Tierra
Well-Known Member
I posted on here a couple of months back about Jack's feet. We moved him to Denmark in April and one of my primary concerns was his feet.
Jack is a very typical low heel, long toed horse and my UK farrier repeated over and over again before I left that the new farrier must keep his heels up. Tbh, the UK farrier never achieved this all that well... Jack has pretty pathetic heels
After shoeing him for a few months, my OH happened to call the farrier here to ask for a duplicate invoice and he got chatting to mark (the farrier). He mentioned that he'd like to put 4 point shoes on jack but my poor OH not knowing much about it said he'd get back to him.
Alarm bells rang for me immediatly and i went into panic over drive about navicular and started getting generally very arsey about my UK farrier having always shod him in a particular way and that was that.
I FINALLY went and met the new farrier today to have a chat about jacks feet and wished id done it sooner
He'd arrived armed with his laptop which had recorded measurements of Jacks feet from his arrival, to his last shoeing - including measurements of his heels. He said he's heels have not gotten lower since he's been shoeing him, infact they'd got every so slightly deeper (by 2mm... which sounds pathetic, but for Jack, its LOADS). He showed me the 4 point shoes, explained why he wanted to use them and all about the break over point on jack's feet being so wrong. He answered all my questions about whether i should expect any lameness or other problems (Jack's 15 now.... i didnt like the idea of changing things for him too much).
We also had a long discussion about navicular (which, i learned, is very rare over here compared to the uk!) and he said theres absolutly nothing to suggest jack has anything at all wrong with his feet or lower limbs at all and that the reason for the change in shoes was to address an incorrect break over point which he's undoubtedly had for years (indeed he wanted to know why this hadnt been sorted sooner) and to try and ensure his longterm soundness.
Anyway! he's having his shiney new 4 point shoes on next week and im kicking myself for not listening sooner
Ive been terribly sceptical about the horse care over here every step of the way and i have to say, they've always surprised me with the lengths they go to and just leave me feeling guilty for even questioning :/ Why do i insist on questioning anything thats "different" and instantly dismissing it as wrong rather than listening to the damn reasoning.
Jack is a very typical low heel, long toed horse and my UK farrier repeated over and over again before I left that the new farrier must keep his heels up. Tbh, the UK farrier never achieved this all that well... Jack has pretty pathetic heels
After shoeing him for a few months, my OH happened to call the farrier here to ask for a duplicate invoice and he got chatting to mark (the farrier). He mentioned that he'd like to put 4 point shoes on jack but my poor OH not knowing much about it said he'd get back to him.
Alarm bells rang for me immediatly and i went into panic over drive about navicular and started getting generally very arsey about my UK farrier having always shod him in a particular way and that was that.
I FINALLY went and met the new farrier today to have a chat about jacks feet and wished id done it sooner
We also had a long discussion about navicular (which, i learned, is very rare over here compared to the uk!) and he said theres absolutly nothing to suggest jack has anything at all wrong with his feet or lower limbs at all and that the reason for the change in shoes was to address an incorrect break over point which he's undoubtedly had for years (indeed he wanted to know why this hadnt been sorted sooner) and to try and ensure his longterm soundness.
Anyway! he's having his shiney new 4 point shoes on next week and im kicking myself for not listening sooner