Insurers get tough on 'barefoot' horse claims

amandap

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and it does well to remember Strasser is a vet
... and she is STILL teaching her 'clinic' trim to her trimmer students. She hasn't modified what she teaches at all in that respect. This radical trim, if it is ever needed should be performed in strictly controlled environment with veterinary support in my opinion.

Luckily most of the modern bf movement is grasping and incorporating all the positive new learning it can.
 

paddy555

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and it does well to remember Strasser is a vet

absolutely, a nightmare vet as it turned out but the point I was trying to make was how much further forward we would be now if WFC had "taken over" barefoot trimming/training/ registration etc at the time the Strasser fiasco was going on.
 

LucyPriory

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absolutely, a nightmare vet as it turned out but the point I was trying to make was how much further forward we would be now if WFC had "taken over" barefoot trimming/training/ registration etc at the time the Strasser fiasco was going on.

Maybe they need to get their own house in order first?

Seeing as how an apprentice recently told a client that laminitis is caused by the wet. (I paraphrase). Apparently he was very sincere and no it wasn't April 1st.

So if we all fitted our horses with wellies and macs they'd be fine?

Now there's a marketing opportunity.
 

ryoungo

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I use a BF trimmer because she is just a much better horse person than any farrier I have ever met (and I have dealt with a fair few). I work hard to get my horses, mainly youngsters, well behaved with their feet (all from very mixed back-grounds, one a rescue) but it is not an overnight process. I don't believe in sedation unless for medical emergencies and certainly not twitching, and the last thing I want is a farrier who can't even stand a horse twitching a muscle to get arsy with them. BF makes sense to me, none of our 4 ponies have been lame since we've owned them and we want to keep them that way. My trimmer takes time and helps me with my training process and does not shout at my horses, threaten or hit them with rasps etc etc. I have seen this on far too many occasions, from so called 'reputable' farriers. A barefoot trim is about more than just the foot, a general farrier trim is NOT the same! Hence why BF trims tend to cost more - they take more than 5 minutes!!
One of our youngsters had strangles last year (supposedly, I do not believe he did, but that is another story!). We used a well-regarded local veterinary practise (equine specialist department) to diagnose and treat him - all 'qualified' professionals. Due to constantly sending us young, inexperienced vets to do numerous swabs (and even a trainee to 'have a go' on our 2 year old pony), he is now very head shy and spooky where he was totally laid back before. He is getting better but still not the same horse we had previously. If he had an accident because of his now nervous nature, would the insurance company refuse to pay?? We already have an exclusion on strangles now until he can have a 'vet report' done 12 months after he was swabbed clean, no doubt needing to involve more swabs which would only exacerbate the problem and make our pony more vet-shy!. My point? Just because someone is a 'qualified professional' doesn't mean they necessarily know best or, indeed, are good with horses!
 

Kat

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Someone needs to wake up and realise that there is room for more than one professional to deal with equine hoof care. Many professions have different branches dealing with slightly different specialisms and training methods and manage to co-exist and recognise the benefits. If only Farriers and Barefoot Trimmers could manage to do the same and work together with the aim of getting rid of the poorly trained unregistered charlatans then horses would benefit.

As an example, solicitors and barristers manage to co-exist perfectly well (although the lines are blurring between them now) but traditionally only barristers could present a case in certain courts, while other tasks could only be done by solicitors. They both recognised that the other had a slightly different skill set and specialism that coudl work together hand in hand.

Is there any reason why farriers and trimmers could not both posses qualifications that could be recognised by all the same bodies but that promote their individual strengths? They could both undergo the same initial training with only some being qualified to shoe, and only some having further training in aspects of managing barefoot horses and barefoot rehab. They could refer clients to one another and they could show a united front to make it illegal for anyone not registered to "trim" a horse's hooves, the combination of tighter regulationm, better provision of services, and better working relationships between farriers and trimmers would benefit equine welfare.

Seriously, is that so difficult to envisage?

I think the danger for farriers is that if they don't embrace the trimmers at this stage the trimmers will eventually get their own regulation set up in competition, and once they do that they will start to want to expand what they do and break into new areas eventually seeking to break down the barriers entirely and farriers will end up being a niche profession defending increasingly small areas of work.

I'm seeing this in my own profession now, solicitors and legal executives with higher rights of audience, solicitors and legal executives becoming judges, legal executives and barristers becoming partners in solicitors firms etc
 
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