Farrier overtrims your horse... do you get rid?

[tallyho!]

I had debated a rider's rasp, just haven't got round to ordering one! Do you trim your own, out of interest?

I'm reluctant to call the farrier back out, because he's not fully lame. He's just a bit doddery / stumbly. If he was hopping lame I'd be straight on the phone, but knowing my luck farrier will show up and he'll look like nothing's wrong

Yes I did trim my old boy myself in between visits as he was diabetic (EMS) his hooves grew like stink. With my filly, I don't do very much unless I can see she has chipped a bit but she rarely does. She has feet like black granite... very hard to rasp!

Even when Malt was slightly doddery I would call my trimmer. Sometimes it was nothing to do with the trim and it was my fault for letting him out on too much grass but we always discussed things at length, make some adjustments and he'd be sound within a few days.

Do you have a pair of boots to make him more comfortable for the moment? At least then you will know if it's the trim. You just have to wait for hoof to grow.

 

[fuze]

We don't have any boots. He's never had shoes, his feet are pretty good, he'll do hours of roadwork and even stony bridleways without a problem, usually. His field's still pretty bare, and it did coincide with the trim... he was fine the day before.

Might order a riders rasp and try it out

 

[CBFan]

We don't have any boots. He's never had shoes, his feet are pretty good, he'll do hours of roadwork and even stony bridleways without a problem, usually. His field's still pretty bare, and it did coincide with the trim... he was fine the day before.

Might order a riders rasp and try it out

I would give farrier a call and mention it to him - if he doesn't know, he'll never learn and he can't do anything to prevent it happening again.

If you do get yourself a rasp, just get a normal one - I find the Riders Rasp a bit fiddly to use personally...

I tidy my boy up a bit in between our 12 weekly visits from our trimmer. Works quite well

 

[Caol Ila]

My longtime farrier took too much hoof off, the horse was clearly sore up front (but recovered within a few days of getting shod), but the farrier seemed responsive and apologetic when I discussed it with her. The next couple shoeings were fine. Then, she trimmed the horse too short again. Again, horse recovered in a day or two but I was not a happy camper. In all the years I'd used her, I'd never had any trouble with the farrier till now. Some of the boarders at the yard were of the view that she was finally getting burnt out, getting sloppy, and a lot of people were now using another farrier, which I felt I would have had to do. Luckily, my horse and I were leaving the country before her next shoeing was due, so I was thereby saved the stress of an awkward conversation.