indicated this is particularly so where such 'therapy' is not undertaken by qualified farriers or veterinary surgeons. It is recommended that owners should only carry out minor work on feet of a cosmetic or emergency nature and that any significant trimming should be carried out by a Registered Farrier or a veterinary surgeon who will have been properly trained and strictly regulated by a code of conduct"
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What absolute ()*&$&*$%^s

What training in trimming a horse for work does a vet ever get? And a farrier in the UK only sees hardworking barefoot horses if his Master happens to have them on his books, there is no requirement in the syllabus to learn to manage horses that work hard with no shoes on.


Experience has indicated this is particularly so where such 'therapy' is not undertaken by qualified farriers or veterinary surgeons.
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Experience has also indicated that there are probably now hundreds of horses in this country where horses that were lame and unable to be helped by farriers and vets which are in full work due to the therapy done by people who are neither vet nor farrier training. I had one horse, Rockley's had more than 50, the dressage writer who commented on my horse's bare feet yesterday had one, a dozen or more people who contribute to this forum have one .............


Sorry, gone off on one there, this thread was about shoeing your own. Apologies OP :)
 
I think it is a legal requirement for horses hooves to be worked on when they are in a crate in the EU. Maybe someone can confirm that? The UK got a dispensation because it was argued our horses are not used to it and they'd all have to be retrained. Apparently the crates are fine, but when things go wrong, they go wrong big time! Would you really want a horse to panic in one of those things??:eek:
 
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