hoofsculpture
Well-Known Member
There seems to be a grey area around the care of horses feet. Well untill recently 2-3 years ,even the most learned of horse owners knew little about horses feet. Cleaning out the feet was done before and after use, and care was taken to reshoe on a rota. A chat with the farrier about the odd crack etc was about it. The horse was in a catagory such as great feet,good feet, bad feet, long feet etc. Apart from this nothing else was done untill the horse went lame for some reason. If it was an abcess,sprain, or something like that the vet dealt with it. In some cases if a shoe had to come off the vet and farrier had to work together. Now that is two vet visits and one farrier visit[quite expensive] Now chances are the horse would need some nursing care after that ,and that is a grey area, nobody to do it. Vets,unless they specalise, can not be expected to be experts on the horses foot, and farriers are taught how to do a good shoeing job, without much of a back up plan if shoeing is not possible, and doing nothing is not an option, thats a rock and a hard place. There is nobody else to turn to.
Enter the barefoot movement., they consist of 2-3 people who studied the horses foot in great detail with a view to going unshod. In the process they learned a lot about how to treat,manage ,even cure most hoof related probs. There number increased to 5 or 6 people ,all doing great work for horses. But there was not enough money to be made in this, so starting with 2 and now many more, these people wrote books and train people to do what is in effect a pedicure for horses, as it would take years for the origional people to train anyone to the standard where they could effectively deal with a foundered horse etc.
These people are running around, ill equipped to do what they do. Money is the boss and the important knowlege stays with the teachers. So barefoot trimmers have done a course with one of the main people, who themselves have done a course with one of the original people, who themselves have no qualifications,other than what they award themselves. One in particular is an equine podiatrist and natural hoof trimmer of which there is no such professional body, so he created one. All the associations and hoof trimming bodies of which people would like too or have too belong to, are self appointed. The sad thing is that the 6 or seven main people i know are well equiped to deal with any hoof problem but where is the money in that. To conclude all the farrier schools are a disgrace, because farriers if taught would be the best people to natural trim, laminitis trim and any other trim. Ir farriers were all taught this millions of horses would be saved.
Enter the barefoot movement., they consist of 2-3 people who studied the horses foot in great detail with a view to going unshod. In the process they learned a lot about how to treat,manage ,even cure most hoof related probs. There number increased to 5 or 6 people ,all doing great work for horses. But there was not enough money to be made in this, so starting with 2 and now many more, these people wrote books and train people to do what is in effect a pedicure for horses, as it would take years for the origional people to train anyone to the standard where they could effectively deal with a foundered horse etc.
These people are running around, ill equipped to do what they do. Money is the boss and the important knowlege stays with the teachers. So barefoot trimmers have done a course with one of the main people, who themselves have done a course with one of the original people, who themselves have no qualifications,other than what they award themselves. One in particular is an equine podiatrist and natural hoof trimmer of which there is no such professional body, so he created one. All the associations and hoof trimming bodies of which people would like too or have too belong to, are self appointed. The sad thing is that the 6 or seven main people i know are well equiped to deal with any hoof problem but where is the money in that. To conclude all the farrier schools are a disgrace, because farriers if taught would be the best people to natural trim, laminitis trim and any other trim. Ir farriers were all taught this millions of horses would be saved.
