farrier advice

[BackInBlack]

on wednesday vet came out and apparently my horse has had an abcess under his frog area and it has burst out through his heel (front leg) he asked who my farrier was but didn't comment anymore. my horse had been shod 2 weeks earlier - should this have been picked up? also - now my horse has to be put on a dry area to keep his hooves dry which he objectd to ! resulting in him coming out of stable yesterday am with a back shoe twisted and digging into back hoof! (he could hardly walk ) couldn't prise it off so called farrier and he said just yank it off - now i was worried about doing this in case i damaged the hoof but did get it off eventually - do you think he should have come out? don't know if i should be looking for a new farrier?!

 

[alicep]

when my mare pulled her shoe off slightly and managed to shove it back up the wall of the hoof, my farrier did aks me to try and take it off myself (it was a sat evening) but i couldnt do it so he had to come out and remove it however he was due to shoe her the following tuesday. so i think if your farrier had intended to come out the next day or so to check it prob was ok.

 

[dixie]

Difficult one to comment on but your vets comment sounds like he wasn't too happy about his shoeing? Have you had problems with your farrier before, does he normally tidy the frogs up when he shoes? If not, then there is a possibility that he should have found the poultice.

 

[Jellymoon]

It's entirely possible that the abcess was not present two weeks ago when the farrier was doing his feet, so that may not be something he missed. And it may not be his fault that your horse twisted off a back shoe while going ballistic!

I would also expect to be able to pull a shoe off myself without having to get the farrier out - if you don't really know how to do this, get him to show you next time and buy some farrier tools. If you do it properly, then you won't damage the hoof.

As for the vet's reaction, quite often vets and farriers don't see eye to eye, so it could be that there's some history there! May not mean that your farrier is bad.

What I would expect from the farrier is that if there is any lameness that could be attributed to the foot (ie. abcess) then they should come out asap (latest, next day) to have a look at it and advise you on what to do (eg. poulticing, how often, for how long) and tell you when they will come back out and have another look at him. If there's any digging about that needs doing, I would prefer my farrier to do it than the vet - they are foot specialists after all. I wouldn't want a doctor to give me a filling!

 

[BackInBlack]

horse has been lame on and off for last 4 weeks but i thought it was just a result of him hoolying around the field with his new field mate... believe me i'm p***d off i didn't pick up on it.
i can now pull off a shoe myself now thanks - i just had never had the need to do it before in the 30 yrs i have had horses! and didn't want to cause more harm than good.
didn't cross my mind that it could have been something the farrier could have picked up on until vet made that comment.
am not blaming farrier for his shoe twisting off! thats entirely down to my potty horse.

 

[Donkeymad]

I really believe that every horse owner should ask their farrier how to correctly and safely remove a shoe. Must of us need to do it at some point.