Trusting your farrier?

dwi

dwi

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D is in at the vets tonight because she needs to have remedial shoeing after she's been allowed to get too long in the toe by the farriers that I've tried recently.

How do you know which farriers are going to do a really good job and which are just "alright"? I kow you're going to say word of mouth but I've gone through three farriers in the last year, all of them well respected, none of them seemed to bring her front toes back enough and now the poor thing is lame. I was really explicit with her most recent farrier but he said that it was just the shape her feet were.

I really need to find a farrier I can trust. I don't know enough to know when they're getting it slightly wrong and I don't want to put D through all this discomfort again.
 
i would normally say word of mouth and watching them shoe and see horses that they have shod, not just one particular breed etc.

however saying that if you have doubts then i would be talking them through with your farrier.
does your vet have a remedial farrier that he recommends? this farrier might take you on as a normal customer once the remedial farriery is over?

when my mare had to have remedial shoeing, i took the exrays over to his house, discussed them over a coffee, then he rang my vet to discuss the course of his action.
 
Lots of vets always say the toes are too long and the shoes need to go further back. They'd be sticking out a foot behind the horse's heels if it were up to the vets. For one thing, its not the vets who have to nail the shoes back on every time the horse rips a shoe off, taking half the hoof with it, and for another thing, most farriers know how to shoe.
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If you have been through three farriers with decent reputations, I'm willing to bet that its the horse with the problem, not the farriers.
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Unfortunately asking your vets doesn't always guarantee a good result either. I was in a similar situation to you and my horse was left lame due to poor shoing. I paid a fortune for 3 shoeings by the farrier recommended by my vet. What he did was not appropriate for my horse and did not improve him at all. Also he was the most unreliable farrier I had ever known. I went with my instincts and changed farriers again. I now have a brilliant, reliable farrier who understands what my horse needs. I would say go with your instincts. If you are not happy then try a different farrier. The best bet is to ask around as many people as you can and find out who is well regarded.
 
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Lots of vets always say the toes are too long and the shoes need to go further back. They'd be sticking out a foot behind the horse's heels if it were up to the vets. For one thing, its not the vets who have to nail the shoes back on every time the horse rips a shoe off, taking half the hoof with it, and for another thing, most farriers know how to shoe.
smirk.gif
If you have been through three farriers with decent reputations, I'm willing to bet that its the horse with the problem, not the farriers.
frown.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

Where would you go then if you had a horse with low grade lameness in both front legs that didn't respond to nerve blocks? No heat, swelling or other abnormalities.
 
sorry to hear that your having trouble. im very lucky with the fact that i have a fantastic farrier who works very hard with buffys feet. he comes when the vets come out and they go through buffy foot xrays together.

maybe you could find a decent farrier and get the vet to be there so the vet can tell themn how they want the shoeing to be done?
 
i went through a few farriers when i moved before finding my current one who is fabulous!

i had a mare who had awful foot balance issues, went to the vet like yours and ended up with corrective shoeing at £180 for a pair of fronts- poor foot balance seems very common!

i found mine through word of mouth but also through the above mare i knew the angles etc we should have been aiming at.
my current farrier was brilliant, took my concerns about her feet on board and was actively interested in changing her feet and answering all of my questions.
since he took over this mare's showing she never had another lame day, no more absesses even when we took her shoes off!

i trust him totally with all of my horses and he has really helped expand my knowledge of feet/balancing etc etc
 
If you've tried changing farriers, and you've tried remedial shoeing, if you are insured and if its been going on longer than six months and the horse still isn't sound, get a referral from your own vets to a lameness/loss of performance expert. You only have a year on the insurance to get to the bottom of it and get treatment.
 
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Where would you go then if you had a horse with low grade lameness in both front legs that didn't respond to nerve blocks? No heat, swelling or other abnormalities.

[/ QUOTE ]


Barefoot!
 
I had to have my farrier as part as a loan agreement (before buying said horse). I'd had some dodgy farriers in the past, so was quite worried about using one i'd never heard of. As it happens, he's excellent, and my vets rate him very highly, and work very closely with him (but I didn't know this at the time) As long as he's still working in my area, i'll continue to use him.
He's failr expensive, but in all cases with horses, you get what you pay for!
My previous horse was crippled by a farrier my family had used for years and never had any problems with, but after talking to other horsey people in the area, it appears he had crippled many other horses too, and still continues to do so.
 
I went on vet recommendation and word of mouth. Had xrays and my girl's foot balance was shocking. 1 session with new remedial farrier= very sore horse for a hew days= sound horse since
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(well in front anyway, still lame behind but nothing to do with feet)

Have the remedial farriery done, most vet practises will have a farrier they use I believe? Then see if the horse is still lame a few weeks after.
 
where abouts in the country are you? I have a brilliant farrier and would def recommend him, not only is he good with the shoeing he is reliable, on time, friendly and we have had him for 9yrs!
 
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